Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

Wow. My mind was officially blow by this book. A wonderfully researched in depth insight into Area 51 and many marque' events of the Cold War era. I generally trudge through most history texts even "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich" as admirably written as it was took attrition to get through. In contrast, I could not put this book down, so to speak. The narration is done by the author with much success, take note voice over talent agents Annie Jocobsen is a gem. Buy this book without fear of regret.

Annie Jacobsen's investigative work 'Area 51' first interested me when I caught an interview on NPR's Morning Edition. She herself has a great radio/listening voice. Sort of a Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson speaking low and a little raspy the day after attending a big game. Seeing her on The Daily Show sealed it for me: I had to see if this was available on Audible.

I expected to feel let-down by feebly-supported suppositions and accusations based on common alien and conspiracy lore. Jacobsen delivered instead a very well-investigated piece spanning some seven decades of secret US military, intelligence and corporate R&D. And this book contributes to the Area 51 conspiracy colloquy as a pillar of hard research and rationality, at least, perhaps, the best that can be done with the most recently declassified documents still decades old.

There are still some very difficult, if not dubious claims made. But they at least are claims that mesh with how the world works, and not fantastic claims of alien visitors. Annie Jacobsen attributes the least-believable, most deeply-concealed secrets to our collective fears of insecurity, legal liability, moral viability and military effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) before the wider world. The picture she paints is of too few men with too much power and not enough accountability accomplishing astonishing scientific and technological feats, often by means so shady and with consequences so damaging that hiding was deemed a better option than transparency.

This is the kind of detailed story that's almost impossible to make sense of in audio (as opposed to visual) format. By one hour into it, we've heard a minimum of 100 nouns: name after name of people, projects, geographic locations, publications, etc., etc., etc. Imagine how many names you'll hear by the end of the book! It's really not possible to visualize and keep distinct those multiple identities for the purpose of making sense in wider context. When you're reading, you can refer back to previous pages when contextual questions arise, but that's not feasible in the audio format. If you hope to come to any conclusion about this controversial topic, my recommendation would be to purchase the hard copy, instead. Otherwise, it's pretty much a jumble.

I will premise this by saying I am still listening to the book...

First, I have a problem with Ms Jacobson's reading style. She speaks very slowly and pauses frequently to make sure that the reader or listener understands that what she is saying "has never before appeared in print." A statement she uses so frequently it has become a joke between my boyfriend and I. Furthermore, she writes like a reporter (which she is) penning a piece for installments, not just reminding the reader of earlier facts but restating them verbatim.

Second, many will feel miss-led by the title of the book. Yes, it is about Area 51 but not as much about aliens (there is a sensational aspect to that effect that she has mentioned but yet to adequately explain). It is mostly about the alliance of science and the military, the development of cutting-edge aircraft, and the questionable ethics on the part of all parties involved. It is also about espionage and the misdirection and miss-communication practiced on the American people and the government to maintain secrets. Some have noted that her facts are wrong, but according to her argument, the official record is incorrect as part of a concerted campaign of dis-information engaged to keep the happenings on the site secret. She maintains she has the true story because she spoke with the people that were actually there, but following her logic, her information can not be otherwise verified. She is a reporter specializing in military (I believe) affairs so I would think she would know how to work from primary sources. However, if there are such major problems with minor facts as other reviewers have noted, it does make one wonder.

I am enjoying this book for the way it ties together many threads of history. Am I taking it as gospel? No. But it has introduced me to aspects of history I would like to further investigate. And I have recommended it to my father who enjoys military and aviation history.

Having read most of the conspiracy stuff and hung with a lot of the conspiracy folks, I can tell you that Annie Jacobsen's narrative is much more frightening than any fabricated paranoia might be. The research for and rendition of her book is superb....although you might become even more paranoid. :-)

I think I was looking for more of the myth factor here. What Jacobsen has done is conducted incredibly thorough research to reveal the truth to a lot of mysteries; truth perhaps not as exciting as proposed by popular media. However, I learned a lot, historically speaking. I also liked that Jacobsen narrated her own work, knowing the hours she must have put into the research.

Started off well, I kept on listening thinking it would build up to something more in line with the classic Area 51 rumours.

The stories of pilots and staff working at the base become tiresome and sometimes, in my opinion, were not worth mentioning.

This book bills itself as an "uncensored history" of the secret military base, but feels much more like a telling of the declassified aspects of its history. The majority of the book is made up of easily
believable histories and anecdotes of mostly known weapons testing in the Nevada desert and the end of the book contains the items of a more sensational nature. The problem is that there are so many
statements in the early part of the book that are either scientifically or historically incorrect, misleading or grammatically confusing that they make it hard to believe the later statements. Here are some of them:

STATEMENT: The killing of the Russian royal family triggered the Russian Civil War.
COMMENT: The Russian revolution began in Feb 1917, tsar Nicholas abdicated in March, the Bolshevik revolution took place in Nov and the Rominovs were executed in July 1918, long after the revolution started (all dates Julian).

STATEMENT: One of the spy planes landed on the island of Kadena.
COMMENT: There is no island of Kadena. She probably means that the spy planes landed at Kadena AFB on the island of Okinawa.

STATEMENT: Generals wearing stars on their chests?
COMMENT: Generals, like all officers in the US military, wear their insignias on their shoulders and collars.

STATEMENT: Rods from God traveling at 10,000 miles per second?
COMMENT: I don't think so. 10,000 miles per second is the same as approx MACH 48,000, and nothing can move that quickly in the earth's atmosphere. The air cannot get out of the way quickly enough. She probably meant 10,000 miles per hour (or approx MACH 13). That is closer to what all of the online articles about this weapon specify as its possible speed.

There are more, but I think this is enough to make the point. If I cannot believe what I read in the body of the book, how can the author expect me to believe the more sensational parts of the book?

Having said all of that parts of the book are moderately interesting.

the reading was slow and jerky, the book, although cited, contained info with no credible sources and was rather obviously BS. I wouldn't read it again.

There is nothing in this book you cannot find with a quick online search, for free. It is an old topic, and the book brings nothing new to the table.