Home Security News

Lockpicking Books

I've been browsing some of the lockpicking books available on Amazon and just threw a couple in my wishlist.  I may try to see if my county library has them before ordering them new.  If anyone has read any of these titles (or related others), I'd love to hear whether you'd recommend them or not.  My curiosity is mostly writing-related (hey, if you've got characters who are supposed to know how to pick locks, the author should probably have a clue, right?), but it seems applicable to this blog.  After all, the more you know about how something works (or the methods thieves use, for example) the better you can design your home's security system to fight it.

Here are the titles I was looking at that have good reviews:

Opening Combination Padlocks : No Tools, No Problem
How To Open Locks With Improvised Tools: Practical, Non-Destructive Ways Of Getting Back Into Just About Everything When You Lose Your Keys
Modern High-Security Locks : How To Open Them
Visual Guide to Lock Picking

A couple of the books on lockpicking are from the early 90's/late 80's so I'm a little concerned that they may be outdated.  I'm sure some of the stuff continues to be correct--after all most people are probably still using locks from the 80's or 90's on their front doors, but what do you guys think?

I'm leaning toward the Visual Guide to Lockpicking just because it sounds like it would have a lot of helpful diagrams and what not.  Whichever I go with, I'll come back and do a full review and maybe post some information on the blog.

Home Security Your Guide to Protecting Your Family Review

Home Security Your Guide to Protecting Your Family (let's just call it Home Security) is a book put out by Better Homes & Gardens. It's on the short side, 80 pages including the index, and runs $12.95. To be fair, they're large pages, probably 9" x 12", full of colorful how to illustrations.

Home Security is divided into two sections: Home Security Basics and Strategies for Safety and Security. Both sections cover a wide variety of topics. Here are just a few:

Outdoor security including fences and lighting
Entryways including locks and reinforced doors
Securing your garage
Securing windows, section that details available locks for different types of windows as well as glass alternatives
Various types of home security alarm systems
Fire and electrical safety, including smoke detector and fire extinguisher usage information
Home security options for apartments and condominiums
Homeowner's insurance

The book is a fairly quick read and does contain a lot of useful information despite not being very hefty. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Home Security probably contains more information for your money but the colorful diagrams and step-by-step processes outlined in Home Security Your Guide to Protecting Your Family make it particularly user-friendly, especially for the potential do-it-yourselfer.

I do believe the book is worth the money, but it's easily readable in a couple of hours, so you might want to see if your library has a copy.

Home Security Your Guide to Protecting Your Family