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  • This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

  • The Cyberweapons Arms Race
  • By: Nicole Perlroth
  • Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
  • Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (374 ratings)
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This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

By: Nicole Perlroth
Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
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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 in and scamper through the world’s computer networks invisibly until discovered. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to tap into any iPhone, dismantle safety controls at a chemical plant and shut down the power in an entire nation - just ask the Ukraine.

Zero days are the blood diamonds of the security trade, pursued by nation states, defence contractors, cybercriminals and security defenders alike. In this market, governments aren’t regulators; they are clients - paying huge sums to hackers willing to turn over gaps in the internet and stay silent about them. 

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth’s discovery, unpacked. A intrepid journalist unravels an opaque, code-driven market from the outside in - encountering spies, hackers, arms dealers, mercenaries and a few unsung heroes along the way. As the stakes get higher and higher in the rush to push the world’s critical infrastructure online, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is the urgent and alarming discovery of one of the world’s most extreme threats.

©2021 Nicole Perlroth (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Reads like a modern-day John le Carré novel, with terrifying tales of espionage and cyber warfare that will keep you up at night, both unable to stop reading, and terrified for what the future holds." (Nick Bilton, author of American Kingpin)

"A stemwinder of a tale of how frightening cyber weapons have been turned on their maker, and the implications for the world when everyone and anyone can now decimate everyone else with a click of a mouse.... Perlroth takes a complex subject that has been cloaked in opaque techspeak and makes it dead real for the rest of us. You will not look at your mobile phone, your search engine, even your networked thermostat the same way again." (Kara Swisher, co-founder of Recode and New York Times opinion writer)

"Nicole Perlroth has written a dazzling and revelatory history of the darkest corner of the internet, where hackers and governments secretly trade the tools of the next war.... This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is 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, author of The Only Plane in the Sky)

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

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Awful narration, great book

This book is excellent but the narration is painfully awful. The narrator seems to be unaware of, or oblivious to, the purpose of punctuation. An AI would have done a better job and could would have sounded more engaged. I persisted though as the book is that good.

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Enjoyable and informative.

Beautifully written and very educational. It was a pleasure to listen to, too. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cybersecurity.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Thought provoking

I couldn't stop listening. Truly scary just how close we are to cyber destruction.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

From Zero Day Brokers to Trump's impeachment....

this book has everything. You don't need a degree in infosec to enjoy it either! The author offers some insight into many of the major attacks over the last decade and moves swiftly into silicone valley without losing sight of the power play between Nation States, with a sobering final chapter which helps the book live up to its title. First class narration too.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

'Must read' for everyone working with technology!

Read this book!
I have recommended it to people I work with, and all my other friends ... anyone who works with, or uses technology. Which is all of us.
TIHTTMTWE is indispensable in understanding the risks and opportunities we are all exposed to, as our use of technology expands inexorably. Nicole Perlroth deserves to be listened to.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book, average narration

The narrator is fairly poor, making lots of pronunciation errors (took me half of the book to work out that "Kreeve" is actually the city of Kyiv, which is in the news daily right now yet I've never once heard someone pronounce it this way). Having heard Allyson Ryan talk on various podcasts, I wish she had narrated her own book. Maybe I'm biased towards authors narrating their own work (almost always more engaging and passionate in my opinion), but if a professional narrator is used, they should at least check technical (and general!) pronunciation.

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A rewarding audiobook


This was a long read/audio. it's extremely detailed and well researched. The author goes through numerous world famous cyber attacks and their root causes. I feel I've learned a lot on the underground world of cyber hackers. I wouldn't say it's enjoyable more like informative and rewarding.

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Good history of cyber warfare with context

Very good but for more technical view read Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg.

thx to Jack Rhysider from Darknet diaries for recommending

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the best horror book I've read all year

genuinely fantastic but not conducive to a good night's sleep. fingers crossed for the future.

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    4 out of 5 stars

covers loads of stuff

not a "technical" book, but for the breadth of coverage it is excellent and well researched.

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