Books · nonfiction book
Takedown by Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff
Recommended for its look at the mindset behind social engineering. One critic felt it gives Kevin Mitnick more attention than is warranted.
Summarized from 4 comments.
Recommended for its look at the mindset behind social engineering. One critic felt it gives Kevin Mitnick more attention than is warranted.
- recommend
- 3
- criticize
- 1
- months recommended
- 1 of 13
Why people love it
Shows social engineering mindset · 1
I think it still shows a lot of mindset around social engineering
Jun 2026 · comment
What people warn about
Focuses too much on Mitnick · 1
makes a much bigger deal out of Mitnick than is reasonable
Nov 2025 · comment
What hackers pick instead
- The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff StollReaders recommend this gripping, fun true story of tracking a hacker, often named as the book that sparked their interest in computing and security.40recommend
- Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil PostmanReaders recommend this short critique of how TV and visual media reshaped public discourse, saying its ideas still apply to social media and phones.36recommend
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan HaidtRecommended for its scientific case that social media harms children, especially under 16; critics say its evidence is weak and its charts don't support its conclusions.24recommend
- Bullshit Jobs by David GraeberRecommended for framing jobs that add no real value, though critics say its economics is weak and it never names the jobs.20recommend
- Enshittification by Cory DoctorowPeople recommend it for clearly explaining how big platforms get worse over time, with many examples and useful antitrust context.19recommend
Every quote
The 2 most detailed of 4 comments. Each links to the original.
I think it still shows a lot of mindset around social engineering
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “A Man Was Gifted His Dream Car by the Notorious Hacker He Put in Prison”
makes a much bigger deal out of Mitnick than is reasonable
Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “This week in 1988, Robert Morris unleashed his eponymous worm”
Counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026. How we count · Report a mistake