Mark Bowden’s Worm: The First Digital World War is a well-written (and short) history of computer worms and the conficker worm specifically, providing a layman’s view of the history and technology involved. It’s pitched to novice readers and operates on that surface level. I knew some of this already (the history, some of the concepts) but I don’t travel the world of internet security so those details were very interesting to me.

The only real problem with the book though is that it’s a tempest in a teacup… while the story of the conficker worm is interesting, the book tried to inflate the danger with a lot of hyperbole for a story that, in retrospect, we already know how it ends (since, you know, the internet is still here). That doesn’t mean, ignoring some hoopla, the book was still interesting and engaging.

People in the tech tribe (as he describes it) won’t get much out of it.