Simple Sabotage Field Manual
Simple Sabotage Field Manual by Office of Strategic Servicesby United States. Office of Strategic Services. and Sgt Wolf and Stratigic Services and The Director of Strategic Services and The United States Services and United States Services and Strategic Services and Reproduction Branch and United States Office of Strategic Services Staff
Shares rank 26 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
People recommend it for practical advice on workplace dysfunction that still reads as relevant today; one critic doubts its effectiveness and one finds parts unclear.
People recommend it for practical advice on workplace dysfunction that still reads as relevant today; one critic doubts its effectiveness and one finds parts unclear.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Still relevant today
“the lessons in the CIA's very own Simple Sabotage Field Manual are still as helpful as when they were written”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “Civic Hygiene – avoid building technologies that could be used by a police state (2013)” “there's never been a better time to dust off your copy of the "Simple Sabotage Field Manual."”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Hating AI Is Good” Useful for understanding workplace dysfunction
“To get an idea of how this stuff usually works, start with the Simple Sabotage field manual”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “GitHub bans security researcher who posted zero-day Windows exploits” “The "Managers and Supervisors" section is like a reverse Joel test for many jobs.”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “Simple Sabotage Field Manual [pdf]” Interesting read with good advice
“It was a very interesting read!”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters” “It contains lots of good advice”
Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “Pentagon rescinds new testosterone screening policy without explanation”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Simple Sabotage Field Manualby United States. Office of Strategic Services. and Sgt Wolf and Stratigic Services and The Director of Strategic Services and The United States Services and United States Services and Strategic Services and Reproduction Branch and United States Office of Strategic Services StaffThis page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It contains lots of good advice”
“the lessons in the CIA's very own Simple Sabotage Field Manual are still as helpful as when they were written”
“I think that book should be required reading for all engineering students.”
“To get an idea of how this stuff usually works, start with the Simple Sabotage field manual”
“I've never seen any evidence that the Simple Sabotage Field Manual is actually effective”
“there's never been a better time to dust off your copy of the "Simple Sabotage Field Manual."”
“It was a very interesting read!”
“it's got some places that it would benefit from more clarity”
“The "Managers and Supervisors" section is like a reverse Joel test for many jobs.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.