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  • This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

  • The Cyberweapons Arms Race
  • Written by: Nicole Perlroth
  • Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
  • Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (92 ratings)

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This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

Written by: Nicole Perlroth
Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
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Publisher's Summary

Bloomsbury presents This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends by Nicole Perlroth, read by Allyson Ryan.

Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine).

For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world’s dominant hoarder of zero days. US government agents paid top dollar - first thousands and later millions of dollars - to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence.

Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market.

Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated or our nuclear plants melt down.

Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel.

©2021 Nicole Perlroth (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

What the critics say

"The best kind of reportage...a rollicking fun trip, front to back and an urgent call for action before our wired world spins out of our control. I've covered cybersecurity for a decade and yet paragraph after paragraph I kept wondering: 'How did she manage to figure *that* out? How is she so good?’'' (Garrett M. Graff, Wired, author of New York Times best seller The Only Plane in the Sky

"A stemwinder of a tale of how frightening cyber weapons have been turned on their maker. Perlroth takes a complex subject that has been cloaked in techspeak and makes it dead real for the rest of us." (Kara Swisher, co-founder of Recode and host of the New York Times podcast Sway)

What listeners say about This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

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Illuminating at all levels

Whether you have zero knowledge of INFOSEC/Cybersecurity or you have a moderate understanding, this book is written for both audiences to take something away. Furthermore, for those that have zero interest in the topic, it is more of a priority to read so that you know how to operate in the Information Age.

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Wow

This is truly scary stuff yet very informative. Can’t believe we are letting folks do this stuff without any repercussions

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Fascinating read!

What a great book. Extremely enlightening and provides an insight to a world many of us rarely think about. It was very interesting but also somewhat terrifying. Highly recommended.

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AMAZING!

What an incredible book, kind of made me a little worried for the future lol. This is a must listen.

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  • 2022-11-11

Essential

If you only read one book ever, this is the book to read. It takes everything you ever needed to know about computers (and computer security) and puts it into plain language.

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Scary

Everyone should listen to this audiobook in my opinion. We are all plugged in and many don't know "the risks".

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Liked it

Great listen. Good follow up to Sandworm. Highly recommend if you are into comp-sci or hacking.

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Excellent book, not-so-excellent reading

The book is excellent, but the reading is at times a bit annoying
I will recommend the book, not the audiobook

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A poor performance lead to a refund

After listening to Nicole on Lex Fridman podcast I was extremely excited to listen to this audiobook. Unfortunately the performance of the person reading the audiobook made me turn this off within the first 25 minutes. Breath pauses and incorrectly spoken sentences had me falling out of the pace of the book and losing interest entirely in what was being said. This is a real shame as the subject matter and how the book is wrote seems like some thing that I was going to enjoy.

This is why all audiobooks should be read by the author in order to get the correct tone pace inflection of their presentation when they deliver their own story as opposed to third parties with zero investment in the subject matter.

I will be refunding my credit for this purchase.

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Very enlightening

There is a whole world most of us don't see. This gives a peak into it in a very well written manner.

The flow of information is engaging, particularly on a subject that may not be that good at keeping one's attention.

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