Books Briefly Noted: Beyond Fear
Searching kids and grandmas actually improves airport security, but arming pilots makes us all less secure; shopping with a credit card is just as secure as using it over the phone or by mail. These, and the dozens of other surprising insights in this book, will help you develop a keen sense of what today’s most talked-about security measures can and cannot do.
Security is not mysterious, Bruce Schneier tells us, and contrary to popular belief, it is not hard. What is hard is separating the hype from what really matters. You already make security choices every day, from what side of the street you walk on to whether you park your car under a streetlight. You do it naturally. This book guides you, step by step, through the process of making all your security choices just as natural.
Schneier, a security expert for policy makers and business leaders, invites us all to move beyond fear and to start thinking sensibly about security. He tells us why security is much more than cameras, guards, and photo Ids, and why expensive gadgets and technological cure-alls often obscure the real security issues. Using anecdotes from history, science, sports, movies, and the evening news, Beyond Fear explains basic rules of thought and action that anyone can understand and, most important of all, anyone can use.
The benefits of Schneier’s non-alarmist, common-sense approach to analyzing security will be immediate. You’ll have more confidence about the security decisions you make, and new insights into security decisions that others can make on your behalf. Whether your goal is to enhance security at home, at the office, and on the road, or to participate more knowledgeably and confidently in the current debates about security in our communities and the nation at large, this book will change the way you think about security for the rest of your life.
Categories: Beyond Fear, Text