Book Review: "A Burglar's Guide To The City"
"A Burglar's Guide To The City" by Geoff Manaugh is an interesting look into the profession of cat burglars, specifically their relation to architecture and the buildings they rob. The book talks about some notable burglars, tricksters, and thieves of our time, such as Bill Mason, Harry Houdini, and even John Dillinger, as well as noting some of their personal biographies that interested parties should read. That said, the book touches on a dizzying amount of subjects, from stealth and thief style video games all the way to the legal definitions of burglary. Overall, I felt like the book was more of a layman’s introduction and recommend it those just starting to explore the world of B&E. For example, the book talks a lot about lock picking but never dives into technical definitions of the tools, like the various types of picks, bump keys, or pick machines. The book's major point is the idea that if your okay with destructive entry, you can remake the urban world around you by punching new doors where there were once walls. I listened to the book on Audible for ~8hrs at ~$15. This was an exciting story and it kept me engaged with tale after tale of true crime drama. Ultimately, I give it 6 out of 10 stars, because it’s a fun insight to the topic but provides little extra detail to those who study these topics. I would recommend this book to anyone who performs physical security assessments, hackers, or even those into true crime history. This is the kind of book that can cause you took look at the world around you a little different, what it would be like if you could punch your own door anywhere you want. Bellow you can see the chapters of the book, although the video at the bottom will give you a better idea of what the book entails.
Chapter 1: Space Invaders
Chapter 2: Crime Is Just Another Way to Use the City
Chapter 3: The Building Is the Target
Chapter 4: Tools of the Trade
Chapter 5: Inside Job
Chapter 6: A Crime Is Nothing If You Can't Get Away
Chapter 7: Burglary Requires Architecture
The book briefly touches on many subjects people familiar with the area should know, and in that sense, can be used as a good introductory text. I really liked the parts with Schuyler Towne and how the author met other famous hackers like Deviant Ollam throughout his journey. The author takes a brief foyer into the world of lockpicking but ultimately settles on the ease and access of destructive entry. The pinnacle of the book is when the author highlights the techniques of destructive entry and the fact that if criminals are willing to destroy their environment they can move through it in entirely new ways. The term is actually called mouse-holing, which can be found in urban warfare and can be used to turn close-quarter city combat inside-out. One of my biggest complaints is that the book extols the burglar as some type of super genius, while also presenting statistics like, 70% of burglaries are estimated to be committed by drug addicts, showing the majority of field is rushed and not as well thought out as the rare examples the book presents. The book also talks about fooling the assumptions of the pursuers, and how those fleeing their pursuers don't always have to run, for example one thief would just wait for the heat to die down in his car before calmly driving away from crime scenes. This is interesting because it highlights the adversarial nature of the situation, over just running away from the location. One of my favorite technical stories is where author talks about the research of students to simulate traffic on the app Waze and thus create real life traffic jams. Finally the author looks to the future, and notes that the ability to hack the high tech interconnected cities of the future will allow for burglars to make even greater escapes, like the traffic scene in the Italian Job. Ultimately, this is a fun book, a neat look into the world of high skill burglary and criminal masterminds, albeit a more casual read. The book has its own companion site, and the author also writes an incredible blog on architecture. Below you can see the Geoff Manaugh speaking on his book:
