Overworld: The Life and Times of a Reluctant Spy

by Larry J. Kolb

Book Overview

A vivid and gripping portrait of a spy at every stage of his life and career, from the son of a spymaster who became a spy himself. Larry Kolb was born into a house of spies. Raised all over the world... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594481415
• ISBN13: 9781594481413
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 475 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Real-Life Forrest Gump

Fascinating behind-the-scenes look at some recent international affairs as told by a real-life Forrest Gump. Author Kolb managed to insinuate himself into the thick of things both on and off the world stage while operating as an asset of the intelligence community.

A view at a world most of us don't see.

Although the writing is not the most polished this book has a lot of information that will be new to the neophyte espionage readers and even manages to sneak in a few things that are very good for every day life that most of us either don't know or ignore. It is written from a very personal point of view, as if the author was just sitting in your living room and was an acquaintance. The problem I find with that is that most people, including myself, will take anything someone we don't really know with a grain of salt and this takes away from the book; there's a point in the book where you begin to doubt the veracity of it. Most of the non-espionage claims can be authenticated easily enough but there's a lingering doubt as to the participation of the author in these events the way he described it. The book is worth reading.

ONE MAN'S JOURNEY TO HIS TRUE CALLING: SPY!

How this young, tall, white, American businessman who resisted the CIA's earliest recruitment efforts was turned into a spy and then managed to get himself into a room with Osama bin Laden, and even managed to hand-feed the most dangerous man in the world, and to infiltrate many of the most terrifying places in the Islamic world and in Africa and Central America--all while remaining firmly but secretly on our side--is an amazing story, endearingly told, and every bit as entertaining as any novel you will ever read. Read this book. You will love it.

BRILLIANT, AMAZING, WONDERFUL.

Larry Kolb is like one of those interesting people you meet and you hear them telling their stories and you say to them, "You should write a book." Only Larry Kolb actually does go write the book--and you're very glad he did. He's like a brilliant Forrest Gump. A genius instead of stupid. But how he gets himself into situations! Wonderful!

An amazing life story beautifully written.

Five stars because this is an amazing life story beautifully written. Not only does Kolb have a wonderful eye for the telling detail, his writing is transparent and accessible in a way that for the first time demystified spying and intelligence for me. Finally I understand what it's all about, in all its complexity and yet also in very simple and human terms. Beyond that, this book is an astute character study of several remarkable men who've shaped Kolb's life: his father, a Cold War spymaster; Muhammad Ali, one of Kolb's closest friends; Adnan Khashoggi, the mysterious Saudi dealmaker and statesman who in his prime was the richest man in the world; Miles Copeland, one of the founders of the CIA and perhaps its most colorful operative ever, who was Kolb's guide into the secret world; and Chandraswami, Indian holy-man-and-snake-oil-salesman extraordinaire. It's written like a novel, and its even got good sex scenes. How Kolb ever survived it all to write about it is a mystery to me. But I'm glad he did.