Lock Picking/Smithing book reviews

[mightymouse]

Hi, I've a birthday coming up and have decided to use it to indulge myself with a book or two on lockpicking or the locksmithing business. I've been searching and I notice lots of people ask what books might be interesting to buy in addition to the MIT Guide, Secrets of Lockpicking, and other free online goodies. However, people responding usually just mention a book that is good without going into any detail about it.

It struck me that perhaps it might be a neat idea if people who already have the various books write their own reviews for other LP101 members to comment on, and help us new folk out a little when choosing what to get.

There is an interesting list of books at [url]http://www.lockpickshop.com/page/LPS/CTGY/BTT[/url]. (Clicking on the photo or the book title gives a page carrying additional info on the book). Does anyone have some of these and fancy writing some of their impressions about them?

Also, does anyone who's read several books want to give us a list of the best ones to get in their opinions? What I'd basically like is The Ultimate Newbie Book Reading List.

Once I get a book or two of my own, I'll be sure to write reviews of them for everyone else to read.

[Chucklz]

Locks, Safes, and Secuirty 2nd Edition by M.W.Tobias 200$US, but thats what you can expect to pay for large hardcover texts. Has hundreds of pages of information on locks, bypass, picking techniques, etc. "If you buy one book....."

[Mr. Picks]

Also check out the book on the left hand side of the page steel bolt hacking nice cheap price.

chucklz is moderator as of today

[CitySpider]

MIT Guide: Great! Could be much better, but it's the best thing going.

Easy Pickings: Throw it away. No, actually, burn it. Go read the MIT Guide and look at HowStuffWorks instead.

[Varjeal]

Speaking of reviews...I'll be receiving a copy of the book on the left side of the screen in the next week or so...will post a review once it's read. (which I'm sure will be immediately thereafter.)

[mightymouse]

Thanks for the replies guys...keep them coming.

I had no idea Doug Chick was into lock picking; I've been reading thenetworkadmin for a year or so on and off and saw no mention of it. I'm looking forward to your review varjeal.

[Dark Angel]

Easy pickings:
This was the first book i got,and it did help me out a bit,but it has nothing that the mit guide doesnt already have.The only bonus was the small lockpicking set that came with the book.I would still recomend this as a starter kit,to someone who wanted a cheap lockpicking set and a basic guide to picking.

The Secrets Of Lockpicking:
I found this book to have a lot more details in it as well as better pictures and diagrams,compared to the easy pickings book.
The book is available on the net in parts but there is a lot missing.I would definetly recomend this book for anyone starting out in picking.
The book covers
Pin tumblers
waifer locks
warded locks
tubular locks
magnetic locks
disc tumbler locks

Something New About Lockpicking:
I would not recomend this book at all,the pictures are very poor the spelling and grammar is bad and on the whole it has nothing to offer but basic lockpicking methods.The book is also nothing more than a panthlete.

Pick Guns:
This book is very interesting,it covers all the makes of pick guns from the early snap guns to more rare specialist electric guns that were used by fbi field agents in the late sixties.It also shows breakdown diagrams of all the guns,the methods of how they work and a history of lockpick guns.
I would definetly recomend this book if you are interested in pick guns.

[karl]

has anybody read the"visual guide to lockpicking"?if so,is it any good?

[joecool2727]

Keys to Understanding Tubular locks is a good book but it doesnt really have anything new (copywrite 1974). It tells how to pick a regular 7-pin lock, how to rekey them, how to drill them, and how to make a makeshift tubular key from a bullet casing. Pretty interesting. And it also gives a some information about the Van Lock and the Nix-Pix Lock.

[mightymouse]

Thanks for your opinion on the book. If anyone else has opinions/reviews to add of their favourite/most hated books then be sure to keep them coming; its all very interesting stuff.

At the moment I'm thinking of getting:

The visual Guide to Lockpicking,
The Complete Guide to Lockpicking,
Secrets of Lockpicking,
Advanced Lockpicking Secrets.

(I know Secrets of Lockpicking is available online, but I've read that these versions tend to be incomplete.)

Does anyone have any comment on my choice? I'm still looking for an Ultimate Newbie Book Reading List if anyone would care to provide their opinion of what it should be.

[toomush2drink]

mightymouse also try the book in this thread i posted http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=2487

Its not so much about picking but about how locks work and lots of different types are covered.

toomush

[CitySpider]

Does anyone have any comment on my choice? I'm still looking for an Ultimate Newbie Book Reading List if anyone would care to provide their opinion of what it should be.

That sounds like a challenge. Ahem.

SPIDER'S ULTIMATE NEWBIE BOOK READING LIST:
1) The Document Formerly Known as the MIT Guide to Lockpicking.

Just in case anyone doesn't catch my voice: if you're reading about picking, you're not picking. Learn the basics and then pick up the tools already.

[mightymouse]

toomush2drink: Thanks for mentioning that; A book covering the inner workings of a great number of commonly used locks would be extremely useful to me. Most written material I have seen so far just tends to focus on pin tumblers. Also, I'm in England and so the info on Lever Locks would be especially useful as they are everywhere one looks. I've added it to my list and I'll be sure to check it out.

Spider: hehe, I know where your coming from. I dont expect to learn to pick from reading books, and I take onboard your point that you just have to sit down and do it. However, learning about the inner workings of different locks _does_ require some study. The MIT Guide is excellent; I've read it several times and will read it many more, but I wont accept it as the bible of lockpicking (at least not without reading other material for comparison).

[CitySpider]

Oh, I wouldn't call it the Bible of lockpicking either. It's the basics. The Bible of Lockpicking, and this is probably kind of undisputed, would be LSS.

[Chucklz]

There is some rumor of a new edition of LSS coming out, so I would hold off for a bit, if you can.