The History of the Future

Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality

By: Blake J. Harris

Narrated by: Stephen Graybill

Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The dramatic, larger-than-life true story behind the founding of Oculus and its quest for virtual reality, by the best-selling author of Console Wars.

From iconic books like Neuromancer to blockbuster films like The Matrix, virtual reality has long been hailed as the ultimate technology. But outside of a few research labs and military training facilities, this tantalizing vision of the future was nothing but science fiction. Until 2012, when Oculus founder Palmer Luckey - then just a rebellious teenage dreamer living alone in a camper trailer - invents a device that has the potential to change everything.

With the help of a video game legend, a serial entrepreneur, and many other colorful characters, Luckey’s scrappy start-up kick-starts a revolution and sets out to bring VR to the masses. As with most underdog stories, things don’t quite go according to plan. But what happens next turns out to be the ultimate entrepreneurial journey: a tale of battles won and lost, lessons learned, and never-ending twists and turns - including an unlikely multibillion-dollar acquisition by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg that shakes up the landscape in Silicon Valley and gives Oculus the chance to forever change our reality.

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with the key players driving this revolution, The History of the Future weaves together a rich, cinematic narrative that captures the breakthroughs, breakdowns, and human drama of trying to change the world. The result is a super accessible and supremely entertaining look at the birth of a game-changing new industry.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Blake J. Harris (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

What an interesting dive into the resurgence of VR

extremely riveting book, Loved how they described the shady work of the daily beast and journalists as a whole today.

Changed my mind on many fronts

Incredible story, very well-written and engaging. Does an excellent job of opening your mind to beliefs you may strongly hold. They'll make a movie of this, mark my word.

true story of American dream what one believer can

inspirational but scary. real life example of how free speech even thought is being shutdown

Cinematic - Recommended for VR enthusiasts

Extremely cinimatic and dramatized - helpful for communicating VR. Impersonation of Antonov's character a bit racist.

Loved this book

This is a relatively long audiobook, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I may not be the most unbiased reviewer because I am extremely interested in this topic, and this book provided many new insights. Toward the end I had the feeling that there is likely more to the story, but I understand that the author's access became more limited for the latter parts of the history. I hope this book gets updated periodically, since the story of Oculus continues to evolve.

NotA Gamer!

I had no idea of the entire situation... Because I didn’t have any idea of the players involved... it was a mystery novel... I really enjoyed every minute.

An amazing book! Will be a classic.

Entrepreneurship, technology, business, politics....it is by far the best book I have read or listened to in awhile. Filled with so many insights felt like I was in the conversations. A classic for me in the quality of Liar's Poker.

super engaging

Couldn't put it down! Very well written and read! It is amazing to see from start to finish how vr and Oculus started.

Great story of America

Wow what a great American entrepreneurial adventure. Palmer is inspirational. This story was worth my time.

I just love this.

No really, I loved it. wish it wasn't over. Great narration also. A story I followed personally and learned a lot more about from the book.