A Burglar's Guide to the City

By: Geoff Manaugh

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Encompassing nearly 2,000 years of heists and tunnel jobs, break-ins and escapes, A Burglar's Guide to the City offers an unexpected blueprint to the criminal possibilities in the world all around us. You'll never see the city the same way again.

At the core of A Burglar's Guide to the City is an unexpected and thrilling insight: how any building transforms when seen through the eyes of someone hoping to break into it. Studying architecture the way a burglar would, Geoff Manaugh takes listeners through walls, down elevator shafts, into panic rooms, up to the buried vaults of banks, and out across the rooftops of an unsuspecting city.

With the help of FBI special agents, reformed bank robbers, private security consultants, the LAPD Air Support Division, and architects past and present, the book dissects the built environment from both sides of the law. Whether picking padlocks or climbing the walls of high-rise apartments, finding gaps in a museum's surveillance routine or discussing home invasions in ancient Rome, A Burglar's Guide to the City has the tools, the tales, and the X-ray vision you need to see architecture as nothing more than an obstacle that can be outwitted and undercut.

Full of real-life heists both spectacular and absurd, A Burglar's Guide to the City ensures that listeners will never enter a bank again without imagining how to loot the vault or walk down the street without planning the perfect getaway.

©2016 Geoff Manaugh (P)2016 Random House Audio

The most fascinating book I've ever read.

I've gone through this book three times. Its still as riveting and intriguing as the first time I've read it. Even if your not into crime statistics, criminology or architeture this book will beyond a doubt, open your eyes to a world filled with invisible possibilities.

Wonderfully Narrated

This is one of the better books I listened to about burglars. As an ex-burglar myself, I can say “ you got it right”.

interesting view of crime...from the outside in

Helpful survey of how the bad guys view buildings as opportunities. They see riches where we see walls and windows. Most interesting was when the author filled us in on the role of police helicopters.

A blunt instrument on a subject begging for a scalpel

I was excited for this book based on the concept alone. The result is good, but Manaugh moves through the subject matter like a freight train. I'd hoped for more detail, a more patient discussion of the heists, so many of which he only teases. A fun discussion to tickle the imagination with just enough detail to make you look for more resources in the field.

Reads like a movie pitch...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

In a reasonable world the author would have written this material as a film pitch, directly and for that purpose. But, in the world of pre-published galleys frequently being optioned for film rights, the author is shrewd in his approach. The perceived prestige of producing material based on a book, unfairly or not, makes a film deal more likely because it's seen as a safer bet than a script. And for an executive in the tenuous position of approving a project, they need all the safety they can get! I don't blame 'em.

Would you recommend A Burglar's Guide to the City to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, great story!

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Mazel Tov!

too long

Wonderful details from historical burglaries were incredibly interesting, however, it could have been easily much shorter. While its cliche, judicial editing was needed.

loved it. so interesting

so informative and intriguing about how architecture can be used for and against us

Fascinating

Geoff Manaugh details burglary laws, how building codes can be used for a burglar, how to protect yourself against burglary, and famous cases. It's pretty cool.

Lots of filler

Has some interesting points but really reads like a essay who’s author is trying to meet a word count. Repeats concepts over and over. Has flowery pose that seems there just to fill space and time. Spent a chapter explaining how bored helicopter pilots are. The amount of worthwhile information and anecdotes could fit about 2 hours. Nothing wrong with the narrator.

For Design Nerds not Would Be Burglars

This book was absolutely entertaining all the way through. No idea why so many reviews didn't like it--maybe because they were hoping for actual tutorials? As an architecture and design nerd, I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter, rewinding sections for my husband to hear. The bit about burglary in Ancient Rome was fascinating as was learning of the sad obsolescence of most lock-picking in modern times. Very amused by the FBIs special set-making teams and the burglar-lure traps in England. My only complain about the book was that it wasn't longer. Will be hunting down other titles from this author. Loved it!