A Burglar’s Guide to the City
by Geoff Manaugh · first published 2016
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explores how city layout, architecture and security features shape the crimes committed in them, using high-profile heists as examples; suits readers curious about urban design and security from an unusual angle.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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 acros
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Geoff Manaugh, author of this blog, has a fun book called "A Burglar's Guide to the City", discussing how city layouts influence the types of crimes committed there. One example that I remember talks about the differences between Los Angeles and New York City: at one point in the 1990s,…
on “Nakatomi Space” ↗If you are into this kind of stuff, keep an eye out for "The Burglar's Guide to the City" by Geoff Manaugh, coming in October. It looks fantastic: http://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Guide-City-Geoff-Manaugh/dp/0...
on “The strange expertise of burglars” ↗Noted in the footer of the story, but if you liked that content you’re likely also going to enjoy the book, A Burglar's Guide to the City: https://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Guide-City-Geoff-Manaugh/dp/...
on “The architect who became the king of bank robberies” ↗I really enjoyed _A Burglar's Guide to the City_ - https://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Guide-City-Geoff-Manaugh-ebo... The premise of the book is a study of high-profile heists and how the crimes themselves were heavily influenced and determined by the…
on “Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2016?” ↗If you want something written from a criminal viewpoint, but not from a criminal, I highly recommend A Burglar's Guide to the City: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22237142-a-burglar-s-gui... It's more about architecture and security than it is about crime, but still very good.
on “Creativity secrets from armed robbers, fraudsters and other criminals” ↗A Burglar’s Guide to the City is a good read. I have recommended it to a number of people. Two weeks ago while visiting San Fran I went to a security meetup and mentioned the book. One of the individuals pulled out the book and said…
on “Space Invaders: A Burglar’s Guide to the City” ↗…door with a strong kick? Are the windows on the second floor (for a house) always locked? A good book on this topic, about how differently thieves think about space and common security features, is "A Burglar's Guide to the City".
on “The World of Competitive Lockpicking” ↗Somewhat related: A Burglar's Guide to the City https://burglarsguide.com/ looking at urban architecture from the perspective of someone who doesn't use windows the way they're intended
on “A Pickpocket's Guide to New York” ↗Topic reminds me of the book, A Burglar's Guide to the City: https://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Guide-City-Geoff-Manaugh/dp/... Which started out as a blog: https://bldgblog.com/ Unlike the book, this city appears to think the solution to all their problems is…
on “Fighting crime by checking buildings, not suspects” ↗…Los Angeles, as does London and they both have effective public transport networks. LA's problem is roads, it's also one of the reasons LA became the bank robber capital of the world based on reading A Burglar's Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh
on “Boeing’s Flying Car Has Taken Off” ↗…the excerpt on Amazon for the book you recommended and to me, seems like historical fiction with little to do on the actual topic itself; clearly it’s an excerpt though. —- Edit: Here’s excerpt for “A Burglar’s Guide to the City”that appears to be legal for anyone interested: https://www.scribd.com/document/311259914/A-Burglar-s-guide-...
on “The architect who became the king of bank robberies” ↗