Liars and Outliers by Bruce Schneier

Disclosure: I received a discounted and autographed copy of this book in exchange for writing this review.

Interestingly, that deal plays very well into the theme of this book - subtitled "enabling the trust that society needs to thrive", Liars and Outliers is about how trust is created, enforced, and betrayed.  Bruce Schneier (who I've been a fan of for a long time, scroll down in this post for a short review of his previous book, Beyond Fear) is a security expert, initially cyber-security, although his blog and books have now broadened to be about security in general.  He's written a lot about changes in security since 9/11, highlighting how many measures are "security theater" designed to make us feel more secure rather than actually increasing security.

So offering a free book in exchange for a review was a big experiment on his part.  And the model his book explains around why we trust people would indicate that some Societal, Moral, Reputational, or Institutional Pressure compelled me to follow through on my commitment to write this. (It was moral.)  In fact, a large section of the book explores each of those types of pressure with examples ranging from Worldcom to child labor.  He provides a model of what the interests and norms are in a society and then the things that challenge and enforce them.  This model is revisited many, many times throughout the text.

The remainder of the book discusses what security systems exist to enforce these norms, and how these models and ideas are implemented in organizations of different sizes, ranging from small groups to large institutions.  Schneier draws on a variety of current examples (Facebook privacy and the TSA) as well as classic game theory (Prisoners' Dilemma). 

There is a lot to like about this book: it provides a model that explains how society functions and why we trust certain people and entities.  In fact, the reason it took me so long to write this review (I received the book months ago) is that I recently had a baby.  As we've hired people to care for our daughter, I was acutely aware of what made me trust different caregivers.  Reputation in some cases, a personal recommendation in others, a recommendations from a group I trusted for another case.  In what I consider to be the most important decision I've made in years (who cares for my child) I naturally relied on many of the pressures Schneier highlights.

What I found hard about reading this book was the sheer number of examples he used in every chapter.  Rather than analyze a few familiar examples in great depth, he chose to pepper each chapter with what felt like dozens of small examples and name-drops.  I would have enjoyed a more in-depth analysis of just a few examples to better understand the systems he was explaining.  In some cases, he returned to the same ideas repeatedly - like Prisoners' Dilemma and the Hawk-Dove game (another game theory model) - and I found that valuable.  But in many chapters he jumps from one example to another each paragraph, which I found a less effective way to make his points.

Overall I'm glad I read this book but I didn't enjoy it as much as I do his daily blog posts.  Perhaps if I were not as close a follower of his, more of the ideas would have been new, and the examples more illustrative.