[HN Gopher] The architect who became the king of bank robberies
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       The architect who became the king of bank robberies
        
       Author : paulpauper
       Score  : 114 points
       Date   : 2022-08-20 03:58 UTC (19 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (thehustle.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (thehustle.co)
        
       | larrydag wrote:
       | Has Leslie's life been made into a movie? I would certainly watch
       | it.
        
         | InCityDreams wrote:
         | Due to tme constraints, needing to be cost-effective etc,
         | wouldnt a movie be sadly disappointing- especially as there are
         | so very few movies that have succeeded depictng real-life
         | characters, books etc.
         | 
         | I feel I'd rather read a good synopsis rather than suffer 87
         | minutes of rewritten boff.
         | 
         | I'd also rather prefer a decent biography.
        
         | scyzoryk_xyz wrote:
         | A series would probably be even better - something like
         | Breaking Bad in the 19th century
        
         | mmahemoff wrote:
         | I don't know, but Heist podcast covered it. They're always
         | entertaining.
         | 
         | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heist-podcast-episode-...
        
       | rnk wrote:
       | Interesting story, I enjoyed it. If you ever perused the MIT
       | Guide to Lockpicking you'll probably find this story interesting.
       | I would like to see another level of detail that talks about what
       | challenges he faced in the various crimes.
        
       | O__________O wrote:
       | 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/...
        
         | Alekhine wrote:
         | No, you likely won't. I read that book and personally found it
         | extremely dull. It's just a series of anecdotes about some
         | historical heists and some more about some time the author
         | spent with the FBI's break-in team. The author is an
         | architecture blogger, and I think he thought there was some
         | profound insight into the nature of buildings we could glean
         | from unconventional uses of them, but he never actually arrives
         | at any kind of point. He just says "Hey! Look at these burglars
         | cutting through walls and using fire escapes and roof entrances
         | in ways they weren't intended! Isn't that cool? Wow, I bet we
         | could learn something from this!"
         | 
         | The point of the book was to learn something from it. He
         | didn't.
         | 
         | I am on the market for books about heists and burglars in the
         | 19th century. So far I have Ben McIntyre's _The Napoleon of
         | Crime_ , about Adam Worth. If anyone else has recommendations,
         | I would appreciate it.
        
           | O__________O wrote:
           | I read the book, familiar with the topic, met professionals
           | similar to those mentioned in the book in real life, and
           | would recommend it; both for knowledge of the topic and
           | entertainment.
           | 
           | What exactly are you hoping to find in a book? For what it's
           | worth, read 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-...
        
           | buffet_overflow wrote:
           | I wouldn't say the book isn't enjoyable, but I agree the book
           | alluded to a lot more specifics than it delivered. It's a fun
           | but very surface level read in my opinion. The author
           | certainly piqued my interest on the topic and I refer to it
           | in casual conversation pretty frequently, but I also expected
           | a bit more...technical depth out of it. Thanks for the book
           | recommendation on the topic, I've been wondering how to
           | follow the thread Burglar's Guide started.
        
             | O__________O wrote:
             | As a specific example of how the book opened my eyes to
             | understanding architecture in a way I sure others have
             | noticed, but never seen mentioned anywhere and is
             | indirectly referenced in the excerpt I mentioned,
             | commercial buildings frequently have "blueprints" right
             | inside the front door called "fire alarm zone maps"; Google
             | link below for examples:
             | 
             | https://www.google.com/search?q=fire+alarm+zone+maps&tbm=is
             | c...
             | 
             | Other maps of comparable amounts of information include
             | "fire evacuation maps" which are frequently on display in
             | various areas depending on the type of building; Google
             | link below for examples:
             | 
             | https://www.google.com/search?q=fire+evacuation+maps&tbm=is
             | c...
             | 
             | While neither are complete blueprints, the maps frequently
             | have information that's not available; if you know what
             | you're doing, you can frequently even get blueprints.
             | 
             | To me, point of the book is introduce a way of thinking
             | about architecture, not stay an update "how to guide" for
             | physical security counter measures, red teams, etc.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-20 23:02 UTC)