Blind Man's Bluff

WOW!!!

I served in the Navy in the early 80's and I had no idea this stuff was happening! This is a fantastic and compelling work. I highly recommend this read!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Outstanding

A must read for anyone interested in submarines, espionage or the cold war. Do not pass on this one.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

fantastic read/listen

very interesting history of intrigue, politics, and heroism. another fascinating portion of the efforts during the cold war.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fascinating

I had no idea what our subs were capable of nor did I realize how advanced our Naval Submersible fleet is becoming. Truly enjoyed this book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fascinating Read!

This book is riveting and a great opening into the rich, albeit secretive, history of submarines. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in the worlds navies!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

must read for anyone living during cold war

If you could sum up Blind Man's Bluff in three words, what would they be?

S.M.F

What other book might you compare Blind Man's Bluff to and why?

not sure

Which character – as performed by George Wilson – was your favorite?

ALL

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

its not about reaction. its about action taken by people dedicated to our country and its cold war spy game. I retired after 20 years in military. this is a great book and what the public never realizes what goes on daily in security of our country

Any additional comments?

My hats off the those who are in the book and those who worked for the military and contractors! I mean that. unless you were in some of these classified projects in the book or others not ever to be told. you would never understand the lives lost, games played and dedication of an ordinary kid becoming a hero in a moment and not by choice,, by reaction to their fellow military brothers and sisters and never thinking about their own safety and in some cases losing their own lives.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Former Boat Sailor

I enjoyed reading then listening to Blind Man’s Bluff as it brought me back to many of my experiences riding boats for 15 years of my Naval career. I found myself reminiscing about those times of fear and elation. I sent a copy to my parents who were shocked when they read about my boats.
I hope you take the time to read or listen to this book and consider the sacrifices and accomplishments of submarine crews. At the height of the Cold War there were 96 fast boats, about 11000 men responsible for safeguarding our way of life.

Breathtaking

I didn’t want to stop listening. Every chapter, every new adventure left me pining for more. My respect and admiration for the navy men who devoted their lives to the submariners life is very high indeed. Thank you for producing this magnificent volume.

Amazing Cold War Events

“Blind Man's Bluff”, subtitled “The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage”, is written by both Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. The audiobook edition is performed by George Wilson. The book has become a New York Times Bestseller upon its release and let me say that I can understand why after listening. If you are someone who grew up during the Cold War, or if you enjoy books with submarines, or if you are a person who likes a good Clancy spy novel, you will want to pick up a copy of this audiobook; it is fascinating. Consisting of nearly sixteen hours of action-packed and factual events from history, this book is well worth the Audible credit and your listening time. I have heard rumors and bits of many of these various submarine missions, but the authors of the book bring history to life and fill in many of the gaps in stories available elsewhere. Nowhere have I found a book that covers so much of what was kept secret for such a long period of time; much of it is still classified as Top Secret. Things we will never know and may never want to know.

What I found intriguing was all the amazing men (the Navy’s submariner program was mostly men during this time in history) who risked their lives to collect intelligence on our perceived enemy threats. I was also amazed how much the program expanded from not only leveraging this technology against the Russians, but also other countries we felt were hostile to the United States; and even a few of our allies. It was interesting to see how quickly a program could be developed and that it took so long for people to realize the potential of these “tin cans of death” under the cover of the seas. Not only did we want to build bigger, faster, and quieter submarine technology, we also wanted vessels that could be used to tap underwater communication cables without the other side knowing. All of this clandestine activity needed to be done via the highest level of secrecy while also attempting to build defenses around our own infrastructure preventing others from doing the same to us.

All of the technology and missions were what captivated me the most about this book, yet there was also such well researched material around the various programs, funding, and quite a bit of internal feuding to ultimately see who would get the credit when all of this rolled up to the higher-ups in government. The authors did an exceptional job of not just telling us about the missions, or what could be the more interesting parts, but instead gave us the whole story even when some of it was not all that pretty and people lost their lives. The book goes beyond covering the cable wire taping program that many are familiar with, it also dives into the many cat and mouse games played between the Russians and Americans at the heat of the cold war. It covers the multitude of near misses while the two countries played these games with one another. And, as most have been told by their mothers while young, it is all fun until some gets hurt. This book details what might have been at the heart of the loss of the USS Scorpion which failed to return to port at its assigned time.

The ability of the authors to research and catalogue so much about this program from papers requested via the freedom of information act, interviewing people who were there on the missions, and also from records found from the other side which gave a very different view of what we believe happened. I feel the book only exposes the tip of the iceberg, yet there is so much we will never know about this program.

For me, the book’s narration by George Wilson could have been more professionally recorded or edited prior to being made available on Audible. Overall the narration was decent, yet there were a few times where there were some noticeable volume inconstancies and a few times I could hear background noise. Nothing that would keep me from listening and being engaged with such a powerful story. The narration was not terrible, yet for those who like their narration and audio error free, just be aware there are a few spots if you pick up this book.

For parents and younger readers. This book does have a few places where profanity is used but is only used when the authors are quoting someone. It could have been beeped out, but the authors instead decided to leave quotes unedited, so be aware that there are a few places strong language is used and quite heavy at times. Being this book is a military piece of non-fiction, there are also some quite graphic events covered in the material, however these are factual events and the book does not contain anything that excessive.

In summary, the book was a fascinating piece that brought me into the historic events of cold war and the importance of information during these times. One needs to remember, this was pre-Internet and government hacking. All of these missions required men and women to put their lives as risk in the hope that the information gathered would keep you and I safe from future attack. If you are looking for a piece of engrossing non-fiction and you like to see the world of spies and submarines, I highly recommend you pick up “Blind Man’s Bluff” and give it a listen.

The only book I couldn't put down

This is the most interesting book on the Cold War that I've ever read. It ranks as one of the best books I've ever encountered. It kept me up late at night and I couldn't wait to get back to it. It's too awesome for words!