Paperback. White cover with black title.

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• THIS FROST PAPERBACK is a USED book which a member of the Frost family has checked for condition, cleanliness, completeness and readability. When the buyer collects their book from Frost’s shop, the delivery charge of £3.00 is deducted

 please view our photographs. An original book from the library gathered by the famous Cambridge Don, computer scientist, food and wine connoisseur, Jack Arnold LANG.

This book was the property of Jack’s father. Physical description: 702 p : ill, maps, plans, ports ; 18 cm. R.V. Jones’s account of his part in British Scientific Intelligence between 1939 and 1945. Index. Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 – Secret service. Intelligence – service – Great Britain.

Reviews:

• This book had to wait 30 years after the Second World War to be published, revealing secrets that until then had been classified. It describes the part played by Air Intelligence in combating the scientific advances made by the enemy, and in thinking up our own inventions to ensure victory. R.V.Jones was picked by WInston Churchill to head up the department. Although quite young,he and his team achieved great things. The book is fascinating, and in places very funny. For example, the department deduced that the enemy had a radio system for guiding bombers on to their target in central England from just three pieces of information: a radio receiver in a crashed bomber that seemed to be of much higher quality than was apparently needed; the word “knickebein” (“Crooked Leg”) overheard in a prison camp uttered by a Luftwaffe pilot, and a fuzzy photograph of a mobile radio aerial taken by the Resistance in France. And then, instead of destroying the beams, they worked out how to bend them, and caused the bombs to miss their target. This book is an entertaining read for anybody interested in the science and technology of warfare.

• This is one of the best books I have ever read. The subject matter is fascinating and it is very well written.

• This book is a classic, and should be read by anyone interested in science and engineering used in the Second World War. The book contains humorous anecdotes and a nice description of the science (such as accurate RADAR) that Jones inferred that the Germans were using to fight the war. Jones himself was clearly a prodigy who made some inspired inferences about what the Germans were up to. Personally I think this book is a must read.

Reginald Victor Jones (29 September 1911 – 17 December 1997) was a British physicist and scientific military intelligence expert who played an important role in the defence of Britain in World War II by solving scientific and technical problems, and by the extensive use of deception throughout the war to confuse the Germans. His 1978 published autobiography Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945 was described by historian A. J. P. Taylor as: “the most fascinating book on the Second World War that I have ever read” and, more generally, it has acquired almost classic status.