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The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
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The Pentagon's Brain
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Publisher's summary
Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51.
No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain", from its Cold War inception in 1958 to the present.
This is the audiobook on DARPA - a compelling narrative about this clandestine intersection of science and the American military and the often frightening results.
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-
Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,215
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,093
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,086
For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Phenomenally mediocre narration of a good book
- By philip on 05-18-17
By: Annie Jacobsen
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Wired for War
- The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century
- By: P. W. Singer
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 410
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 332
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 330
A military expert reveals how science fiction is fast becoming reality on the battlefield, changing not just how wars are fought, but also the politics, economics, laws, and ethics that surround war itself. Singer’s previous books foretold the rise of private military contractors and the advent of child soldiers - predictions that have proved all too accurate. Now he explores the greatest revolution in military affairs since the atom bomb: robotic warfare. We are now seeing a massive shift in military technology....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good book of fact sprinkled with left-wing opinion
- By Jeffrey on 04-13-13
By: P. W. Singer
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The Weapon Wizards
- How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower
- By: Yaakov Katz, Amir Bohbot
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel is leading the world when it comes to new technology being deployed on the modern battlefield. The Weapon Wizards shows how this tiny nation of 8,000,000 learned to adapt to the changes in warfare and in the defense industry and become the new prototype of a 21st century superpower, not in size, but rather in innovation and efficiency - and as a result of its long war experience.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good Overview, May Overstate Level of Innovation
- By JBF on 06-15-17
By: Yaakov Katz, and others
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The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,526
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,315
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,304
The Dead Hand is the suspense-filled story of the people who sought to brake the speeding locomotive of the arms race, then rushed to secure the nuclear and biological weapons left behind by the collapse of the Soviet Union—a dangerous legacy that haunts us even today.The Cold War was an epoch of massive overkill.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eye opening
- By Brian on 11-16-10
By: David E. Hoffman
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Raven Rock
- The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,263
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,133
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,123
A fresh window on American history: the eye-opening truth about the government's secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, even if the rest of us die - a road map that spans from the dawn of the nuclear age to today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome Read!!
- By Brewer Richardson on 05-05-17
By: Garrett M. Graff
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A Pretext for War
- 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies
- By: James Bamford
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
This book says outright what many have merely hinted at: that President George W. Bush knowingly misused the findings of the erroneous and incompetent U.S. intelligence community to provide a pretext for war with Iraq. The author hones in on the systematic weaknesses of the intelligence agencies that caused them to ignore the crucial signs leading up to the attacks of 9/11.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A must read before you vote
- By FGP on 09-30-04
By: James Bamford
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A Fiery Peace in a Cold War
- Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon
- By: Neil Sheehan
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
From Neil Sheehan, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic A Bright Shining Lie, comes this long-awaited, magnificent epic. Here is the never-before-told story of the nuclear arms race that changed history - and of the visionary American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever, who led the high-stakes effort. A Fiery Peace in a Cold War is a masterly work about Schriever’s quests to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring nuclear superiority, to penetrate and exploit space for America, and to build the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Schriever rhymes with beaver.
- By John Gardner on 11-13-09
By: Neil Sheehan
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Manhunt
- The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden - from 9-11 to Abbottabad
- By: Peter L. Bergen
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 514
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 446
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 440
From the author of the New York Times best-selling Holy War, Inc., this is the definitive account of the decade-long manhunt for the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multidimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, including the operation that killed him.
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5 out of 5 stars
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DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!
- By Betty on 05-04-12
By: Peter L. Bergen
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Code Warriors
- NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union
- By: Stephen Budiansky
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 200
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 180
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 179
The National Security Agency was born out of the legendary codebreaking programs of World War II that cracked the famed Enigma machine and other German and Japanese codes, thereby turning the tide of Allied victory. In the postwar years, as the United States developed a new enemy in the Soviet Union, our intelligence community found itself targeting not soldiers on the battlefield, but suspected spies, foreign leaders, and even American citizens.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Did Vladimir Putin Steal the American Election?
- By Cynthia on 12-01-16
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The Watchers
- The Rise of America's Surveillance State
- By: Shane Harris
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Our surveillance state was born in the brain of Admiral John Poindexter in 1983. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, realized that the United States might have prevented the terrorist massacre of 241 Marines in Beirut if only intelligence agencies had been able to analyze in real time data they had on the attackers. Poindexter poured government know-how and funds into his dream---a system that would sift reams of data for signs of terrorist activity.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Important context for privacy debate
- By Keefer on 09-17-11
By: Shane Harris
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Failures of Imagination
- The Deadliest Threats to Our Homeland - and How to Thwart Them
- By: Michael McCaul
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Congressman and Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Michael McCaul, has spent years in Washington watching the administration turn a blind eye to the most pressing possible threats to the country. Now, in Failures of Imagination, McCaul turns away from the over-sensationalized, unrealistic fears circulated through the media in order to expose the most legitimate and looming national security threats, which have long been swept under the rug by the administration.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Spot on.
- By Prince Parker on 02-27-16
By: Michael McCaul
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 37 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,031
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,609
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,587
Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly - or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity, there was a span of hardly more than 25 years.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Beware limitations of the reader
- By JFanson on 01-01-19
By: Richard Rhodes
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The Finish
- The Killing of Osama bin Laden
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 488
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 419
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 420
From Mark Bowden, internationally best-selling and acclaimed author of Black Hawk Down and the preeminent chronicler of the actions of our military and special forces writing today, comes an intensely gripping account of the hunt for and elimination of Osama bin Laden. With unprecedented access to key sources and his great gift for storytelling, Bowden takes us inside the rooms where decisions were made and on the ground where the action unfolded.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Listen to No Easy Day...much better
- By JMM on 10-20-12
By: Mark Bowden
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Dark Sun
- The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Richard Rhodes
- Length: 6 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 466
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 396
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 398
Richard Rhodes' landmark history of the atomic bomb won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Now, in this majestic new masterpiece of history, science, and politics, he tells for the first time the secret story of how and why the hydrogen bomb was made, and traces the path by which this supreme artifact of 20th-century technology became the defining issue of the Cold War.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Abridged??
- By Delano on 04-17-13
By: Richard Rhodes
-
Twilight Warriors
- The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War
- By: James Kitfield
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 90
In Twilight Warriors, award-winning foreign correspondent James Kitfield introduces us to the tight-knit brotherhood that strives to keep the United States safe from the dimly understood threats it now faces. Together these men have broken down the boundaries between their respective agencies to engineer a network-centric way of fighting using a seamless web of intelligence analysts, information networks, FBI forensics experts, and Special Forces units to take the fight to America's enemies as never before.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
South African Perspectives
- By Bernard Remacle on 03-22-17
By: James Kitfield
People who viewed this also viewed...
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Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,215
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,093
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,086
For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Phenomenally mediocre narration of a good book
- By philip on 05-18-17
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Area 51
- An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,761
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,973
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,963
It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere s75 miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the US government - but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to 19 men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to 55 additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, 32 of whom lived and worked there for extended periods.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointing
- By Mike From Mesa on 06-06-11
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,807
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,433
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,424
In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Osenberg list
- By Jean on 08-07-14
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Surprise, Kill, Vanish
- The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,934
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,329
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4,313
From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Lots of facts, offset by too much fiction
- By Steve M on 05-24-19
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
First Platoon
- A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 497
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 435
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 436
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An eye opener
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-21
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Nuclear War
- A Scenario
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,057
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,900
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,901
Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have. Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, but read waaayyy to slow.
- By Robert on 04-24-24
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,215
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,093
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,086
For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Phenomenally mediocre narration of a good book
- By philip on 05-18-17
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Area 51
- An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,761
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,973
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,963
It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere s75 miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the US government - but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to 19 men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to 55 additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, 32 of whom lived and worked there for extended periods.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointing
- By Mike From Mesa on 06-06-11
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,807
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,433
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,424
In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Osenberg list
- By Jean on 08-07-14
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Surprise, Kill, Vanish
- The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,934
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,329
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4,313
From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Lots of facts, offset by too much fiction
- By Steve M on 05-24-19
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
First Platoon
- A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 497
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 435
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 436
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An eye opener
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-21
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Nuclear War
- A Scenario
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,057
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,900
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,901
Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have. Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, but read waaayyy to slow.
- By Robert on 04-24-24
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
The Department of Mad Scientists
- Inside DARPA, the Path-Breaking Government Agency You've Never Heard Of
- By: Michael Belfiore
- Narrated by: Michael Belfiore
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 92
The first-ever inside look at DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - the maverick and controversial group whose futuristic work has had amazing civilian and military applications, from the Internet to GPS to driverless cars
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2 out of 5 stars
-
meh
- By Patrick on 12-22-09
By: Michael Belfiore
-
The Imagineers of War
- The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World
- By: Sharon Weinberger
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 105
The definitive history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly 60 years. Founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, the agency's original mission was to create "the unimagined weapons of the future". Over the decades, DARPA has been responsible for countless inventions and technologies that extend well beyond military technology.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Blandly written story about DARPA politics
- By Syed on 04-18-17
-
Hunting the Jackal
- A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism
- By: Billy Waugh, Tim Keown
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,711
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,507
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,497
For more than half a century, Special Forces and CIA legend Billy Waugh dedicated his life to tracking down and eliminating America's most virulent enemies. Operating from the darkest shadows and most desolate corners of the world, he made his mark in many of the most important operations in the annals of US Spec Ops. He spent seven and a half years behind enemy lines in Vietnam as a member of a covert group of elite commandos.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Hunting the Jackal - epic accounting of SOF/SOG and CIA IV
- By Eric on 01-08-18
By: Billy Waugh, and others
-
The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,526
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,315
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,304
The Dead Hand is the suspense-filled story of the people who sought to brake the speeding locomotive of the arms race, then rushed to secure the nuclear and biological weapons left behind by the collapse of the Soviet Union—a dangerous legacy that haunts us even today.The Cold War was an epoch of massive overkill.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Eye opening
- By Brian on 11-16-10
By: David E. Hoffman
-
Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,146
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,843
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,833
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,108
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,872
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,854
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
Gray Work
- Confessions of an American Paramilitary Spy
- By: Jamie Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Gurner
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,205
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,089
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,088
In this unprecedented audiobook, a paramilitary contractor with more than two decades of experience gives us a firsthand look into the secret lives of America's private warriors and their highly covert work around the world. Author Jamie Smith has planned and executed hundreds of missions on behalf of government agencies and private industry in some of the world's most dangerous hot spots - and lived to tell the tale.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Don't believe a word of it.
- By Dustin Harry on 08-26-15
By: Jamie Smith
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The Doomsday Machine
- By: Daniel Ellsberg
- Narrated by: Steven Cooper
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,029
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 911
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 909
The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg's hair-raising insider's account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization, whose legacy - and renewal under the Obama administration - threatens the very survival of humanity. It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high-level access to them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating Insider Story
- By Terry Masters on 12-07-17
By: Daniel Ellsberg
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Project MK-Ultra
- The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Since the early days of human warfare, which may date back to the Stone Age, combatants have sought to gain an advantage through the acquisition of secret information. With the growth of technology, a parallel advantage was sought through the application of numerous types of torture. In the 19th century, the concept of manipulation was added to military tactics, an attempt to influence the minds of assassins, double agents, and world leaders alike to act against their natures.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you search for it you found it. Get it.
- By Pjones on 08-21-23
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Black Ops
- The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior
- By: Ric Prado
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,132
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,021
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,019
Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. Black Ops is the story of Ric’s legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Impressive and Inspiring!
- By medardo on 03-12-22
By: Ric Prado
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Raven Rock
- The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,263
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,133
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,123
A fresh window on American history: the eye-opening truth about the government's secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, even if the rest of us die - a road map that spans from the dawn of the nuclear age to today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome Read!!
- By Brewer Richardson on 05-05-17
By: Garrett M. Graff
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The Devil's Chessboard
- Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
- By: David Talbot
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,204
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,939
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,944
An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful - and secretive - colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times best seller Brothers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Disturbing. Makes you question the company line.
- By KTS on 02-06-16
By: David Talbot
What listeners say about The Pentagon's Brain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter
- 12-10-17
Great story, but...
This was a fantastic store, but the author read the audiobook herself and so badly mangled the pronunciation of basic military words and acronyms that at times it made it difficult for me to consider her research credible.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. Sooley
- 06-27-19
I Am The Walrus
Wow. Eye opening.
Some of the crazy schemes and even crazier names dreamed up for these schemes was the big takeaway for me.
The fact that we have completely ignored Eisenhower's warning about the MIC and the fact that, in many cases, ill-informed twenty-somethings were shaping nuclear and civil defense policies if beyond insane,
If you want to be left with a warm fuzzy feeling about the direction of the military, this is not your book. AI and military robotics is setting the tone for our new Matrix-like reality. We are headed toward Coppertop Town.
This book could have been titled something along the lines of, How To Blow Billions in Taxpayer Dollars on Crazy, Insane Technology and War.
Narration was OK, but was not the best.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- R. Bedsole
- 06-15-16
Great Book
A very in liteing book. Goes hand in hand with area 51 book the author wrote. I grew up in the time frame that this book was written in. I Now understand what was really going on. I grew up in the 1960s and seventies so this explains a lot about what was going on in the military and the government that the public was not aware of. it he is a very good book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jordan Johnson
- 04-26-16
Very good, makes you think.
I think everyone needs to read this book it's very eye opening to say the least.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- yul
- 08-05-19
nice
it was a nice book. the first half better than the second. at a times sounded like a shopping list but all the same very illuminating.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matthew Robert McLaskey
- 04-29-21
Another amazing story by a great writer
Annie Jacobsen explains the history and possible future of this subject matter in an educational and nonjudgmental way. Like the rest of her books, you will walk away from it as a better-informed person with questions about the future. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about ordering it. It's a great listen.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 06-09-21
Hydrogen Bombs & Killer Robots….
…. This book provides an in depth look into The Pentagon, DARPA, and the Military Industrial Complex.
In the end, the most worrisome insight is Government Scientists studying how to remove fear from people in the Military as it is tied to the further development/employment of Autonomous Intelligent Killer Robots….what could go wrong…SkyNet anyone!?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Brandon Chadwick
- 10-01-21
great book
scary that this was put out in like 2015. can only imagine what DARPA has now
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Charles Oetter
- 12-31-20
Superb!
Annie knows how to write and tell a story! Her voice is calming, yet it keeps me enthralled. Love her books!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AZ Crazy
- 09-12-21
A real peek behind the curtain
I am so glad to have found this author. Her in depth,well researched explanations are revelatory on a variety of topics I find interesting.
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