Whenever there is a trend, there will always be somebody to spoof it. Such has been one of the mantras of culture jamming: Use parody as a form of critique. Abbie Hoffman went to his trial dressed up in judicial robes to poke fun at the judge. Sub Pop sales rep Megan Jasper once fed eager reporters from the New York Times the scoop on "Grunge Speak," that was only revealed as hoax after the newspaper printed an entire column on the topic. Or Trent Reznor's Strobe Light, a not-so-subtle critical take on Chris Cornell's latest solo album disaster with Timbaland. Well, Steal This Computer Book is kinda like that.

Quietly slipped into the section at your bookstore where they place all the "For Dummies" computer manuals and security books, Steal This Computer Book is, on the surface, a parody of the internet security frenzy, which, if you catch the hype-driven stories of "rogue computer hackers and e-terrorism" on the mainstream news media, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Steal This Computer Book delves not only into real-world security issues, but into the hacker mentality in general. Presented in the form of a technical manual, the book is divided into chapters, each discussing a specific topic, ranging from viruses and malware to filesharing to identity theft to con artists and much more. However, rather than approach these topics with a particular point of view, Wang describes them objectively in plain english so even some of the most novice users can get an idea of how things work. For example, when talking about trojan horses, Wang explains the basics of how they operate and how they get into your system, followed up with how they are created.

Months ago I received this little book from my girlfriend, who in turn received it from a friend of hers, who I think in turn received it from a friend of his. Having just now gotten around to it, I am quite mad at myself for not picking it up sooner.

"Book" is probably the wrong term to use here, as Evasion is actually a series of letters written by an anonymous author around the turn of the century. The author, who decided that after high school he wasn't going to hold a job or continue his education, chronicles his exploits in these letters as he hops trains, shoplifts, squats houses, dumpster dives, and generally just lives off the sheer amounts excess produced by American society.

And before you ask, yes, this is all real.