John le Carre, 1991, Bern. I can only suppose this has something to do with the Cold War, but some abstract or lead would have been nice to understand what this post is about.
For now, the perfect storm of HN submissions, "Cryptic title that sounds vaguely interesting" + "No lead" + "Article starts with some lengthy, nondescript personal anecdote" has struck again.
It's an interview of a person that spent 12 years behind bars for espionage by a person that has a mastery of both the English language and spycraft. When you read it you know that the subject is not telling the truth entirely. The author has seen enough to point-out more tell-tale signs than you would notice otherwise. And yet the author sees no evidence that one of the crimes reputed to have been committed had been by said ex-con. He even returns to it later to add a post-script and again drops more bread crumbs.
It'll take a person somewhere between 90-120m to read. It's like a movie or short story that le Carre might have written but non-fiction. If you have to see a lesson from it, there are plenty depending on your world-view. It might even expand said view.
Ok, after rereading my comment, I gotta admit that was pretty stupid and arrogant. Sorry for that.
It's still something that annoys me on HN, because even if something is interesting, I'd like to know what I'm reading before investing 90-120m. (I'm aware HN actively discourages adding any comments or explanations when submitting something)
Anyway, thanks for providing a summary, that's indeed very captivating to read.
For now, the perfect storm of HN submissions, "Cryptic title that sounds vaguely interesting" + "No lead" + "Article starts with some lengthy, nondescript personal anecdote" has struck again.