A Burglar's Guide to the City

By: Geoff Manaugh

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

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 readers 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.

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.

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.