I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon's Black World by Trevor Paglen
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Book Reviews of I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon's Black World
Book Review: Unless your interested in Military patches this book is not for you
Summary: 2 Stars
This book is a picture book of clandestine military patches and a short review of there meaning and location.It is interesting but lacks alot of story.Book Review: Quck fun read
Summary: 4 Stars
Enjoyable look at the various military "skunkworks" projects that go on beneath the public surface. The explanations, especially translations from Latin, provided for each of the project or group patches are a bit variable. Some are fairly detailed (but almost always shorter than half a page), while some are very superficial at best. Book would have been even better if it dealt with similar now-declassified projects in the Army or Navy; they must exist. Virtually all the examples cited are from the Air Force. But overall an illuminating vignette about how people who work on these projects view themselves - usually in a humorous, irreverent manner.Book Review: Good pictures, little commentary, no organization
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a nicely bound book with a patch embedded into the front cover. On the inside, it's mostly pictures with light commentary, so it's mostly a one-time read with little reference potential. The content is mostly speculative, and the patches aren't organized by symbology. I would have liked to see some patches from less secretive units using the same symbology for comparison.
It's a nice conversation starter, though.
Book Review: Amusing and entertaining little book
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are at all interested in the military, insignias, secret projects, or just good conversational pieces, buy this book. Then take it for what it's intended. The author doesn't promise a comprehensive or even consistent summary of military patches or black ops; he's picked some of the more interesting emblems and thrown a few program tidbits in where he could. It's surface level insight into the secret world of black ops, and if we all knew about it, it wouldn't be very secret or black, would it? The photos are great, the back stories are interesting, and we enjoyed it so much I'm buying more as gifts for my the history/military buffs in my family (i.e., all the guys.) Book Review: Not Revelatory
Summary: 2 Stars
Although some of the patches are visually interesting, the book reveals no secrets. A quirky disappoint that has gotten a lot of press.