A Spy's Guide to Thinking

By: John Braddock

Narrated by: Kevin Pierce

"Head wounds bleed. All those vessels going to the brain. Carrying nutrients so you can think. Which I hadn't...I was stunned. But I hadn't lost yet. I still had the phone. And two options."

There are a select few people who get things done. Spies are first among them.

In this 45-minute listen, a former spy introduces two simple tools for thinking. The first describes how we think. The second helps us think ahead. They are the essential tools for getting things done.

The tools are applied to an incident in a subway car in Europe where a spy faces a new enemy. Then, they're reapplied to Saddam Hussein's stockpiling (or not) of weapons of mass destruction.

John Braddock was a case officer at the CIA. He developed, recruited and handled sources on weapons proliferation, counter-terrorism, and political-military issues. A former university research fellow, he is now a strategy consultant. He helps people and organizations think more effectively about their strategy, their customers, and their competition.

©2015 John Braddock (P)2015 John Braddock

Just Not Enough

This is a good listen, but there is just not enough content to make a complete statement.

There is only one example given from which to draw all of the author's conclusions. This example is broken down bit-by-bit, move-by-move, piece-by-piece - which is great! The only problem, is that this book really needed (a minimum) of about three examples to clarify and drive home the author's points.

The book is great, but ...

Took me a minute to get past the narrator, but I ended up really liking the story!
Is this the first time the narrator read this??

What you think is vague what you know is clear!

much safer to admit you know nothing but recognize a situation, hypothize a potential threat, discuss the knowns. then proceed or ignore.

ehhh..it's ok

vanilla...not bad. it was at least short. narrator had a lisp that was distracting that made it difficult for me to concentrate.

Not

I liked that it was read very well.
Also some of the stories did make you analyze the way thinking should be but I felt it was Way to Vague and Basically didn’t tell me as much as I thought it would to reading people. My expectations were high but this was very limited and common sense information. Still a good reminder was good but wasn’t great. With the without would of Gave us more descriptive insight on what to look for and do to think like a spy.