Book review

I wrote a long review of Bruce Schneier's Beyond Fear, then decided it was too cloyed and hackneyed even for me, so I deleted it. It's very good, though, and he does an excellent job of providing a much-needed reality check for how to think about issues relating to security. In a way, he reminds me very of much of Richard Epstein, who said in Civil Procedure II that he looked not at the formalities of the case, but at what was really going on. Perhaps not the ideal textbook attitude for a Procedure class, even if it is the occasional mess that is jurisdiction, but I responded to it well there, and it's even more appropriate when there isn't the same level of formality. Relatedly, I've been a subscriber to Schneier's email newsletter for a number of years and found it to be quite excellent, even if it is sometimes too technical for those unskilled in the field.

Currently in progress is Adrian Goldsworthy's The Complete Roman Army, which probably won't get much more than a brief review.