In his essay “Space Invaders,” Geoff Manaugh describes the thought processes of thieves and the surprising ways they burglarize homes and businesses. He also describes how thieves seem to understand architecture better than anyone else and you can learn a lot from thieves just by thinking like one. Say No to Plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of the essay, Manaugh provides evidence. that some architectural knowledge can be very useful for being a thief. He gives the example of George Leonidas Leslie and his gang of thieves who build 1:1 replicas of bank vaults and practice robbing them over and over before the real robbery which Manaugh claims to have already “broken into the bank two times, without stealing anything, simply checking the building” (9). Just by knowing the architecture of a target, thieves are very good at infiltrating it. Next Manaugh states “nearly 150 years later, burglary and architecture still go hand in hand” (13). This statement is true for today's society. In every city there will always be people who commit crimes. Manaugh makes a great point that “burglary is designed into the city as much as your morning commute. ” (13) There are many architecturally diverse buildings in the city and thieves find ways to use them as an advantage. They will use crawl spaces between walls and floors or try to get through walls and ceilings. Wherever there are homes and businesses, there will be thieves trying to steal your things. Manaugh explains how thieves seem to understand architecture better than most people. They don't see walls or ceilings as boundaries, they just walk through them. He states: “If two rooms aren't connected now, they will be soon. ” (14) If a thief wants to enter a room, he will find a way to enter. Manaugh points out that thieves are idiots and instead of using a door they prefer to find a more difficult way to get in. Manaugh then states, “It's like a perceptual disorder in which some people can no longer distinguish the solid surface from the open space, the door from the wall” (15). What Manaugh says is that some thieves don't have very good spatial awareness. What he means by this is that thieves tend to fumble around and don't look for an easier way to get in. Thieves might think they're clever by creating tunnels and lowering themselves through windows like you'd see in a movie, but it's quite the opposite. Manaugh sums it up better than anyone, he says they have “thief syndrome, a space sickness, something that forces you to abuse buildings. (15) Manaugh then goes on to list multiple secondary claims about thieves not having a strong sense of spatial awareness. Manaugh reports some examples such as "the boy who crawled through pet doors to enter people's homes" (15) or a man who used "a secret passage that led from the monastery attic to a cabinet in the monks' library" . . ” (16) These details really show the audience that thieves can be seen as architectural geniuses or idiots asking to be caught. Whether or not you consider them smart or stupid, Manaugh provides great examples that show that thieves are truly “idiotic masters of the built environment” (15). An example of a master idiot of the built environment is a man in Dallas, Texas, who broke into a store and then tunneled through the wall to the store next door. The man had apparently “broke through the same wall in the store four more times since the summer,” stealing more than $20,000” (17). Thieves can be very creative in how they.