Rating: 
Summary: It Certainly Is A Puzzle!
Review: "The Puzzle Palace" came highly recommended by other amazon readers. A glance at the inside covers reveals 25 reprintings and a solid bio for the author. I found "PP" to be a virtual whirlwind of facts, names, dates, comings and goings, changes of command, anecdotes and many military/governmental acronyms. (There is even a 6-page glossary of these!). Mr. Bamford's work is well researched and well documented. In the acknowledgements, he admits to filing a "torrent" of Freedom of Information Act requests. I can well imagine! He supports his effort with 80 pages of notes, so what is written here must be authentic. That is the good news. The bad news is that for this reader, "The Puzzle Palace" simply did not work. Perhaps I missed the story somewhere in the plethora of facts. Perhaps the facts themselves were intended to be the story. This reader had hoped for some juice, some "inside information". Apart from the horrendous 1967 Israeli attack on the USS LIBERTY, and some Cold War incidents, there were precious few. I believe "PP" will appeal to those well versed in the Beltway Scene, since they can "connect the dots" better than I. Those already possessing a knowledge of the intelligence game should also enjoy. A 5 star rating is appropriate for these 2 groups. For the rest of us, some rating stars must be subtracted. If we gave "A"s for effort alone, Mr. Bamford would deserve one. For results, a Gentleman's "C" is more appropriate
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: A must read if you are interested in the capabilites of our government to monitor communications. Also, read if you want to know about how our government has created a National Security State and the secret government that has been created to bypass the legislative and judicial branches of our government.
Rating: 
Summary: A few interesting facts buried in a mass of acronyms
Review: A pretty dry read, one for the conspiracy theorists only, I feel. Perhaps the NSA got to this author too, since after the first 100 pages we had already been introduced to about 150 acronyms, plenty of mini-biographies of the many NSA staffers involved and virtually no interesting facts. A recent article in the IHT said that the amount of intercepts each day could fit into a block 20 yards wide and 10 yards high. If you imagine how much must have been produced since the early 1950s it is very disappointing to find none of it in the book.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: Anyone who has any concerns or doubts about our privacy in our Free Country must read this book. When you consider that this expose was written in 1983, think about what the NSA has developed in the 15 years since this book was written in regard to domestic surveillance techniques and methods.
Rating: 
Summary: Makes you feel like a voyeur
Review: Book gets you behind the fences of Fort Meade and into the super secret files of the National Security Agency. Covers all aspects about the NSA (mission, procedures, organization, rivals, friends). I only gave it four stars because some of the book goes into some obscure details about organization that only a few would ever care about.
Rating:
Summary: NSA ( Army Security Agency Support Group )
Review: Hello, This is a great book but be warned. People that had orwork at the National Security Agency do not like to be called spies or spy...
Rating:
Summary: an interesting book with way too many unnecessary details
Review: hm ... the book is fine - judging by the first 50 pages or so, but it gets boring with too many details, effectively hiding the interesting things.if you skip the boring pages, it's quite fine.
Rating:
Summary: A little paranoid...
Review: I don't know if this is true, but I heard that if you purchase this book ANYWHERE, your name and everything about you goes into some kind of NSA list...
Rating:
Summary: A definite must-read ...
Review: I first read this report on the NSA (National Security Agency) in 1987 and was so moved by author James Bamford descriptions that I visited Fort Meade, Maryland to verify its existence. As it is a non-fiction work I must admit that it is rather dry reading for the reader used to spy-vs-spy fictional excitement. Nonetheless it is extremely well written and will inform (and shock) the average reader as to the depth (and history) of signal intelligence by the United States Government. It has been rumored that Bamford is working on a sequel. The Puzzle Palace was published in 1983, this is 1999, one can only imagine ...
Rating:
Summary: This reads like a textbook, not a novel...I quit
Review: I gave it a chance....but somewhere around page 175 I quit. I find this book to be written in the style of a history book. I'll give it a 3 to be fair, but its not for me. I read this book since Cliff Stoll, author of "Cuckoo's Egg" mentioned it in his epilogue as recommended reading. I loved Cliff's book, but Puzzle Palace dragged on an on with endless details about too many people, and their job descriptions. I THINK I COULD CREATE A PRETTY ACCURATE RESUME' FOR MANY OF THE PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK! Thats how many details there are. I had to quit reading, when I found myself actually having to refer to the 7 page "glossary" in the back of the book, which is actually a extensive list of Acronyms and Abreviations. There is also a 30 page Index for reference, and almost 100 pages of references in this small paperback book. If you want to read about the NSA for some juicy tidbits, look elsewhere. This book is not to be read for pleasure. I think other reviewers indicated it as 'required reading", poor souls. If you need to write a report on the NSA, could be a great source of information, but since I expected a novel and a story, I did not finish it.
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