Explains in nontechnical detail how anyone can bypass a security alarm system, sometimes in seconds. The author shows the weaknesses inherent in alarm devices such as: contact switches, motion detectors, pressure pads, glass-break sensors and other types of detection devices, and describes circumvention techniques that will render most security systems inoperative. Providing an authentic look inside the security business—how alarms are installed, how they're paid for, how they are monitored and responded to—the book highlights the fact that many security services are irresponsible and are ripping off consumers by not providing the protection they are paying for. Here is plenty of advice and insider tricks on how to make systems more secure from violations, and the vital issues to raise and questions to ask when dealing with alarm installers, monitoring stations and local law enforcement. MC

Publisher: Paladin
Paperback: 83 pages
Illustrated

How to conduct private surveillance, if only it were legal. Extensive details on state-of-the-art bugging transmitters, surveillance recorders, shotgun microphones, and all the other goodies that spies, P.I.s and the U.S. government use. Niftiest item: Letter Bomb Visualizer (liquid Freon), “makes paper into glass for 30 seconds and then dries without a trace.” Gadgets also include scramblers, bug detectors and other countermeasures. Plus chapters on assembling information on people, skip-tracing, beating lie-detector tests, etc. With field test results, improvement tips, where-to-buy, and more. GR

Publisher: Paladin
Paperback: 264 pages
Illustrated

A basic manual on accessing public record information about an individual, with a few methods absent from most books on the subject. Using the pretense of providing information on protecting oneself from conmen and investigating the claims and backgrounds of celebrities and public figures, this books gives information on obtaining county records, DMV information and state tax and corporation records. Includes how to legally obtain a subject’s Social Security number from credit bureaus, and how to find out what the Social Security numbers mean, using the Social Security number “Group Number” chart provided. Also: accessing vital, criminal and military records, bankruptcy records, information on “deadbeat dads” and other obscure sources of information as well as illegal methods of obtaining credit information. The final chapter offers a short rundown on how to sell one's services as an investigator. TC

Publisher: Index
Paperback: 160 pages
Illustrated

How to stay smart and alert in our increasingly complicated environment that is full of daily shocks and surprises. “Packed with proven safety techniques, expert tips and survival methods you can use in your everyday life,” including:
• How burglars choose a home.
• How to talk to children about crime, carry valuables safely and survey your neighborhood for hot spots.
• Should you make eye contact with suspicious strangers?
• What to do when confronted by gangs.
• How to prepare yourself mentally to shoot at an intruder, coming home to an intruder, and what to say when you’ve got the drop on one.
• Twenty steps to take to prevent a carjacking. GR

Publisher: Flores
Paperback: 218 pages
Illustrated

Beginning with the premise that schism is the fundamental human method for dealing with frictions within groups of people, the author outlines five approaches to founding your own country today: traditional sovereignty, ship under flag of convenience, litigation, vonu (or off-the-grid), and the model country (exists on paper only). Sovereignty without territory (such as the shadowy Knights of Malta), the necessity of the use of military force, internal organization and other questions are given a sobering Macchiavellian treatment. How To Start Your Own Country ultimately becomes a mind-expanding exercise in determining what constitutes a state with all of its potential ramifications. Most of the book is an exhaustive alphabetical listing of new-country attempts—compiled with the help of the International Micropatogical Society (the society for the study of small countries)—from “Antartica, Kingdom of West” to the “United Moorish Republic”— from the farcical to the righteously Randian. SS

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 174 pages
Illustrated

“Surviving without a salary is not the denial of work’s importance. Quite the contrary. It is the celebration of work—real work—as a human act whose value is intrinsic, irrespective of its value in the consumer marketplace. We do our work in our own small way, not because Mammon pays us, but because it makes us human.” The author interweaves the philosophy of his “conserver lifestyle” with practical advice on exit strategies, debts, taxes, freelance work, casual employment, buying at auctions, cutting costs, and other methods for getting out and staying out of the 9-to-5 trap. SS

Publisher: Eden
Paperback: 232 pages
Illustrated

“A citizen’s guide to using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to request government records.” Spells out the scope of these two historic acts, then explains which one is best for the reader’s needs. Chapters include: “What Records Can Be Requested Under the FOIA?”; “Requirements for Agency Response”; and “Reasons Access May Be Denied.” Also “Making a Privacy Act Request for Access”; and “Administrative Appeal Procedures for Denial of Access.” Includes a sample request form and a list of Federal Information Centers. GR

Publisher: Eden
Paperback: 65 pages

Under other circumstances, Jacobs would be hailed as a savvy businessman filled with entrepreneurial chutzpah. Instead, he turned his unique talents into a 20-year criminal career during which he made millions of dollars via his sophisticated credit card scams, counting among his victims corporations such as Western Union and Proctor and Gamble, as well as casinos, airlines and just about every other business imaginable. Unfortunately, Jacobs’ severe addiction to gambling caused him to lose most of those millions as quickly as he acquired them, leaving the titular appellation “genius” open to question. Long-suffering urbanites may or may not appreciate the scheme in which he sublet an apartment under a false name, then “rented” it to approximately 60 different individuals, collecting a hefty deposit from each before disappearing. Even his numerous straight businesses functioned on the border of illegitimacy, probably not unlike most Fortune 500 companies. Come to think of it, Jacobs used the name “Donald Trump” for one of his scams, and but he and the Donald have never been seen in the same room together. At the very least, Jacobs’ tale will make you guard your credit cards with your life. LP

Publisher: City Lights
Hardback: 205 pages
Illustrated

This manual, aimed at those engaged in unconventional warfare, details how common consumer electronics can be modified to work as radio-controlled detonation devices. Subjects include: cordless electronic touch-tone phones, citizens-band radio transmitters, toy walkie-talkie systems, radio pagers, AM/FM walkmen, cellular telephones and VHF police scanners. Includes detailed reading list. MC

Publisher: Paladin
Paperback: 74 pages
Illustrated

Weapon construction behind razor-wire requires special techniques and strategies because of the unique demands of the prison environment. Luger details the many types of weapons that have been constructed by inmates—including knives and other edged weapons, prison-made guns, garrotes and choking instruments, blunt instruments and firebombs—and the ingenious hiding places prisoners find for their contraband. Objects as mundane as a toothbrush can be turned into a deadly shank. The book includes details about how attacks on prisoners are planned, information about escape, and description of how material is smuggled into secure facilities, often by members of the prison staff. Illustrated with close-up photographs of seized weapons constructed by convicts. MC

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 83 pages
Illustrated