I-spy: A Peep into the World of Spies by Amit Bagaria – Review

I-Spy: A Peep into the World of Spies is a title by Amit Bagaria, a well-known non-fiction and fiction writer from India, who has written many books on national and international affairs of importance and controversies. His book Demythsifying Myths became very popular and I-Spy follows the same. In the present title, I-Spy, the author takes the readers into the world of intelligence warfare and the challenges to secure one’s nation with an added responsibility to infiltrate into other nations’ intelligence system and gather intelligence information whenever required. So, this title is for those who want to know widely about the functioning and important works of intelligence agencies – and not only general information but the important details and works of all major leading intelligence agencies in the world have been discussed in details in this book by Amit Bagaria. 

The book begins with the basics of spying – terminology, abbreviations, basic personality traits of a spy and the basic and other requirements from a spy. Then, the author enters into the world of spying and also discuss each of the 20 leading intelligence agencies in the world that he has ranked according to his own parameters and other details. To the surprise of many, Amit Bagaria puts MI6 at the top of the list and CIA on the second number. However, the pages dedicated to the CIA are thicker than any other leading agency in the world and it shows how important is this agency. Indian agency, RAW, has been kept at number 9, even below Pakistan’s ISI and 8 other agencies. 

Presented with visually communicating graphics and data sheets, the book becomes a reference for all those interested readers who want to explore more about the well-known and lesser-known missions carried out by the intelligence agencies in the world. It has details of all the important works by the CIA and MI6 and also all other agencies discussed in details. However, there is one limitation that Amit has added to the text. He just wrote all that he wanted to but the facts that he has mentioned, the sensitive ones, should have been backed up with the factual references and that is missing in the book. I would, however, not think that this constraint becomes the trouble for the book because the facts are presented in a very convincing way and the readers will certainly believe it after a little verification. And the qualities of the book are the reasons that many leading book review websites in India have rated the book very well. 

So, to conclude the review, I will say that the book I-Spy is an intelligent attempt to bring the realities of a spy and his duties, basic and advanced personality requirements, the job of intelligence agencies and so on… Amit Bagaria has also tried to bust many mythical shrouds that cover the life of a spy on the screen and that is not at all true… the spy, in real life, does not go around wearing costly suits and watches to do feats that are impossible. He gathers intelligence that helps his country survive and thrive… 

You can get a copy of this book from Amazon India by clicking the link below: 

buy the book – click here – Amazon India 

review by Nishant Sinha for The Book Blog