Rating: 
Summary: Much better than a TDU weight
Review: I like the effort put forth by the authors given source material constraints, but anyone who served knows that only the 'surface' was scratched. "Bluff" is a good overview with enough details about specific espionage operations to keep the reader interested. There simply isn't enough room in a single book to cover all of the engineering, communications, navigation, weapons systems, sonar, radar, analysis, etc. for those wishing for more nuts and bolts.But far more important than the technology were the skill and dedication of the crews, and this book does not give enough depth or credit to the enlisted men that stood the watches and maintained the gear that supported stick rider and spook operations. Sometimes their only reward was periscope liberty and a lawyer with divorce papers waiting at the pier.
Rating: 
Summary: Tastes Great, Less Filling
Review: Blind Man's Bluff is an engrossing look at U.S. submarine operations during the cold war, but ultimately lacks any real breadth or depth. In order to compress a large subject into a few pages, the authors present a series of anecdotes about single missions that illustrate various periods and themes. The result is that everyone comes off looking as either the hero or the goat. History buffs will be turned off by the lack of citations. Most of the book is based on interviews, the other sources are lumped into an appendix with no indication of how they apply to the text. There's also nothing new or exciting to find. Famous escapades such as the Glomar Explorer boondogle populate the pages. In fact, a significant amount of sources cited are metropolitan newspapers. As light reading, however, it's hard to beat. The stories are entertaining, making for easy reading. And although the coverage is light and biased in places, there are alot of solid facts to be found. My personal favorite is the appendix of known and suspected collisions. The bottom line: This is a collection of entertaining yarns to tell at dinner parties, but serious sub fanatics will want a bit more meat on their bones.
Rating: 
Summary: Blind man's bluff
Review: I was involved with the design and integration of electrical systems on the USS Seawolf SSN 575 and the USS Parche SSN 683. The book struck a cord in me that was unbelieveble since I had worked on 2 of the boats in the early to mid 80's Sherry mentions in her book. This book is a must read for any sub fanatic's. I can tell you that after talking to her about the book, life can now go on...It was hard to live life when your in total secrecy with your job and what you did. Especially since it was part of history. Great book....
Rating:
Summary: Great book !!
Review: A great account of how the U.S. Navy subs played a secret "game" of "tag' with the Russians for all those Cold War years.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating reading
Review: This book tells alot of interesting stories about the submarine service. It is by no means a comprehensive history of cold war submarine operations, or even of submarine intelligence work. It focuses on a few interesting stories out of more than 50 years worth of similar untold tales. John Craven comes off as a genius. He seems to have figured out exactly what happened to Scorpion. To this day, the navy officially disputes his solution, but if he was wrong, why was he able to predict the exact location on the sea floor (within an 1/8th of a mile) where Scorpion's wreckage would be found? James Bradley also appears to have been a genius, coming up with the remarkable idea of tapping the soviets' undersea telephone cables, somthing that was done for over 20 years. Admiral Hyman Rickover comes off as abusive and dictatorial. As many previous reviewers have noted, the authors do not make much of an attempt to balance Rickover's character flaws against his remarkable accomplishments. The CIA comes off looking terrible, wasting over 500 million dollars on crazy scheme to lift a sunken Soviet submarine off the bottom of the ocean in one piece. The sub and its missiles were already obsolete by several generations, so, even if the operation had been successful, there could have been no intelligence payoff to compensate for the money spent. The authors' politics don't come into play until late in the book, when they are discussing Ronald Reagan. Then they betray the reflexive leftism and contempt for Reagan that must be a prerequisite for employment at the New York Times. Also, the general tone of the book is that the U.S. was wrong to pursue intelligence so aggressively. They write very approvingly of the mid-1970s backlash against the intelligence services led by such as Senator Frank Church. On the whole, however, the authors' New York leftism does not detract much from what is generally excellent storytelling.
Rating: 
Summary: All I can say is BAD & BORING!
Review: ... I couldn't even finish it. It was just THAT BAD!! I had no emotion for the characters, hard to follow, poorly written & just plain awful. Were these people even there? Did they bother to speak to any of us submariners when writing this thing? YUCK!!
Rating:
Summary: Finally, Someone Tells It Like It Is!
Review: I served in the US Submarine "silent service" for several years in the late 60's. This is a no holds barred book. It tells all the secrets about submarines. Where they were, what they did and how they got away with it by exploring many now "unclassified" information. Read about the "cat and mouse" games that the US and Soviets played. You'll learn about how the United States used submarines to "tap into" the secret communications and how we almost got caught. You'll even see pictures of the place that the sub sailors hung out (the Horse & Cow bar) when off duty near San Francisco. There's some very interesting photographs as well. Highly recommended from a former "pig boat" sailor. You won't regret this one. Make sure you have enough free time when you start this book. You won't be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: "the way it was"
Review: I read this book a "couple of years ago" because it was recommended by a person who had worked in the government and said, "I can't say more, but that is the way it was." So, countering those reviewers who question the authoritativeness of the work, I felt it necessary to enter that comment. I found the book gripping. It is not a "literary work." I consequently did not look for "good writing." However, the naval history, the revelations of competitive jealousy and one-upsmanship, the stupidity, the cleverness, the daring, all truly gripped me. Those who would accept, without question, the window-dressing and excuses for military expenses and failures, as well as accomplishments, may be critical of this book. However, considering that the incidents in the narrative are NOT revealed fully in mainstream media, I highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Cure For Insomnia
Review: Being an old sailor I was anxious to listen to this book. Though the stories were good I could have cared less about some of the miscellaneous stuff. The various stories will have you on the edge of your seat. Perhaps the abridged version would have been better. I listened to this book on tape and at times they just went on and on for what seemed like hours about nothing. If I were the authors of this book, I would put out another book containing only the stories of the actual missions of the various submarines and the crews experience. Though I liked the stories, I did not care for this book and would not recommend it to others unless they are absolutely fascinated with Naval History. Folks, don't waste your time or your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Who do we believe?
Review: Yes, it has some great facts about some unknown missions of the silent service. Yes, it has technical data so we know the authors knew what they are talking about, or at least they repeat it well. But, how can we be sure it is not just fiction, how can we be sure the truth is right here, not out there.
Sometimes, reading it feels like reading some submariner propaganda. Everything is biased favorably towards the submariners, unfavorably towards the CIA. I find this very suspicious. I guess the only way of really knowing was to be there. We, readers, must just accept it for cash.
Best thing to do is to confront the facts with some other books on the subject, which I did, and yes some facts are verified, though through a different light. I recommend doing this if you want a bigger picture.
One example is Project Jennifer. In the book it is described as a failure. But the crew of the expedition says it was a success (see their reviews), so who do you believe?
Another annoyance is the "character's description". We want the facts, not the "dirty little secrets" of every sub commander. It is good for a novel or a film, not for a serious book on a VERY serious subject, that is not over, even with the "apparent" collapse of the Soviet Union. I remind everyone they are still designing new subs. And we may have forgotten that England and France, in the 1700s, enjoyed decades-long peaces periodically before going into decades-long wars, also periodically.
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