Early articles from Winkler promised to teach you to hack, or think like a hacker. Instead, they were typically articles selling his own perceived ability, intermixed with astounding pieces of wisdom and the stroking of his own ego.
As far as breaking into computers goes-- as I have said before-- I can train a monkey to break into a computer in a few hours. It's easy to learn, and unfortunately there are hundreds of places on the Internet where loser and criminal wannabes can go and teach themselves. You are not going to learn that here.
If he can train a monkey to do what he does, what does that say about his own skillset?
What allows me to be "good" at my job as a security professional is my basic understanding of computer fundamentals. As a matter of fact, it not only allows me to be a security professional, it allows me to be good in any area related to computers that I want to work in.
Most people know that if you lose everything on your disk, you've also lost the information on your disk.
This statement really highlights Winkler's superior intellect.