Outside of a Dog

michiel reviewed Obfuscation by Finn Brunton

With Obfuscation, Finn Brunton and Helen Nissenbaum mean to start a revolution. They are calling …

Not a practical guide, in spite of what the title says

4 stars

The book starts with a compact overview of what obfuscation is, and why it might be a good privacy-enhancing strategy. But considerable space is devoted to discussing the moral framework in which you might choose to use obfuscation.

Most non-fiction books, especially those trying to argue a point, tend to gloss over details. While reading them, your mind starts to form counter-arguments. "That's a bit convenient, " you might think. "But what about...?"

In Helen Nissenbaum's writing, you'll find that she's anticipated your "what about ...?". In fact, she's anticipated the counter-arguments of someone considerably smarter than you. And she'll explain the contrary view in detail, with great kindness, before taking it apart piece by piece. And then she'll move on to a counter-argument you hadn't even thought of.

All of this does not make for light reading. Don't let the small size of this book (70-ish pages excluding footnotes) …

The book starts with a compact overview of what obfuscation is, and why it might be a good privacy-enhancing strategy. But considerable space is devoted to discussing the moral framework in which you might choose to use obfuscation.

Most non-fiction books, especially those trying to argue a point, tend to gloss over details. While reading them, your mind starts to form counter-arguments. "That's a bit convenient, " you might think. "But what about...?"

In Helen Nissenbaum's writing, you'll find that she's anticipated your "what about ...?". In fact, she's anticipated the counter-arguments of someone considerably smarter than you. And she'll explain the contrary view in detail, with great kindness, before taking it apart piece by piece. And then she'll move on to a counter-argument you hadn't even thought of.

All of this does not make for light reading. Don't let the small size of this book (70-ish pages excluding footnotes) fool you. But still recommended.

michiel reviewed Energy : a beginner's guide by Vaclav Smil

Makes you understand how energy dominates human society

4 stars

Lots of numbers, facts, figures, and explanation about energy; how it dominates our climate, our societies, and our history.

This is one of those books that makes you realize why the world works the way it does, instead of how. Why are traditional diets full of starches? Because starch-heavy crops are the most efficient way to convert solar energy into digestible food.

Even though my copy was revised in 2015, there are some anachronisms in the text. A reference to "Zaïre" rather than Congo. The chapter about lighting talks exclusively about CFLs, treating LED lighting as a future development.

Worth it. I'll probably read other books by him.

michiel reviewed Material matters : het alternatief voor onze roofbouwmaatschappij by Thomas Rau

Material matters : het alternatief voor onze roofbouwmaatschappij (Paperback, 2016, Bertram + de Leeuw Uitgevers BV)

Straightforward argument for material reuse; could be more squarely aimed at the construction sector

3 stars

Thomas Rau is an architect, and has spun off a little business consulting about materials reuse in the building sector. It boils down to making the manufacturer responsible for the entire product life cycle, from creation to usage to eventual (hopefully) re-use.

His book is short, snappy, to the point. I was already familiar with most of his anecdotes, which might be due to our similar cultural background.

He ends with the Universal declaration of Material Rights, which I find to be missing the mark. First of all, comparing material "abuses" (e.g. not reusing them) to human rights abuses is more than a bit unfortunate. Second of all, if you want to use legalese, at least specify what a material is! Is concrete a material, or should the cement that binds it be the material? The gypsum in the cement? Or perhaps the elemental Calcium in the gypsum?

michiel reviewed A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition by John Ousterhout

A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition (Paperback, 2021, Yaknyam Press)

This book addresses the topic of software design: how to decompose complex software systems into …

Worth it for the shallow/deep module terminology

4 stars

Most of the author's views (like, for example, on writing comments) are non-controversial. He does however, coin the terms "deep" and "shallow" to talk about the way modules are structured. I think these are very useful, and should be commonly known!

Other than that, the author sticks to the semantics of the vaguely object-oriented curly brace languages. Java, C#, Go, etc. I think this book could be richer if the examples were drawn from a greater variety of programming languages.

michiel reviewed Optimism over Despair by Noam Chomsky

Optimism over Despair (Hardcover, 2017, Haymarket Books)

This volume offers readers a concise and accessible introduction to the ideas of Noam Chomsky, …

Deep for an interview, shallow for a book

3 stars

Noam Chomsky is someone with an impressive memory and talent for public speaking. He needs only a little prompting to provide an argument that is coherent, engaging, and filled with interesting references.

In aggregate, you start noticing the patterns. "Famous liberal thinker didn't say what you think he did, he actually said ". "What universally despised group does is actually small beer compared to what the US government did in "

In an interview, this is impressive. In a book, this leads to a lack of structure and depth. Fun reading, but not world-shattering.