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Hackers, Crackers, Pirates and Phreaks: The Rise and Fall of the 1980’s Global Computer Underground
Hackers, Crackers, Pirates, and Phreaks provides a vivid first-hand account of the emergence of the 1980’s global computer underground, and its ultimate downfall, as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneering members.
Follow the compelling journey of 'The Rebel,' an inquisitive 12-year-old who transforms to become one of the world’s most prolific software pirates by the age of 17, only to watch helplessly as his world collapsed around him.
In this compelling coming-of-age memoir, George Parthimos recounts a crucial period in history, where the world experienced a revolutionary online transformation, one computer at a time.
This is a story of ordinary computer enthusiasts from all around the world, whose audacious and covert exploits inadvertently shaped the Internet to what we know it today.
Follow the compelling journey of 'The Rebel,' an inquisitive 12-year-old who transforms to become one of the world’s most prolific software pirates by the age of 17, only to watch helplessly as his world collapsed around him.
In this compelling coming-of-age memoir, George Parthimos recounts a crucial period in history, where the world experienced a revolutionary online transformation, one computer at a time.
This is a story of ordinary computer enthusiasts from all around the world, whose audacious and covert exploits inadvertently shaped the Internet to what we know it today.
236 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 15, 2024
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16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 1, 2026
So, I genuinely really enjoyed this book. What's important to note though, is that while I can code (self-taught PCEP, which is entry-level,) I do not consider myself to be "tech-passionate" per se and definitely didn't grow up in Australia in the 80s on "the scene."
I found the book very interesting, I've seen some reviews stating they feel that the author wasn't really all that "there," for the events that transpired, I obviously can't speak to that, but he did a great job story-telling at a minimum, and explained hack/crack/pirate/phreak concepts in a bite-sized way that was very easy to understand and didn't feel condescending. It's obvious from the way he's able to explain these concepts so simply (combined with his credentials) that he knows what he's talking about, and seems to have a very personal, deep passion about computing as a whole.
I also saw some reviews talking about how the author seems a bit ... high on himself, which there were times in the book that I did feel that way too. But, I then remembered that this is a memoir, and assuming everything he's sharing about himself personally is actually correct, what feels like arrogance kind of just feels like being matter of fact. There are a few times in the book where he mentions girls wanting him, but mentioned briefly, it's in the context of he was seen as a pretty normal kid by all accounts, nobody knew he was into the "nerd" scene, and when presented with opportunities to be with girls/go out/have fun etc., he talks about how he would've rather been learning more and working honing his pirating and minor hacking skills instead. There are also instances of grammatical/punctual errors which as an editor bothered me a bit, but I think that's much more of a personal issue on my end. (I am trying to learn to read for leisure again, and not be so analytical/critical, I'm a work in progress.)
It does seem like everything came pretty easy to this guy, but it's very much so a big picture story and doesn't have a lot of day to day details, and the fact that he worked hard, put hours into what he does/did, and was very dedicated to the "craft" is very apparent.
When looking at it through that lens, it's an incredibly interesting book. I can't help but wonder if it's more interesting as somebody who DOESN'T know much about that world, perhaps someone with more in-depth knowledge may take issue with it, but that's not for me to say.
Would definitely recommend for a quick, good read.
I found the book very interesting, I've seen some reviews stating they feel that the author wasn't really all that "there," for the events that transpired, I obviously can't speak to that, but he did a great job story-telling at a minimum, and explained hack/crack/pirate/phreak concepts in a bite-sized way that was very easy to understand and didn't feel condescending. It's obvious from the way he's able to explain these concepts so simply (combined with his credentials) that he knows what he's talking about, and seems to have a very personal, deep passion about computing as a whole.
I also saw some reviews talking about how the author seems a bit ... high on himself, which there were times in the book that I did feel that way too. But, I then remembered that this is a memoir, and assuming everything he's sharing about himself personally is actually correct, what feels like arrogance kind of just feels like being matter of fact. There are a few times in the book where he mentions girls wanting him, but mentioned briefly, it's in the context of he was seen as a pretty normal kid by all accounts, nobody knew he was into the "nerd" scene, and when presented with opportunities to be with girls/go out/have fun etc., he talks about how he would've rather been learning more and working honing his pirating and minor hacking skills instead. There are also instances of grammatical/punctual errors which as an editor bothered me a bit, but I think that's much more of a personal issue on my end. (I am trying to learn to read for leisure again, and not be so analytical/critical, I'm a work in progress.)
It does seem like everything came pretty easy to this guy, but it's very much so a big picture story and doesn't have a lot of day to day details, and the fact that he worked hard, put hours into what he does/did, and was very dedicated to the "craft" is very apparent.
When looking at it through that lens, it's an incredibly interesting book. I can't help but wonder if it's more interesting as somebody who DOESN'T know much about that world, perhaps someone with more in-depth knowledge may take issue with it, but that's not for me to say.
Would definitely recommend for a quick, good read.
June 13, 2025
The author has a very high opinion of himself which somewhat impacts the book. I’m also not entirely convinced with how important he actually was in the scene. He talks about hex editors to crack software which are used but mostly disassemblers are used to understand the code to be cracked, you never just alter bytes with a hex editor. Some other comments also don’t seem entirely accurate. Maybe I’m cynical. Maybe I witnessed the scene from a different perspective, whatever, but this could have been a better read.
February 8, 2026
Reading this book is like listening to a long-winded anecdote from your grandpa about the good old days, when 64kb was a lot of memory and everything was stored on floppy disks. Fortunately, I’m a sucker for tales of computing history, even when they’re constantly going off topic.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews