Spycraft

The Book in 1 Sentence

The American "Q" from the James Bond movies run you through the engineering of different spy gadgets that helped the CIA become one of the best spy agencies of all time.

Brief Review

Wallace and Melton do a great job of talking about the technical and operational requirements for the devices found and created. This book was really well described, but falls short of the promise of talking about modern day spy equipment.

Why I Read this book

I love spy gadgets and would love to have been "Q" from bond.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

So this book tells a lot of the same stories as A Spy Named Orphan, The Spy and the Traitor, and others, but at a much higher level and obviously about how those events happened. This book was also really well written and makes you think a lot about the engineering challenges that arose from the missions.

There are some really cool ideas they had and the amount success they had throughout the book is impressive. I mean, it was one of the people in the books above that compromised some of the programs.

There was a point in the book where it spent some time talking about POWs in Cuba that were CIA agents, but the Cuban government didn't realize was CIA. The way that The Agency talked to them and the way they communicated back. They were able to thwart a bombing, collect intelligence, and help free POWs all from prison cells.

Rating

I liked this book. I know there has been a slew of spy books in the last year or so, but who doesn't love James Bond or Ethan Hunt story. Honestly the engineering and the technology that was created to solve these niche issues is incredible. I think the stories where all of the tech is introduced is just a wonderful expansion of your brain. This is an 8. Go read it.

Want to get a hold of me?
Email | [email protected]

None of the link provided are sponsored or affiliate links, unless otherwise notated.