The Scientist and the Spy
A True Story of China, the FBI, and Industrial Espionage
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Narrated by:
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James Lurie
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Mara Hvistendahl
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By:
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Mara Hvistendahl
About this listen
A riveting true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is pursued by the US government for trying to steal trade secrets, by a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction.
In September 2011, sheriff’s deputies in Iowa encountered three ethnic Chinese men near a field where a farmer was growing corn seed under contract with Monsanto. What began as a simple trespassing inquiry mushroomed into a two-year FBI operation in which investigators bugged the men’s rental cars, used a warrant intended for foreign terrorists and spies, and flew surveillance planes over corn country - all in the name of protecting trade secrets of corporate giants Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer. In The Scientist and the Spy, Hvistendahl gives a gripping account of this unusually far-reaching investigation, which pitted a veteran FBI special agent against Florida resident Robert Mo, who after his academic career foundered took a questionable job with the Chinese agricultural company DBN - and became a pawn in a global rivalry.
Industrial espionage by Chinese companies lies beneath the United States’ recent trade war with China, and it is one of the top counterintelligence targets of the FBI. But a decade of efforts to stem the problem have been largely ineffective. Through previously unreleased FBI files and her reporting from across the United States and China, Hvistendahl describes a long history of shoddy counterintelligence on China, much of it tinged with racism, and questions the role that corporate influence plays in trade secrets theft cases brought by the US government. The Scientist and the Spy is both an important exploration of the issues at stake and a compelling, involving listen.
©2020 Mara Hvistendahl (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“[A] fascinating and well-researched study.... Those looking for insights into the current tensions with China will be rewarded.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“Not since Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest has a cornfield produced so much excitement.... Hvistendahl makes industrial espionage both understandable and riveting.... This is a complex story, but it's presented clearly and vividly, thanks to Hvistendahl’s background as a science journalist here and in China; to her exquisite pacing; and to her narrative skills... Hard to put down and harder to stop thinking about.” (Booklist, starred review)
"You will learn more about China from this thrilling, real-life drama than you will from a whole stack of China-related books by lesser talents. Mara Hvistendahl has given us an utterly original, provocative, and revealing tale of the relationship between China and the United States - and what a tale it is. Intrepid, humane, and always tough-minded, she writes with the lucid precision of a science writer and the flair of a seasoned spy novelist." (Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China)
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The Secrets of the FBI by New York Times best-selling author Ronald Kessler reveals the FBIs most closely guarded secrets and the secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents during their investigations.
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Even-handed; an interesting history of the FBI
- By G-Man on 08-08-11
By: Ronald Kessler
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This Machine Kills Secrets
- How Wikileakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information
- By: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The machine that kills secrets is a powerful cryptographic code that hides the identities of leakers and hacktivists as they spill the private files of government agencies and corporations bringing us into a new age of whistle blowing. With unrivaled access to figures like Julian Assange, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and Jacob Applebaum, investigative journalist Andy Greenberg unveils the group that brought the world WikiLeaks, OpenLeaks, and BalkanLeaks.
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Good writing, a little outdated by now
- By Sam on 08-08-15
By: Andy Greenberg
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Operation Shakespeare
- The True Story of an Elite International Sting
- By: John Shiffman
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In Operation Shakespeare, investigative journalist John Shiffman traces a high-risk undercover operation launched by an elite undercover Homeland Security unit created to stop the Iranians, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis, and North Koreans from acquiring sophisticated American-made electronics capable of guiding missiles, jamming radar, and triggering countless weapons - from wireless IEDs to nuclear bombs.
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under our noses
- By Andy on 08-20-14
By: John Shiffman
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The Grey Men
- Pursuing the Stasi into the Present
- By: Ralph Hope
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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By 1990, the Berlin Wall had fallen and the East German state security service folded. During 40 years, they had amassed more than a billion pages in manila files detailing the lives of their citizens. Overnight, almost 100,000 Stasi employees, many of them experienced officers with access to highly personal information, found themselves unemployed. This is the story of what they did next.
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Very Enlightening
- By Katy on 07-09-22
By: Ralph Hope
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Enemies Within
- Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden's Final Plot Against America
- By: Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In Enemies Within Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman lay bare the complex and often contradictory state of counterterrorism and intelligence in America through the pursuit of Najibullah Zazi, a terrorist bomber who trained under one of bin Laden's most trusted deputies. Zazi and his coconspirators represented America's greatest fear: a terrorist cell operating inside America. Apuzzo and Goldman lift the veil of secrecy to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of our counterterrorism measures.
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Very in depth. I highly detailed account.
- By Patrick on 10-08-20
By: Matt Apuzzo, and others
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The Bluegrass Conspiracy
- An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs, and Murder
- By: Sally Denton
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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When Kentucky blueblood Drew Thornton parachuted to his death in September 1985 - carrying thousands in cash and 150 pounds of cocaine - the gruesome end of his startling life blew open a scandal that reached to the most secret circles of the US government. The story of Thornton and “The Company” he served, and the lone heroic fight of State Policeman Ralph Ross against an international web of corruption, is one of the most portentous tales of the 20th century.
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Good story if you're from the area
- By Jackie Disponette on 08-29-19
By: Sally Denton
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The Perfect Police State
- An Undercover Odyssey into China's Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future
- By: Geoffrey Cain
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting investigation into how a restive region of China became the site of a nightmare Orwellian social experiment - the definitive police state - and the global technology giants that made it possible.
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Enjoyed the story and performance
- By Nate on 07-08-21
By: Geoffrey Cain
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Spooked
- The Trump Dossier, Black Cube, and the Rise of Private Spies
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Kerry Shale
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist’s journey into a billon-dollar secret industry that is shaping our world - the booming business of private spying, operatives-for-hire retained by companies, political parties, and the powerful to dig up dirt on their enemies and, if need be, destroy them.
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Spoofed
- By Klutch Kargo on 06-07-21
By: Barry Meier
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Missing Man
- The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the United States.
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Important story
- By Richard F. Callahan on 08-03-16
By: Barry Meier
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American Conspiracies
- Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells
- By: Jesse Ventura, Dick Russell
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In this explosive account of wrongful acts and ongoing cover-ups, Jesse Ventura takes a systematic look at the wide gap between what the American government knows and what it reveals to the American people. For too long, we the people have sat by and let politicians and bureaucrats from both parties obfuscate and lie. And according to this former Navy SEAL, former pro wrestler, and former Minnesota governor, the media is complicit in these acts of deception.
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Lots of things you didn't know but should
- By Susan on 12-14-10
By: Jesse Ventura, and others
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The Year of Dangerous Days
- Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980
- By: Nicholas Griffin
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of The Wire, the “utterly absorbing” (The New York Times) story of the cinematic transformation of Miami, one of America’s bustling cities - rife with a drug epidemic, a burgeoning refugee crisis, and police brutality - from journalist and award-winning author Nicholas Griffin.
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Forty Years Ago or Yesterday?
- By Anka on 07-20-20
By: Nicholas Griffin
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The Snakehead
- An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A mesmerizing narrative about the rise and fall of an unlikely international crime boss. Based on hundreds of interviews, Patrick Radden Keefe's sweeping narrative tells the story not only of Sister Ping, but of the gangland gunslingers who worked for her, the immigration and law enforcement officials who pursued her, and the generation of penniless immigrants who risked death and braved a 17,000 mile odyssey so that they could realize their own version of the American dream.
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But Is It a Crime?
- By Roy on 08-23-09
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The Suspect
- An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle
- By: Kent Alexander, Kevin Salwen
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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On July 27, 1996, a hapless former cop turned hypervigilant security guard named Richard Jewell spotted a suspicious bag in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, the town square of the 1996 Summer Games. Inside was a bomb, the largest of its kind in FBI and ATF history. Minutes later, the bomb remotely detonated by the attacker amid a crowd of 50,000 people. But thanks to Jewell, it only killed two and wounded 111, not the hundreds who authorities estimated could have otherwise died. With the eyes of the world on Atlanta, the games continued.
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Kudos !
- By Tyree on 11-24-19
By: Kent Alexander, and others
What listeners say about The Scientist and the Spy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DIYhacker
- 02-11-21
Nice story but not as interesting as I had hoped
Really well researched and I liked Mara’s insertion into the story every so often with a macro perspective. However, I just didn’t find the story that interesting or exciting, and I found the second half of the book slow. But, the author did as much as possible to make this a compelling read, all the way to the end.
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- A. S.
- 06-06-20
Nearly perfect Audible but, with VERY minor pronunciation errors
An absolutely addictive book, with a so-strange-it-can-only-be-true, I can’t recommend this enough. In this, the audible version there are just a couple of glaring — yet minor — pronunciation mistakes in some of Mara’s parts as to location names in the US, but otherwise a perfect listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Adrienne.in.KY
- 05-29-23
Well Written
This is a nicely woven story of both the personal and political sides of the events.
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- Tom Jensen
- 07-21-22
Skip woman narrator
Interesting story on Chinese espionage. Unfortunately the author is a China apologist and attempts to contort the story into something about xenophobia. I recommend listening to the book and skipping any chapter narrated by the author.
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- Sam H.
- 07-09-20
Cold War 2.0
The Silent Chinese Invasion is real :-) the dragon in the east is a danger to us all.
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- SM
- 11-30-20
Fantastic writing!
I love this book! It has a bit of everything from farming to international espionage. It's interesting from start to finish and well-researched.
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- Megan D
- 02-18-20
Good overall
I enjoyed this book very much. I heard Mara Hvistendahl do an interview on NPR months ago and waited anxiously for this book to come out. The whole premise was very interesting and, overall, it was a great listen. My only complaint is Ms Hvistendahl’s narrated sections. She did great as a whole, but there were a lot of strange pauses in the middle of sentences that, by the end, got to be a big difficult to listen to. I still highly recommend the book, it is a great listen.
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3 people found this helpful
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- krautland
- 02-22-20
excellent. a well-researched character study.
This is a fascinating dive into stories that lie behind the headlines of industrial espionage, China and rural farms in Iowa. From the seed dealer to the charming but flawed scientist Robert Mo there are no knights in shining armor just as there are no thoroughly reprehensible bad guys. Instead we hear stories of people finding themselves accused based on little more than their ethnicity and see real criminals making stupendously ill-advised decisions that change the course of their lives. Those who enjoyed documentaries like the recent "American Factory" that explore the similarities and differences between American and Chinese mindsets will find themselves rewarded by this well-researched character study.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Megan Brown-Clark
- 03-06-21
Interesting but not great.
Struggled to find the protagonist...perhaps that was the point? Robert and the Goverment play both the victim and the criminal and as always the overarching theme of US racism is creeping behind the corner. It's a fitting book for 2020.
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- DING MING YING 丁明英
- 07-09-20
Highly Recommended !!!
China is alleged to have begun a widespread effort to acquire military technologies and classified information and the trade secrets of foreign companies.
The Chinese government is also accused of stealing trade secrets and technologies, often from companies in the West, to help support Chinese long-term military and commercial development.
China has been accused of using a number of methods to obtain technologies, including espionage, exploitation of commercial entities and a network of scientific, academic and business contacts.
Although China uses a network of contacts to collect information used to benefit Chinese businesses, each bit of information does not invite scrutiny or prosecution by other foreign governments.
In addition to traditional espionage, China partners civilian Chinese companies with foreign businesses to acquire technology and economic data and uses cyber spying to penetrate the computer networks of foreign businesses and foreign government agencies...
My salute to those who risk their lives and their families on enemies' soil, fighting for the best interests of his Fatherland China | 🇨🇳
Highly Recommended !!!
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