TOP SECRET

A wide-ranging skulk down hidden byways of spycraft, history, nature, food, archaeology, and more.

The title reflects only the general drift of the contents. Along with quick introductions to codes and ciphers, ninjas, secret agents, tiny cameras, and the like, the authors chuck in spreads on the U.S. president’s armored car, the infrastructure of Rome’s Colosseum, great white sharks, the Rosetta Stone, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and other foods with secret formulas, women who “dressed as dudes” to disguise their sex, and dozens of other tangential, if crowd-pleasing, topics. Readers eager for mentions of, say, Gitmo, QAnon, or the deep state will be disappointed, but there is an interview with an actual CIA agent as well as some lesser-known spy stuff headed by an entertaining account of a “psychic arms race” between the Cold War rivals. The illustrations, a strong point as usual, mix sharply reproduced photos of people, places, and gear with close-ups of children playing spy—the last an invitation to follow the directions for several “tradecraft”-related projects like making invisible ink or setting up a network of secret informants (all in fun, of course). Human figures in the pictures are diverse of age, sex, and race. Each chapter presents readers with an encoded riddle, answers to which are revealed at the end.

Really just a jumble—but expertly designed as browser bait.