The Space Barons

By: Christian Davenport

Narrated by: Will Collyer

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The historic quest to rekindle the human exploration and colonization of space led by two rivals and their vast fortunes, egos, and visions of space as the next entrepreneurial frontier

The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half-century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons—most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen—are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel, and send humans even further than NASA has gone. These entrepreneurs have founded some of the biggest brands in the world—Amazon, Microsoft, Virgin, Tesla, PayPal—and upended industry after industry. Now they are pursuing the biggest disruption of all: space.

Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry—hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.

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

©2018 Christian Davenport (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The Space Barons by Christian Davenport, a Washington Post reporter, is an exciting narrative filled with colorful reporting and sharp insights. The book sparkles because of Davenport's access to the main players and his talent for crisp storytelling."—Walter Isaacson, NewYork Times Book Review

"The Space Barons is a pacy, smartly reported book on the new generation of entrepreneurs who are transforming the business of space... [The] book fizzes with some wonderful human stories of imagination and endeavor but also provides a broad sweep of the current state of the space industry."—Financial Times

"Davenport displays his reporting and storytelling skills. His writing is tight and, suitably for the subject matter, propulsive. He fleshes out the main protagonists with fine character vignettes."—The Washington Post

Very good overview

If you’ve read other books on Bezos or Elon, some of this content will be repetitive. Overall - very good, quick read.

great outline

A great outline of the current private space race and the conversion of space to private sector access. Don't expect any future predictions but there is enough there for you to form your own.

Amazing!

This book is a great choice for anyone interested in knowing more about the development and success of two awesome companies (space x and Blue Origin) that have pushed the foundation for space travel!

Good read

Some inaccuracies, but interesting. I enjoyed the behind the scenes stories. Definitely captures the background of a major transition in space flight.

great

good nice great sweet cool awesome dope hip fantastic amazing super satisfactory pleasing superb. 🔥🔥🔥🔥👌👌👌👌😂😂😂😂😂

Intriguing

What an intriguing competition between billionaires. Can’t wait to see how the real world story progresses in the years to come.

Very informative and educational in a fun way!

Very cool book. It was extremely insightful on where #spacetravel is and where it is going.

The wonderful thing is, that private sector dreamers like (Bezos, Branson and Musk) are reigniting the possibilities of going to space. Making it affordable, reusable and fun!

Breaking through the heavily regulated and controlling government monopoly and cost waste. These folks are building, engineering, and doing.

Fabulous Disruption! They use any failures as a key ingredient to learning, by building it better. You want that continuous experimentation and deployment.

We are are SO far behind in this area, it’s great to see it being pursued so passionately. #julesverne and #hgwells I think would be happy about this.

I'm a Space Nut... And I LOVED It!

I've been fascinated by space travel since I was a kid--I went to Space Camp in Huntsville twice. One time our team won "Best Mission" and I'm proud to say I was Commander of that mission.

Unfortunately, to date that highlight of my space career was when I was 13 years old. "The Space Barons" reignited that childhood spark and wonder for what space travel can ultimately be, while providing some insight into the modern-day commercial space race that's shaping up... its huge upside... and the very real risks that come with it.

It's tough to humanize billionaires, but Davenport does it with ease. Sometimes unintentionally, when Jeff Bezos makes a very (ahem) in retrospect hilarious comment about his "really big rocket" he's working on... but I digress...

Really great book and well-performed for any space nut!

exciting learning for space enthusiasts

A story of struggle how private enterprises working on high egos with newly minted billions taking on the government to get the best of sciences and making it to space. The most relevant space companies of our generations are privately held behemoths with innovation and pure heart to succeed.

loved this books, the entrepreneur spirit and ability to deal failure whilst keeping the focus on the bigger goal.

Space!

good book
good narrator
good space
space good
I'm a space man
seriously, it's a great book.