APAD: the eyes of heaven and the spies of hell

“The birds are the eyes of heaven, and the flies are the spies of hell.” — Suzy Kassem

I found this funny quote this morning and felt it's very true except that spies are normally much quieter than flies .

I love watching spy/detective movies and TV shows. After watching TV show "A spy among friends" and having found out it's a true story based on a book by Ben Macintyre, I started to read his books and felt the stories so fascinating that I kept on reading.

Note Ben Macintyre is a bestselling author of nonfiction history books that focused on international espionage. His books are known for being well-researched but written in a popular style.

That is how I learned the historic facts about:

- "Cambridge Five", a ring of spies in the UK that passed information to the Soviet Union during the Second World War and the Cold War;  
- Oleg Gordievsky, a double agent for MI6 who helped avert a nuclear confrontation and bring about the end of the Cold War, thus changed the course of history;
- The untold background of Agnes Smedley (==史沫特莱)
- ... ...

For your reference, I have captured most of his book covers in the pic below. Have fun reading if you are also interested.

But, “friends don’t spy; true friendship is about privacy, too.” – Stephen King

Have a good boxing day and don't let anyone spy on your box !