Digital Fortress 217
| Digital Fortress: A Thriller | |
| author | Dan Brown |
| pages | 384 |
| publisher | Griffin Trade Paperback |
| rating | 7 out of 10 |
| reviewer | Carl Anderson |
| ISBN | 0312263120 |
| summary | An excellent, if slightly flawed, exploration into the world of government cryptography and those who try to defeat it |
The premise
The first page ("Prologue") is enough to draw you right in. A Japanese man in Seville, Spain, is dying, and in his last act he attempts to communicate with fellow tourists. We immediately wonder, What is he trying to say? How does this relate to the premise of the book?
Flipping the page literally flips across the Atlantic Ocean, to the National Security Agency (NSA) and to beautiful, intelligent Susan Fletcher, head cryptographer at the NSA. She is involved with a university language professor named David Becker--a man who will figure deeply into the story.
A mysterious phone call sends David to Spain and a phone call from Susan's boss, Commander Strathmore, brings her to NSA headquarters. It's there that she learns of a potentially fatal threat to the NSA's codebreaking supercomputer, TRANSLTR--an unbreakable encryption. Strathmore briefs her that a disgruntled former employee, Ensei Tankado, has threatened to release this encryption scheme to the highest bidder. If Tankado does so, the NSA will be crippled--a fact proven by the revelation that TRANSLTR normally spends minutes decoding a message, but has spent more than half a day trying to break Tankado's algorithm.
Tankado isn't stupid--Strathmore says he has an accomplice who will release the code in the event that something happens to Tankado. Unfortunately, Tankado is the Japanese man who has died in Seville...and thus the NSA is running out of time to locate Tankado's pass key to break the encryption before his accomplice can release it to the world.
Meanwhile, Becker is still in Spain, under orders--from Strathmore, it turns out--to do just that. He realizes that Tankado's ring is the "key" to the mystery, and thus he begins a frantic search that leads him from a French-Canadian writer in the clinic, to a fat German tourist and his red-haired "escort," to a punk rock bar on the outskirts of town. Did I mention he's being followed by a deaf assassin the whole time?
What I likedAs I mentioned, Digital Fortress has all the elements that I was looking for. It had just the right amount of main characters, and everyone had a proper place in the book and in the story. I'm appreciative of the tidbits of technical information here and there--mentions of PGP, NSA history, and other such morsels were well placed.
There was also a smattering of sexual energy (although no real "sex scenes") and humor here and there. Who said computer geeks can't have a good time?!
I'm also a fan of subplots in books, that magically mesh together near the climax. Dan Brown deserves praise in this regard: minor characters who initially make you question their presence are brought nicely into the fold and given purpose.
In any book like this, little puzzles and questions come up as a matter of course. The reader is challenged to solve them just as the characters are. In this book, there are many such puzzles: What does the inscription on the ring mean? Who is Tankado working with, and how? What is the pass-code for the encryption scheme? Why is David Becker being hunted down? I delighted in trying to come up with answers to these questions as I read the book, and was pleasantly surprised to see I was wrong in many respects.
What I didn't likeIn any mystery or thriller, the idea is to keep the reader guessing as long as possible, through plot twists, diverging plot lines that reconnect later, and the like. Brown does a fairly good job here, but this is where the book has its weakest points. For example, it is revealed early on that Tankado and the dead Japanese man in Spain are the same person. While this is perhaps unavoidable to push the plot along, I found it strange to have this happen so quickly. Later in the book, the author flips back and forth between who could be Tankado's accomplice, and who has committed a murder in Crypto. This flip-flopping is done poorly and leaves the reader thinking, "I already have my mind made up and you're not doing very well dangling red herrings." I had the bad guy pegged a couple of chapters before it was revealed, although I will admit that I was surprised at a particular turn of events afterwards.
Although this book was published in the late '90s, the technology aspects are still relevant--but this book gets some technical facts incorrect, or at least a bit off. However, they're fairly minor and don't detract from the book too much.
Some plot points are just too far fetched to be believable. For example, Susan's fiance, David Becker, tries to outrun a taxi--driven by the deaf assassin--while on a motorbike. The professional assassin fires several shots at Becker and misses every time, even though the bike is significantly slower than the taxi and the shots hit the bike body itself on several occasions.
Finally, some of the people in the NSA seem too stupid to be working there. In an effort to not give away spoilers, I can't be too much more specific than that, but suffice it to say that the "solution" is something that a high school science student wouldn't have much trouble figuring out.
Final thoughtsI tore into this book with high expectations. I finished the book with mixed feelings. As I look back on it, I can't help but feel that there was a lot of untapped potential and some glaring mistakes that could have been avoided. But I'm also pleased to have read what I consider a fairly good book, one that has served to heighten my interest in the genre, and made me even more ready to read The DaVinci Code.
Of course, it wouldn't be fair to compare this book to any of Dan Brown's later works. An author matures as he or she writes more books, and thus I'm certain that many of my quibbles would have been ironed out in future books. I'll have to find that out when I read DaVinci.
While it might seem that I had more bad to say about the book than good, I'd say that the reverse is actually true--the "good" goes all through the book, but there isn't really a way to quantify it.
I'd wholeheartedly recommend this novel to anyone who has an interest in technological thrillers, spy novels, or thrillers in general. It's a very accessible and enjoyable read, and I'm glad I bought it.
You can purchase Digital Fortress from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
A beautiful female crytpographer? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A beautiful female crytpographer? (Score:3, Interesting)
She was from Denmark, and had done some kick-ass work calculating the volume of ocean water contained in coastal fjords or something. But all most guys in my class could think about is the fact that she was the most jaw-droppingly hot woman anyone had ever even imagined. Seriously : true blonde, striking figure, perfect complexion, high cheekbones, peircing blue eyes, georgous smile. She t
Not a bad read... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not a bad read... (Score:3, Interesting)
It is strange, I read the book in January, and was so unimpressed that I can't remember anything other than a book beginning with promise and failing to impress.
Crypto for parents... (Score:3, Interesting)
Uranium? (Score:5, Insightful)
Would you please spoil the end? (Score:2)
Re:Not a bad read... (Score:2)
There's dumbing down, and then there's completely missing the point...
Dear author (Score:5, Funny)
It was exactly what I was looking for
No it wasn't. You were looking for The DaVinci Code. Remember now?
Helpin' out,
Letter
binary (Score:2, Interesting)
Is it just me or shouldn't that be the first thing she noted about whatever system it was?
Like I said, it's been a while since I read the book and it didn't exactly stick with me.
And that encryption scheme was: (Score:3, Funny)
One of those... (Score:5, Interesting)
The cover blurbs mislead the reader into thinking it's the next book by the best-selling author, when in reality it was written before the best-sellers and dug up to cash in on Brown's popularity.
Flipping the page... (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds just like the DaVinci code (Score:3, Funny)
hated it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:hated it. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hated it. (Score:2)
"Oh they're almost through the 4th firewall" (probably paraphrased) was one of my "favorite" moments.
kashani
Re:hated it. (Score:2)
The whole "VR" display thing near the end of the book was annoying. One would think that if the number of attackers kept increasing exponentially (sp) that sooner or later it would have been DOS'd out of existence and nobody could get to it...
In fact (Score:2)
Plus, you *do* have to know the algorithm to do a brute force attack. Brute force means you "try" all of the possible keys, in order, until you find the right one. How can you do that without knowing the algorithm????
Hated it.
Re:In fact (Score:2)
Re:In fact (Score:2)
agreed (Score:2)
It does sound like the guy is young and gotten better since this book, I've been wondering whether or not to give Code a read.
stride (Score:5, Interesting)
I read The Da Vinci Code like a lot of people then went back and read the rest of his works in reverse chronological order. I am fairly confident in saying that Mr. Brown has improved as an author markedly with each new publication. I would also argue that he has finally hit his stride with the 'Code because all previous books suck.
That said, I am eargerly awaiting his next work, it should be a pretty good read.
Re:stride (Score:2)
I am now working on Angels & Demons, and I have to say the prose is much more "literary" and easy to read; but the plot is less wonderful, at least so far. I think the initial hand
Re:stride (Score:2)
>>work, it should be a pretty good read.
Guess what - you've already read it!
All his books that i've read have the same type of characters, the same story arc, the same 'big twist' at the end.
It's like he's got a template that he fills in names, places, objects, and conflicts.
His prose is easy to digest, but after reading 3 of his books (The DaVinci Code, Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons) I don't think I'll read another one. I can see his twis
Re:stride (Score:2)
What, like this?:
-mystery man dies with secret message
-beautiful government code jeenyus teams up with some dude
-they take twice as long as the reader to crack simple problems (EVERYONE knows that Dav Vinci wrote backwards, don't they?)
-the protagonist is followed by an assassin with a deformity of some
More of the same then (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a good summation of how I felt about DaVinci Code. Great premise, middling implementation.
Great premise (Score:2)
D'oh (Score:2)
And now I know that they're the same, even before I meet Tankado. Thanks, friendly book reviewer!
Re:D'oh (Score:2)
Are you kidding? (I know you were, I saw the emoticon.) As soon as he wrote the name "Tankado", I immediately thought "must be the dead guy in Spain." Once the reviewer confirmed that, I knew there was no way I'd ever waste my time reading this book.
Re:D'oh (Score:2)
Re:D'oh (Score:2)
There's no such thing as a spoiler in a Dan Brown novel. You know what's going to happen three pages before he gets around to telling you. After you catch on to his use of the oldest of all plot twists (the bad guys are good guys and vice-versa), you know how the book will end by the time the secret antagonist is introduced as the protagonists friend. THe mechanics of how the story gets there are so amateurish
The author's confused (Score:5, Interesting)
TZ
Re:The author's confused (Score:3, Funny)
You must be mistaken. Brown even offers thanks to two ex-NSA cryptographers who helped him via anonymous remailers. So this book MUST be accurate.
Based on the results, I suspect Brown's anonymous benefactors were actually a couple of 9-year-olds who thought it would be funny to fuck with him.
Re:The author's confused (Score:2)
Two points:
1) There are plenty of encryption schemes that are (as far as anyone has been able to prove) mathematically unbreakable. Which means that only brute force can decrypt a message. There are some difficulties presented by the problem of random number generation, but even so most of the encryption deployed today is ultra-secure. 56-bit DES is breakab
da vinci code, angels & demons, plus minor spo (Score:3, Funny)
However, I do recommend both of these books, just maybe in chronological order.
minor spoiler, no names or real details given...
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Re:da vinci code, angels & demons, plus minor (Score:2)
Brown's lack of plot push (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Brown's lack of plot push (Score:2)
An example would be the "Focaults Pendulum" by Umberto Eco, similar topic to Davinci Code, involves Templars and stuff. The first few chapters are full of (obscure ?) Medieval history references and trivia (which are funnily enough explained much later in the book).So you need a high attention sp
Boooo (Score:3, Informative)
So, I saw Digital Fortress and figured I'd give Dan Brown another chance. I've always loved techno-thrillers and I thought this might not dissappoint. BBZZZZZT!
What a lame piece of crap! Anyone at least marginally knowledgeable about computers and cryptology and security will want to slap Dan for the inconsistencies and falsities littered throughout the book.
And the code at the back is really lame. Booo hiss!
Stay away from it if you like good literature.
Go get "Hackers" or "At Large" or any other of the good books if you want to actually like the book.
Re:What a lame piece of crap (Score:3, Interesting)
I second the view that Digital Fortress is a lame piece of crap. Dan Brown did not do even the most basic research before writing Digital Fortress. Bruce Schneier's book Applied Cryptography has been around a long time. Even if you don't understand the C code and the mathematics, you can get a pretty good picture of why some algorithms are unbreakable, in practice. But Brown does not seem to have read anything about cryptography. He simply waves his hands and writes "quantum computing". He might as
Avoid this book (Score:5, Insightful)
One concept the book deals with that I thought was good was the belief by many intelligence pros that they need to "protect" the citizens from things that cannot be spoken. Hogwash. I'm sure the NSA does valuable work but when they start to trample the Constitution it's time to say ENOUGH. The fouders of the U.S. thought the people should always distrust the government and retain the means to change it if and when it became opressive or tyrannical. If the government accrues too much power to control information and the ability to track what every single person does and says and buys every moment of every waking day then it becomes impossible for the people to exercise that power. It is truly Big Brother-esque.
The book did a good job of exploring both sides of that debate. The guy who wrote the Digital Fortress algorithm was someone who didn't believe that governments should have the right to spy on its own citizens without at least telling them that it was doing so. Central to the plot was an extortion scheme in which the perpetrator, Tankada, wanted only one thing: For the gogernment to come out and publicly admit that it could, in fact, decrypt and read everything that was being sent via encrypted email.
The book still sucked.
Re:Avoid this book (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is sort of stupid, because it can't. The NSA can, of course, read almost every single conventional email sent, because these aren't even slightly encrypted.
Da Vinci Code (Score:5, Informative)
For a much more interesting book that uses similar material to go a lot further, try Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum [amazon.com]. Eco uses the background of holy grail consipracists to weave a tale rich in detailed historical research, amusing characters and that is layered with meaning. You get the what-is-going-to-happen plot and structural and metaphorical complexity. I suspect that Brown may have read Foucault's Pendulum before he wrote Da Vinci Code, because some of the similarities are noticeable.
Summary: Da Vinci Code is a fun enough airport novel. I enjoyed reading it but in the end didn't feel I'd gained anything for having read it.
Re:Da Vinci Code (Score:2)
Re:Da Vinci Code (Score:2, Informative)
The plot thickens (Score:5, Funny)
NSA Chief: Aha! The ring is mine! Now our supercomputer with the clever acronym can decode this vitally important document! (hands document to flunky) What does it say?
NSA Underling: (Turns ring and presses buttons on blinkenlights panel.) It says..."Be sure to drink your Ovaltine."
NSA Chief: Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son-of-a-bitch! Here, try it again! (hands new document to flunky.)
NSA Underling: (repeats procedure) It says..."All your base-"
NSA Chief: (pulls gun from holster and shoots his underling.)
NSA Underling: AIEEEEEE! (Underling expires.)
NSA Chief: (Shakes fist to heavens.) Curse you, fat German tourist and his red-haired "escort"!!! Cuuurrrse yoooouuu!!!!
Re:The plot thickens (Score:2)
You paid to say that?
Re:The plot thickens (Score:2)
Re:The plot thickens (Score:2)
Brown's cryptographic sophistication ... (Score:2, Funny)
Really, given Brown's infatuation with silliness in DaVinci and the way he misses the boat in this one (unbreakable encryption? Just use a 4096-bit key; it'll take Moore's Law at least a couple years to catch up...), I have to wonder if the reason he doesn't do steamy sex scenes is because the technology is too advanced for him...
Craig
My review... (Score:5, Funny)
I was able to suspend my disbelief at an "unbreakable code" not bothering any of the cryptologists. And I was able to swallow, for the sake of the plot, some external person able to write a file of encrypted text that would (somehow) infect the code-breaking machine with a virus.
I was was even able to overlook the author's mistaken description of what "public key" asymmetric cryptography was. (He obviously missed the whole point of it when he failed to mention that it's useful because you don't have to have a secret channel to transmit your key to the other party!)
However, when they talked of using "Streaming Quicktime" to send video messages across the world, that's when I could no longer suspend my disbelief. Nobody in the world would use "Streaming Quicktime" for a remote video feed.
Re:My review... (Score:2)
What do you mean? Plenty of the cyptography systems currently in use are mathematically unbreakable - or at least, many experts haven't been able to find flaws. The only flaws known are related to specific implementations of random number generation, and are not inherent in the encryption algorithms themselves.
Re:My review... (Score:2)
*sigh* Okay, my terminology sucks. My point remains the same, though: the fact that a message ca
Really a sub-par work (Score:2)
First the main character Susan is supposed to be a top brain at the NSA. The only problem is that she's thick as concrete. I'm not saying she's slow on the uptake, merely my cat could have figured out the general plot before her.
Inventing new types of computers and math seems okay, but keep it on planet Earth. This stuff is too far fetched for most anyone to absorb and stay in a state of suspended disbelief.
What about the freaky ultra-conservative undertone (Score:2, Interesting)
This was shown with SEVERAL diatribes about how if only the people knew the real dangers they wouldn't be upset about email taps and wire taps..
I found the book to be readable, but overly ambitious in scope, and the periodic totalitarian outbursts were a bit much for me.
Dan Brown has definitely improved... (Score:3, Insightful)
Regards,
Brian
Hey Brian, guess who. (Score:2)
j/k
Love, Rei
If you want to read techno thrillers.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Some notes of interest:
-the books have almost nothing to do with the movies
-the books are short, about 150 pages
-not much action in the books
-Bond is not bulletproof like his movie counterpart
I get the feeling as reading these books that Ian Fleming writes about what he knows, and the material seems well reasearched, whether it be about rocket engines or toxic flora.
Anywho,
My own impression of the book (some spoilers) (Score:5, Interesting)
(Spoiler warning!)
His plots and characters are paper thin. These books are the literary equivalent of your standard hollywood blockbuster movie (and by this I mean Independence Day, not LOTR).
The main villain is always the guy closest to the character, a boss, confidant, etc. Motivation can be sexual, power, take your pick.
The books are written so as to be ported directly to the big screen. You can almost see scene transitions between paragraphs. One of books chapters actually ended with "camera pan left, fade to black" (just kidding!
The research for Digital Fortress was not as good as for DaVinci - we had the usual confusion between data and executable code (gee, you'd think government cryptogurus would know not to execute code contained within a suspect file), as well as exploding supercomputers, the ability to bypass every single security control by a clueless manager that should NOT be touching said supercomputer, etc. There's an actual 7 layer firewall somewhere that graphically displays the 7 walls, hacker attacks, and even displays each layer falling and the attackers getting closer and closer to the core of the system! Sure it's all explained away in some way or another, but it really makes no sense once you step back from it.
The plot for Deception Point was overly contrived and is designed as an excuse for shooting and chasing people around over a two hour movie, and does not stand up to the inspection of the reading pace of a book.
Now, don't get me wrong. I loved the books, they were fun, and even if the suspension of disbelief was a bit thin in some spots I would not hesitate to recommend any of them to almost anyone - it's just that Burger King is also tasty every once in a while, and seeing stuff blow up on screen while people chase each other is cool too.
-Jack Ash
Re:My own impression of the book (some spoilers) (Score:5, Insightful)
- Start off with an interesting hook and quickly diverge into two (or more) concurrent plots. Minimal character development is necessary.
- Devote alternating chapters to each plot
- End each (short) chapter with a 'cliffhanger' style situation. This gives the 'page-turner' feel because there's always some unresolved situation that haunts you during reading.
- Don't worry about factual accuracy. Better yet, ignore accuracy altogether if it hampers the plot.
- Make the two concurrent plots collide during the last chapter or two of the book and tidy up the situation entirely too neatly.
It's not that either of the books is a bad read - I've read much worse... it's just the formulaic predictability that makes me want to stay away from anything else he might churn out
I just finished it (Score:2)
Interesting premise... (Score:2)
It sounds like much of the book's tension hinges on the unbelievable damage that will be unleashed on the world if there exists a cipher that the NSA cannot crack on a whim. I think I'd have a hard time appreciating the book because I'd be rooting for the cipher to be released to the world. I simply don't agree that it's important that the US government be able to read everyone's mail, in fact I think it's important that people be able to keep secrets. Yeah, there are bad people who will do bad things, b
Re:Interesting premise... (Score:2)
They can't. DES (56-bit) can be brute forced in a reasonable amount of time with specialized hardware; the EFF wrote a book on this. 64-bit encryption can be brute forced in a much longer time using distributed processing. 128-bit encryption, which is pretty standard for many apps, is many orders of magnitude larger than anything current computers can tackle.
And if they tru
Re:Interesting premise... (Score:2)
They can't.
Probably not. Oh, I agree that they can't brute-force a 128-bit key, but brute force is not the only way to attack the problem. I do wonder if perhaps they can break AES. The selected cipher, Rijndael, was recommended by the NSA as their top choice, a decision that surprised a lot of the cryptologic community, since it was the candidate that had the narrowest security margin (in terms of gap between number of rounds known to be breakable and number of rounds used). Further, since the final
Dan Brown is a master. (Score:2)
Although I really enjoyed this book, I must say it was not up to par with the Da Vinci code, and there is a good reason, this was Dan Brown's FIRST book. For his first novel, it was excellent..
And remember folks:
NEVER SAY A WORD.
Why? I'll tell you why (Score:2)
Maybe someone's jealous of Posh Spice?
Imagine the DaVinci Code, but just not as good. (Score:2)
Idiots and time constraints (Score:2, Insightful)
Not impressed (Score:2, Insightful)
Dan Brown (Score:2)
with so many good books out there . . . (Score:2, Insightful)
If you've already read through all of the classics in Western literature, then by all means, read something by Dan Brown. I'm warning you now, you'll feel like you've wasted a few hours whe
Don't waste your time. (Score:2)
Brain candy. (Score:3, Insightful)
I have a habit of reading books several times over, but I could not get through this book the second time. Once I was over the suspense and action I found that almost half the book was stupid, implausible, fictional, inaccurate, unbelieveable, and contrary to all logic. Example: A Google search for "Rotating Cleartext" [google.com] (which was one of the major parts of the supposedly unbreakable encryption) turned up exactly two results; both of them were about the book itself.
The major failure, though, was the idea that a supercomputer--even a really really fast one--could crack an unknown algorithm by brute force. The idea of applying key guessing to a unknown encryption type is rediculous and impossible.
If you tried it for a long enough time you could probably decode it into an entirely different message, for the same reason monkeys could produce the full works of Shakespeare. And then if you know the algorithm, key guessing by definition will always work, although it may take centuries (not hours, as the book claims). There are more technical inaccuracies [niu.edu] that I noticed and that others noticed (especially the final firewall scene). That said, the book was a fun read for a couple of hours, and I might have some fun later illustrating exactly where the book got it wrong (Answer: A lot of places).
"Insiders" (Score:4, Insightful)
He also entertains us by piling thrill upon thrill, twist upon turn, surprise upon surprise. I thought he did the best job of this with "Angels and Demons," which I felt I had to put down occasionally just to catch my breath. I wasn't as captivated by "Da Vinci" because I was already familiar with the central suprise of the book, and it didn't shock me. With "Digital Fortress," I guessed the meaning of the pivotal code pages before any of the supposed cryptography geniuses, scientists, and other NSA gurus did. Since I don't regard myself as all that brilliant, my guess is that any educated reader would do the same.
Still, I'll always follow an author who gives me that "inside track" feeling. Clancy was that way in several of his earlier novels, and I'll probably pick up anything new that Dan Brown has to offer.
Anne
A book I threw against the wall.... (Score:2)
I read it. It stank. (Score:3, Informative)
It was interesting to read Code's immediate predecessor, called "Angels and Demons", because it was almost like a trial run of the plot for "Code". It had almost all of the same elements - the same symbology professor, the female tagalong who happens to be an expert at all the right things and at the same time ignorant of everything the main character knows so he can "educate" her (and the reader) about it, the rogue killer, a tour of the unseen reaches a historic venue, a trip into the secret laboratories of big science and a lot of preaching about how Christianity has been twisted by the Roman Catholic Church to ensure its own preservation. Not a bad book with some good stuff in it, but not as polished.
Then I picked up "Digital Fortress". Hmm. Let's see:
- Cryptic but incredibly important message from a dying keeper of a "Big Secret" transmitted in the prologue? Check.
- Nerdy main character thrown rudely into a mad life or death scramble to prevent something Really Bad (tm) from happening? Check.
- Female character who happens to be an expert at the right things at the right time but otherwise doesn't do much to help? Check.
- Knowledgeable, respected person who seems to be a friend but really is an Adversary? Check.
- Big mean killer? Check.
- Distorted picture of How Things Really Are Done? Check. [ In this case the NSA stands in for the church... must have relized the Vatican was a better target after writing this book. ]
Overall, very unsatisfying execution of a mildly interesting premise. Since all 3 of Dan Brown's books that I've read share the same basic plot, I'm done reading his stuff.Someone tell me if he has anything out that doesn't follow this formula. This is why I stopped reading Tom Clancy novels ages ago.
Dan Brown's works. (Score:2)
From reading TDVC, it was obvious that Dan Brown had just read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (published 20 years ago) and written a book around some of the ideas in it.
One line was enough for me. (Score:2)
I read this stinker on a 3 hour flight (Score:3, Funny)
In any case, wooohee! Was it ever a stinker. First of all, being a geek, I recognized when he got the cryptography wrong, which was practically on every page. He got this stuff so wrong that it was literally (I mean literally literally not figuratively literally) laugh out loud bad. OK maybe snicker out loud bad, but bad. Did I mention how not good the information in this book was? Neal Stephenson this guy ain't.
The novel itself is your basic thriller, which means the plot has more twists than a toddler's slinky. It reminded me of a stock episode of Mission Impossible. Come to think of it the author does seem to owe quite a bit to old TV shows. He apparently learned the technique for increasing dramatic tension by watching old Star Trek episodes where the crew manages to abort the self-desruct sequence
The writing faults are, I suppose, largely first-book kind of missteps. But really if you are going to write a techno thriller, you need to do better research. Robin Cook, Michael Crichton and Neal Stephenson seem to manage. From the dedication, I take it that Mr. Brown's education in crypto issues was from a couple of "ex-NSA cryptographers", whose identity he does not know and whom he never met, but corresponded with through anonymous remailers. Riiight. Maybe his next work will be about Nigerians smuggling money out of the country with the help of people they met through e-mail.
I suppose naivete is forgivable, but what's worse is that the author, after "informing" his readers on the technical aspects of cryptography, goes on to give an equally trenchant explanation of the politics of crypto
That said, there are few places where the author demonstrates, despite being a lazy ignoramous, that he may actually have some writing talent. His description of the NSA's super-secret code breaking machine (I mean the physical, not the technical description) is memorable in the way that good authors, by an act like telepathy, put an image in your head. He compares the appearance of the machine to a killer whale rising out of the floor, but the image is, of course, appropriately phallic. So perhaps this guy's later books are better.
There's certainly room for improvement.
Dan Brown is a Genius (Score:2, Informative)
His writing style has drastically improved from Angels and Demons (at least in Deception Point, which I finished last night, er, this morning at 4am.
I picked it up... (Score:2)
Never mind the fact that you can't "replace the code on the web" without also somehow magically replacing any version that's already downloaded... I about lost it laughing when the big computer exploded. Sure, maybe the cooling system could rupture and leak or something, maybe-- but he had
Shooting from a moving car (Score:2)
Even if you're only walking, it's horribly difficult. A good shooter uses both hands when firing a handgun, because firing one-handed adds tremendous difficulty.
Now imagine the target is moving (which has less effect on your aim than your own motion), you're holding the gun in one hand, and steering with the other. You're paying attention to the road so you don't die, and the gun isn't even lined up with your eyes so you're not aiming, you're guessing.
I used to
Here is what I want to know... (Score:2)
I only knew this because I own and have read a lot of "occult" material - that is, I have plenty of books on Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Shroud of Turin, plus Roslin, Kabbalah, several books on Leonardo Da Vinci, etc. In short, this book could have been researched from my library, for the most part.
So, I knew about all of this beforehand, and it makes for an interesting
Re:Amazing. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Amazing. (Score:2)
They're all the same plot structure. The stories are different, but they all follow the same outline. Almost as though he was/is trying to perfect this type of plot.
Still fun to read though.
Re:Amazing. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not to Mention ... (Score:2)
Let's try some different cliches:
Re:Another good book (Score:2)
Was really enjoyable!
Re:Compared to Cryptonomicon? (Score:2)
Re:Compared to Cryptonomicon? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Faulty Premise...SPOILERS (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, the book is based on a pivotal plot point that is ludicrous. The plot revolves around a new encryption scheme that will render the NSA's super-secret weapon (a brute force crack machine that will decrypt anything within minutes) useless. The source code to this new encryption algorithm has been posted to the Internet and downloaded by crypto types worldwide. The catch -- it's encrypted with itself. The book is about the race for the key that can decrypt the algorithm so the source is accessible and can be used to create truly unbreakable encryption.
Well, the cryptography head comes up with a plan (repeatedly called "brilliant" in the book) to get the key first, modify the source to include a back-door so the NSA can read everything while the public thinks the code is unbreakable, re-encrypt the modified source and replace the version that's been posted to the web. Then they leak the key and the whole world starts using "Digital Fortress".
Does Brown really think that you can replace a file on the web that's been downloaded by thousands and that all the downloaded copies will be updated as well? He seems to -- he only explores the possibility that Tankado might have reviewed the code and found the changes, and quickly dismisses it. He doesn't even consider that most of the people would decrypt the version they already have, let alone consider that someone might compare the source between the version currently available and the one downloaded before the key was released.
The modifications to the source would be posted to Slashdot within 5 minutes of the key being released. But Brown believes no one would ever catch on, and this master plan drives the entire novel. It's utter drivel.
Re:Faulty Premise...SPOILERS (Score:2)
Re:Faulty Premise (Score:2)
Besides, it all ends well...
You get an F for comprehension.
Re:Faulty Premise (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Faulty Premise (Score:3, Insightful)
More like shrinking men and their submarine down to microscopic size and injecting them into someone's bloodstream, then enlarging them again once they're done.
Not everything that people say is impossible is some sort of persecuted idea that will have its day.
Re:Faulty Premise (Score:2)
Or, to put it slightly differently:
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
-- Carl Sagan
Re:Is that probable...? (Score:2)
Hell, if the NSA can break it, then so can sombody else.
I won't bother reading this book, so far what I've read by this author (D'avinci Code" and "Angels and Dermons") has been utter crap.
Re:When will we see a novel... (Score:2)
Try Red Dwarf.
Re:My favorite parts... (Score:3, Insightful)