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Comment by softdev12 | Hacker News Reader

I really enjoyed Ghost in the Wires (basically Mitnick's bio). I had first read Takedown by Tsutomo Shimomura which told of Mitnick's pursuit by the guy who ended up help to catch him. "Wires" was the other side - what Mitnick did when he was on the run - and his side of how he was finally caught. Really interesting stuff. It was like the Rashomon effect[1].

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/d...

http://www.amazon.com/Takedown-Pursuit-Capture-Americas-Comp...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon_effect

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Someone gave me Takedown to read because they knew I worked in IT. That book made me dislike Tsutomu Shimomura immensely.

> That book made me dislike Tsutomu Shimomura immensely.

Why?

The book made him seem very arrogant. Even though I knew how it ended I was still barracking for Mitnick because Shimomura was so annoying.

Kevin's side of the story has been told by him, by Littman in 'The Fugitive Game' and by Eric Corley. Any reasonably broad-minded person who wants to see the law deal evenhandedly with the accused can find places in these accounts to sympathize with Kevin.

'Takedown' is AFAICT the extent of what TS wants to say about the matter. We can presume he comes off in it the way he wanted to come off.

Though I do wonder about the tone of the book, and if John Markoff had more than a little influence on how the story was told, and what details were kept in or left out, and how the persons at the focus of the true-crime narrative being presented were portrayed.

I felt while reading Takedown that maybe, for some reason, there were details being elided that readers interested in a careful piece of investigative journalism might appreciate-especially if they had a deeper understanding of the technology than the mass NYT audience. Maybe someday someone will take that up.

I also wondered how much John Markoff influenced the tone of the book. I have a feeling it would have been more enjoyable in TSs own words.

That reminds me of the movie Lord of War, in which you can't help but root for Nicolas Cage and against Ethan Hawke.

I just read it a few months ago myself. It's a fun read, though I wonder if/how much he's downplaying some of the worse stuff that he did.

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