Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare

by John West

Fry The Brain is a detailed, original study of urban guerrilla sniping and its employment in modern unconventional warfare. Fry The Brain strives to educate the interested reader in all aspects of modern urban guerrilla sniping. As such, Fry The Brain is a unique, relevant work that is a must read for all students of contemporary guerrilla warfare.

Genres: History, War, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Military History, Politics

448 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2008

About the author

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Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frustrating.

On the positive side, this book presents quite a bit of interesting history and technical information. The discussion of the differences between urban sniping and sniping in other environments, and between guerrilla/terrorist sniping and military/police sniping, is excellent, as is the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of weapons for this brand of sniping (with the exception of the nonsense about suppressors and revolvers noted below.)

On the negative side, some of the technical information is wrong (two examples:
1. The author talks on pages 74 and 114 about using a suppressor on a revolver, and anyone who knows anything about suppressors and revolvers knows that's impossible - the suppressor works by diverting the hot gas that normally exits the muzzle right behind the bullet into a series of baffles so that when it does emerge it's cooler and moving more slowly; with a revolver, a lot of gas escapes between the cylinder and frame (on Mythbusters, they showed that with a high-powered revolver like a .44 Magnum, that gas is energetic enough to slice off a person's finger if it's in the way!) and if you put a suppressor on the muzzle, the back pressure it created would increase that cylinder/frame gap gas jet even more.
2. On page 116, he writes that police use suppressed firearms when raiding "methadone labs" because the hot gas from an unsuppressed firearm might cause the volatile gases present to explode. Well, first, it's methamphetamine, not methadone; and second, the muzzle blast, as well as the gas escaping from the action when the cartridge case is ejected, is still hot enough to present the same risk, if to a lesser degree.)

Mistakes like these are frustrating because they undercut the credibility of any other statement for anyone who doesn't know for sure whether it's correct.

My other two beefs with this book are that it restates, at ridiculous length, the old claim that the JFK assassination was a conspiracy carried out by multiple shooters. This topic is not important enough to the subject matter to deserve 23 pages, irrespective of its plausibility (this author presents as fact a version that replaces Oswald with what amounts to a small platoon of ten separate teams and also offers as fact arguments against the 'lone gunman' version that were thoroughly debunked years ago), and that the book desperately needed a lot more attention from a good editor. It is riddled (pun intended) with errors of spelling and grammar, giving it a rough and amateurish feel.

If I were the author, I wouldn't have let the reader see this book in this form, because it isn't ready for prime time.

[Петър Стойков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Снайперът е оръжие за тероризъм, не за поразяване живата сила на врага.

Това става ясно не само от заглавието на Fry The Brain, но и от стотиците примери от всички части на света и на модерната история, които Джон Уест дава. Разбира се, в книгата става дума само за снайперизъм в градски условия, но и в друг вид военни условия основният ефект на снайперите не е колко хора убиват, а създаването у врага на чувство за терор, за неизбежност, за страх. Самата мисъл, че където и да се покажеш, може да те дебне някой и от стотици метри да ти прати смърт наистина изпържва мозъка. Това те кара да измениш плановете си, да действаш под страх и напрежение, да правиш грешки, пречи на изпълнението на задачите ти.

Авторът дава практически насоки за тактиката на градския снайперизъм за целите на война и тероризъм, за практиката му (използване на укрития, набавяне, пренасяне и укриване на оръжия и т.н.), както и за историята на този тип водене на война.

Самата книга е прекалено дълга и определено прекалява с цветистите описания и прилагателните. Това доста дразни в текст, който предполагаемо трябва да е по-технически и стратегически насочен.

Една от малкото книги, които наистина са забранени за притежание и разпространение в някои държви.

[Mark Polino · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is good. I learned a number things and it led me research several items rom confirm the authors conclusions. But the booked needed a couple of things to really stand out.

1) Documentation for assertions. A simple example, the author asserts that polygonal barrels, like those used in Glocks, make it harder to match a recovered bullet to a barrel. I have no idea if this true or not and would love documentation for this claim. If the author was a forensic scientist I would assume it’s based on experience. Since the author is ex-special forces, it’s unclear where this information comes from. There is an extensive bibliography at the end, but the assertions are often not tied to documentation. This is one simple example, but there were many such items.

2) Improved editing. The organization is a little disjointed. Essentially it’s sniping basics, sniping stories from various conflicts, and advanced or futures techniques. It just felt clunky and there were enough misspellings/wrong words (there vs their) that I noticed.

Finally, almost gave up when I hit the chapter on JFKs assassination. The author launched into a detailed explanation of the multiple sniper teams used to kill JFK without the slightest hint that his view might be controversial. I have no idea what actually happened on that day in Dallas, but at least acknowledge that that there are differing views. Honestly, it a better book if you skip that chapter.

Still, this is a good book that covers a lot of ground.

[Stefano Trapani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aside from a few interesting anecdotes ranging from the Irish Republican Army, Iraqi insurgents and the Bosnian war, the actual information in this book is faulty at best. It is clear the author has a very minimal background when it comes to ballistics and firearms themselves. I'm convinced he himself never has even shot a gun. One example of this would be when the author posits how in order to train, a sniper can take his rifle into a sewer and pop off shots there. He makes other outlandish statements as well, claiming that video games are a good way for an actual sniper to practice their marksmanship. There is no passion in the author, he seems minimally interested in the actual topic and his lack of knowledge shows it. If you're looking for a didactic guide in relation to sniping in the role of guerilla warfare, look elsewhere, this book is full of patently absurd misinformation to an almost juvenile extent.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Debating whether to give this 2 or 3 stars, landed on 2.5 and rounded it up to 3, but just barely. I have a lot to say and not much space to say it, so here are some of the notes I took while reading:

▪️It's hilarious to me that he'll believe that a German singlehandedly killed over 50 Russians in one engagement (including ones manning machine guns) with just a handful of stripper clips, spend over two pages trying to debunk a story about Vasiliy Zaitsev on the premise of circumstantial evidence, and then immediately careen into his own theory of the JFK assassination (a full chapter of how it took 8 [!] sniper teams and countless others)

▪️Tries to play the 'both sides/matter of perspective' angle but immediately relegates Palestinians to the role of the aggressor. Doesn't mention the Nakba, tries to reify the asinine notion that israel 'won independence' over anything (apart from human decency and morality). You can't invade a country already under British occupation, rape and kill your way through it, claim it as your own and say you won independence. israel was never under occupation and didn't exist before 1948!

▪️Also parrots the myth that israel is some stalwart titan that never loses but neglects to mention the IDF getting their teeth punched down their throat in Lebanon in 2006 (and whenever they fight armed combatants instead of unarmed civilians), which was definitely recent news when this book was written

▪️Sentiments like 'israel couldn't just commit a human rights violation, it'd backfire spectacularly' have aged like milk and are also just straight up untrue as israel's entire ethos in creation was mass terror and civilian carnage. They were caught on camera using human shields before, during and after this book was written (one example of many of such abuses)

▪️References methadone labs enough times that he apparently thinks people are making illegal methadone and not methamphetamine? Quite a few typos and bits of fuddlore throughout

▪️Does say that Hezbollah apparently made a video game back in the day so that kicks ass at least

▪️Weirdly smug about knowing what a suppressor is

All in all, it's very much a book of its time with some interesting historical anecdotes, but an expert treatise in urban sniping it is not.

[Will Warnuu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book incredibly frustrating for its style and content.

First off, the grammar is less than desirable, making being able to read with enjoyment impossible. I seriously doubt anyone edited this book.

Second, it is as if the author begins by stating a few (seemingly obvious) urban sniper ideas, then realizes he doesn't have enough for a full book, so gives some urban sniping cases. Some of these are good, some not so good. Although I do not buy into the idea that L.H. Oswald shot Kennedy, I think the author should have at least stated that his ideas about the Kennedy assassination are, in fact, his ideas and are not the historical record (although I do agree that the historical record is at best, make believe.)

I did, however, appreciate the brief histories that the author gives leading up to most of the sniping scenarios the author presents, such as the basic history of Chechnya and Russia and that of Sarajevo.

[Richard Ortiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the mindset of a Guerrilla sniper and goes through the methods and the Psychological fear that the Sniper puts into it's enemies, from IRA snipers to WW2 Soviet snipers. I like the book for only this as He recommends to play call of duty to learn how to snipe, to be fair he did say this book would be outdated in 10-20 years in one chapter but even then this was ridiculous. and some major blunders to historical and firearms knowledge, still read this book as it's still good

[John Trefz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely detailed analysis of real life guerilla sniper campaigns and in depth explanation of the way the snipers and receiving end had to evolve and counter eachother. It even had a chapter on the JFK assassination that opened my eyes to the reality that it was a real conspiracy. A must read for any aspiring guerilla or conventional military member needing to brush up on the subject.

[Gary L Bastin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fry the Brain is an excellent history of urban sniping.

Great overview of urban sniping in multiple countries among multiple political groups. Well worth reading to understand the threats and countermeasures.

[Andrius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cons: some of the info about "modern" technology is a bit outdated as there was a lot of progress during the last 14 years.

Pros: you can learn a lot from it if you ever end up in a war zone with a rifle OR if you're interested in forensic side of taking shots from a nondescript van.

[Jonatas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can't talk for the rest of the book but the author isn't particulary knowledgeable on the subject of firearms. He utters "fudlore" and verifiably misleading ideas on the subject. Makes me think he isn't a reliable source of information on the other subjects in the book.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely comprehensive overview of urban sniping tactics from an insurgency perspective. West covers every angle of sniping possible and exams the cat and mouse between security forces and the snipers who try to evade them. The analysis and comparisons of various sniper tactics are spot on.

[Jason Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on guerrilla warfare and urban sniping tactics. The analyses and events described in the book are not done in a boring textbook way, they are easy to read, understand, and follow, as well as entertaining.

[exegesisagent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is surprisingly engaging despite how dense and information-packed it is. The last chapter is unusual as it is a fictional scenario that isn't indicated as such anywhere in the book. While I did enjoy the chapter, it felt out of place.

[Jonathan Baldie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great storytelling and extremely thorough treatment of Guerilla warfare. The section on Stalingrad was particularly enjoyable.

[Chantelle C Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book review

Good book for tactical learning ! Not learning g how to shoot but the application of knowledge is an eye opener!

[Austin Mathias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely detailed accounts through dozens of conflicts. A heavy read but very informative.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of good info in it, but a lot of it is dated, and the author has a tendency to repeat himself.

[Bravo Šest 6 Ide Mračno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff for the most part.
It is unhinged from time to time. Giving wild claims but it is an okay read.

[dr_alan_grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling read, should be taught in all middle schools.

[Alex Kozicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an interesting book with some unique ideas and insights on the topic. Unfortunately it was a bit repetitive on some points and could have been condensed into a shorter read.

[Daniel W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, awful cover art on the second edition.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author takes a comprehensive look at the art of urban guerrilla sniping since World War II and addresses such guerrilla wars as the German Werwolf resistance movement, the Chechen war against Russia, the PLO's war against Israel, the IRA's war in Ireland, and the recent war in Iraq. The author also takes a detailed look at the urban sniping methodology employed in Stalingrad, in Sarajevo, by Kennedy's assassins, mass murderer Charles Whitman in the Texas Tower, and the DC snipers who offered death from the back of a Chevy sedan.

This is not your average sniper book - this work tackles the subject from the view of the urban guerrilla sniper. Subjects addressed include the legality of urban guerrilla sniping, possible sniper tools to be used, suppressed sniping, and all the dirty tricks guerrilla snipers have used since WW II. Balancing out the book are several chapters on counter-sniping tactics, although the author offers the entire book as a counter-sniper manual.

This is a refreshingly detailed work on a unique subject that will help readers understand modern urban guerrilla warfare. There are hundreds of illustrations, many of which are rare. Overall, a solid work. Five stars all the way.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best sniper tactics books in print! The author analyzes numerous modern-day sniper shootings and provides commentary about successes and failures. Since I come from a more classic "school trained" sniper background I found his unconventional thinking about sniper weaponry and tactics to be very refreshing!