I picked up this book to be a small break from my all the Steinbeck I’ve been reading lately. I like to alternate a little between fiction and non-fiction. Within the non-fiction, I like to mix it up between professional reading and just interesting. Usually, there is some overlap and I think that applies here. Also, one of the authors, P.W. Singer is coming to speak at my school next week and I wanted to read it before he arrived. I read an earlier book of his, Wired for War, about robotics and unmanned platforms and the future of war. That book was on the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) professional reading list and I assume this one will be on the next version, due sometime this year. This book is about how different entities, both state and non-state actors use social media to achieve their objectives, and how the U.S. lags behind.
LikeWar discusses the history of the internet and communications on it. It dives deep into social media and how actors like Russia use it to push agendas, how China suppresses it, and how ISIS attempts to shape narratives. The book is incredibly timely as it presents a very clear picture about the Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. LikeWar dives into the Russian “sock puppets” who create online accounts to push hashtags and messaging on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The book details the Russian efforts to interfere and the reach said effort had. That is not to say that they directly changed votes or anything, but we know, or at least have an idea of the reach of the efforts. I don’t recall the specific numbers offhand but the authors were able to quantify the accounts and retweets that confirmed Russian accounts had during the election cycle which shows how far a foreign adversary could reach into our process at very little cost. Frankly, it is startling at best. I call my reading of the book timely as while I was reading it, the report came out about Paul Manafort giving Russian intelligence polling data. Because I read this book, I have an understanding as to what that could mean that isn’t base on conjecture.
If you are interested in this stuff, give this book a read. You will learn a ton.
