Reverse Engineering – The Books

I’m a book person. I like books, and I read paper books. That’s not to say I don’t also read electronic versions, but when it comes to computer and tech books, paper books often work better for me. My preference for paper tech books is likely because I wrote a few and spent several years working for a tech publisher producing hundreds of paper volumes!

I would be curious to hear what books you are currently reading and whether it is one you recommend. We’ll start a discussion in the Codeguru forum on this topic so you can share.

What prompted this blog post is that I am clearing books off my desk. These books fall much more into the arena that might interest you as a reader of Codeguru. There are two books I’m ready to move to my shelves. These are Practical Reverse Engineering by Dang, Gazet, and Bachaalany and Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering by Eladad Eilam. Both books focus on the idea that, if you understand how something works, you’ll be better able to protect and secure it.

Reversing covers a wider range of topics, including a foundation of reverse engineering. There is coverage of low-level software, Windows, and its fundamentals, tools that can be used for reverse engineering, information on file format deciphering, and more. There are cracking chapters that include piracy and copy protection information, anti-reversing techniques, information on methods for breaking protection, and more. There is also a chapter on reversing .NET as well as decompilation.

Practical Reverse Engineering is a little more systematic in its coverage. It provides information on various architectures, including x86, x64, and ARM. It also tackles the Windows Kernel, debugging and automation, as well as obfuscation.

Although both books are worth checking out if you are looking into reverse engineering, I tend to lean towards the Reversing book if you only want to choose one!

While those are the books I’m removing from my desk, I’m currently reading a fiction series of books that I borrowed from my young daughters The series is by James Dashner, who also wrote the Maze Runner series. The first book was The Eye of Minds, which is a cyber-adventure. I just finished the second book, The Rule of Thought, and will be grabbing the third book in the trilogy soon. James Dashner takes the reader into the world of virtual reality mystery. So far, it has been an enjoyable read that has pushed my thinking into what is real!

So the question remains – what book are you currently reading? Jump over to the forum and let us know! Also let us know if you are reading a paper copy or in an electronic form. Let’s continue the discussion over there!

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