Books on OS-related topics (but not on OSdev)

[kutkloon7]

Do you guys have any recommendations? I didn't buy any books yet, but I'm looking at a couple on amazon, specifically to reverse engineering and `hacking' stuff (penetration testing and exploits).

The Shellcoder's Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Holes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Shellcoders-H ... 047008023X

A Guide to Kernel Exploitation: Attacking the Core
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Kernel-Expl ... 1597494860

Practical Reverse Engineering: x86, x64, ARM, Windows Kernel, Reversing Tools, and Obfuscation
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Reverse ... 1118787315

Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering
http://www.amazon.com/Reversing-Secrets ... 0764574817

Anybody read them or heard stuff about them or related books? I never bought or read this kind of books so I don't know what to expect and if it's really useful or not.

[Combuster]

"Hacker" is a rather honourable term in this context. I don't know any of these books, but unless one of them is the Tao Te Ping which none of them appear to be, these books only teach you to be a scriptkiddie. In the end it is always the mindset that makes someone transcend the scriptkiddie stage and become a real hacker.

EDIT: Did you ever try meeting the people in person?

[kutkloon7]

I know, that is why I parenthesized the word

Didn't know of those groups, I'll look into them! Didn't know you were Dutch too