An ever-popular title, this was one of the very first books published by Usborne forty years ago. The then ground-breaking design still looks very strong today and this fact-packed introduction to secret codes, tricks and disguises is as beguiling now as it was when it first appeared. Modern spying may have got more electronic and sophisticated by young novices will be delighted but what they find here.
Usborne has revived The KnowHow Book of Spycraft for the 40th Anniversary. It is one of the first Usborne books to be published, in 1975, and is Peter Usborne's all-time favourite, the Black Hat Spy is based upon Peter Usborne himself and his infamous wide-brimmed black hat. The book was actually used in evidence at the high court trial of Soviet spy Oleg Gordievsky, who testified that this book gave away the KGB's tradecraft.
The author, Falcon Travis, remains a mystery to this day......