It may seem strange to list a mere espionovel as a reading to save from the flames, even one by the great John le Carré, but this such an extraodinary tale of loneliness and expertise that I have to place it among the books that have affected me most.
This is not just a linear story of how to wreak treachery from within but a brilliant study of what it takes and costs to pull it off when you're up against professionals and the slightest wrong move or document could prove fatal - not today, not tomorrow, not even next year, but some time.
Each of us dissembles to varying degrees and comes a cropper in equal degrees depending on who we're bamboozling. Le Carré has written a gripping, sad handbook for us all.