-
Jet Man
- The Making and Breaking of Frank Whittle, Genius of the Jet Revolution
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.90
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
The story of Frank Whittle - RAF pilot, mathematician of genius, inventor of the jet engine and British hero.
In 1929, a 22-year-old maverick named Frank Whittle - a self-taught aeronautical obsessive and risk-takingly brilliant RAF pilot - presented a blueprint for a revolutionary, jet-powered aircraft engine to the Air Ministry. His idea had the potential to change the course of history, but it was summarily rejected.
In this meticulously researched biography, Duncan Campbell-Smith charts Whittle's stoic efforts to build his jet engine in the interwar years, during which he was constantly frustrated to find his groundbreaking project impeded by bureaucratic inertia until the outbreak of war in 1939. Eventual recognition of the importance of his work by the British government came too late for Whittle's invention to play a major part in the Second World War, but after the war his dream of civilian jet powered aircraft was gradually realized - eventually transforming the entire world of air travel.
Gripping in its narrative, authoritative in its technical detail and insightful in its judgements, Jet Man is the definitive telling of the life of an engineering icon and unjustly neglected British hero of the Second World War - and a tantalizing tale of 'what might have been'.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Aviators
- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gifted storyteller Winston Groom, the best-selling author of Forrest Gump, has written the fascinating story of three extraordinary heroes who defined aviation during the great age of flight: Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Jimmy Doolittle. These cleverly interwoven tales of their heart-stopping adventures take us from the feats of World War I through the heroism of World War II and beyond, including daring military raids and survival at sea, and will appeal to fans of Unbroken, The Greatest Generation, and Flyboys.
-
-
Too much a hagiography
- By Joseph Valenzi on 09-08-15
By: Winston Groom
-
The Great Air Race
- Death, Glory, and the Dawn of American Aviation
- By: John Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The incredible, untold story of the men who risked their lives in the first transcontinental air contest—and put American aviation on the map.
-
-
Very entertaining/informative book
- By D. Littman on 12-09-22
By: John Lancaster
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel
- Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
- By: Douglas Brunt
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
September 29, 1913: the steamship Dresden is halfway between Belgium and England. On board is one of the most famous men in the world, Rudolf Diesel, whose new internal combustion engine is on the verge of revolutionizing global industry forever. But Diesel never arrives at his destination. He vanishes during the night and headlines around the world wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder.
-
-
Just a girl and an audio book.
- By Lori Rhodes on 09-26-23
By: Douglas Brunt
-
Who Can Hold the Sea
- The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960
- By: James D. Hornfischer
- Narrated by: Christopher Newton, Sharon Hornfischer
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This landmark account of the U.S. Navy in the Cold War, Who Can Hold the Sea combines narrative history with scenes of stirring adventure on—and under—the high seas. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the victorious Navy sends its sailors home and decommissions most of its warships. But this peaceful interlude is short-lived, as Stalin, America’s former ally, makes aggressive moves in Europe and the Far East.
-
-
James D. Hornfisher's last work
- By JWHayn4563 on 05-05-22
-
The Apollo Murders
- By: Chris Hadfield
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop it. But as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide.
-
-
Was dubious at first but happily surprised
- By Brett Fluri on 10-17-21
By: Chris Hadfield
-
The Aviators
- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gifted storyteller Winston Groom, the best-selling author of Forrest Gump, has written the fascinating story of three extraordinary heroes who defined aviation during the great age of flight: Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Jimmy Doolittle. These cleverly interwoven tales of their heart-stopping adventures take us from the feats of World War I through the heroism of World War II and beyond, including daring military raids and survival at sea, and will appeal to fans of Unbroken, The Greatest Generation, and Flyboys.
-
-
Too much a hagiography
- By Joseph Valenzi on 09-08-15
By: Winston Groom
-
The Great Air Race
- Death, Glory, and the Dawn of American Aviation
- By: John Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The incredible, untold story of the men who risked their lives in the first transcontinental air contest—and put American aviation on the map.
-
-
Very entertaining/informative book
- By D. Littman on 12-09-22
By: John Lancaster
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel
- Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
- By: Douglas Brunt
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
September 29, 1913: the steamship Dresden is halfway between Belgium and England. On board is one of the most famous men in the world, Rudolf Diesel, whose new internal combustion engine is on the verge of revolutionizing global industry forever. But Diesel never arrives at his destination. He vanishes during the night and headlines around the world wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder.
-
-
Just a girl and an audio book.
- By Lori Rhodes on 09-26-23
By: Douglas Brunt
-
Who Can Hold the Sea
- The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960
- By: James D. Hornfischer
- Narrated by: Christopher Newton, Sharon Hornfischer
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This landmark account of the U.S. Navy in the Cold War, Who Can Hold the Sea combines narrative history with scenes of stirring adventure on—and under—the high seas. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the victorious Navy sends its sailors home and decommissions most of its warships. But this peaceful interlude is short-lived, as Stalin, America’s former ally, makes aggressive moves in Europe and the Far East.
-
-
James D. Hornfisher's last work
- By JWHayn4563 on 05-05-22
-
The Apollo Murders
- By: Chris Hadfield
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop it. But as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide.
-
-
Was dubious at first but happily surprised
- By Brett Fluri on 10-17-21
By: Chris Hadfield
-
Yeager
- An Autobiography
- By: Chuck Yeager
- Narrated by: Chris Browning, Pamela Dillman, David Stifel, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
General Chuck Yeager was the greatest test pilot of them all - the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound...the World War II flying ace who shot down a Messerschmitt jet with a prop-driven P-51 Mustang...the hero who defined a certain quality that all hotshot fly-boys of the postwar era aimed to achieve: the right stuff. Now he tells his whole incredible life story with the same “wide-open, full throttle” approach that has marked his astonishing career.
-
-
Just an Amazing Life
- By John on 05-08-20
By: Chuck Yeager
-
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 37 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Beware limitations of the reader
- By JFanson on 01-01-19
By: Richard Rhodes
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Osenberg list
- By Jean on 08-07-14
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
American Prometheus
- The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
- By: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 26 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb but later confronted the moral consequences of scientific progress. When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s.
-
-
An American Tragedy
- By Edith on 12-13-07
By: Kai Bird, and others
-
Kangaroo Squadron
- American Courage in the Darkest Days of World War II
- By: Bruce Gamble
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single US Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America's new enemy. Based in Australia with inadequate supplies and no ground support, the squadron's pilots and combat crew endured tropical diseases while confronting numerically superior Japanese forces. Yet the outfit, dubbed the Kangaroo Squadron, proved remarkably resilient and successful.
-
-
5 star History!
- By DON COOKE on 03-13-19
By: Bruce Gamble
-
The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
-
-
Disappointing
- By Sara on 07-10-16
By: David McCullough
-
747
- Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation
- By: Joe Sutter
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
747 is the thrilling story behind "the Queen of the Skies" - the Boeing 747 - as told by Joe Sutter, one of the most celebrated engineers of the 20th century, who spearheaded its design and construction. Sutter's vivid narrative takes us back to a time when American technology was cutting-edge and jet travel was still glamorous and new. With wit and warmth, he gives an insider's sense of the larger than life-size personalities - and the tensions - in the aeronautical world.
-
-
What a beautiful plane
- By Jean on 10-18-13
By: Joe Sutter
-
Boyd
- The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Boyd may be the most remarkable unsung hero in all of American military history. Some remember him as the greatest US fighter pilot ever - the man who, in simulated air-to-air combat, defeated every challenger in less than 40 seconds. Some recall him as the father of our country's most legendary fighter aircraft - the F-15 and F-16. Still, others think of Boyd as the most influential military theorist since Sun Tzu. They know only half the story.
-
-
Stick With It if You Want a Rare Gem
- By Michael Richards on 08-30-16
By: Robert Coram
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
-
Above the Reich
- Deadly Dogfights, Blistering Bombing Raids, and Other War Stories from the Greatest American Air Heroes of World War II, in Their Own Words
- By: Colin Heaton, Anne-Marie Lewis
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Mark Bramhall, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are voices lost to time. Beginning in the late 1970s, five veteran airmen sat for private interviews. Decades after the guns fell silent, they recounted in vivid detail the most dangerous missions that made the difference in the war. Ed Haydon dueled with the deadliest of German aces - and forced him to the ground. Robert Johnson racked up 27 kills in his P-47 Thunderbolt, but nearly lost his life when his plane was shot to ribbons and his guns jammed. Cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay was the Air Corps general who devised the bomber tactics that pummeled Germany's war machine.
-
-
Mostly excerpts from other books
- By R. Denton on 04-08-22
By: Colin Heaton, and others
-
Target Tokyo
- Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor
- By: James M. Scott
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic account of one of America's most celebrated - and controversial - military campaigns: the Doolittle Raid. In December 1941, as American forces tallied the dead at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gathered with his senior military counselors to plan an ambitious counterstrike against the heart of the Japanese Empire: Tokyo.
-
-
Vengence is Mine, Thus Sayeth Doolittle
- By Jonathan Love on 06-13-16
By: James M. Scott
-
Black Snow
- Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb
- By: James M. Scott
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: "If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals."
-
-
Top notch!
- By anonymous on 10-24-22
By: James M. Scott
Critic reviews
"A very well-written and long overdue corrective account of an extraordinary man." (James Hamilton-Paterson)
"Highly readable, and based on thorough research, Jet Man casts new light on the intense, heroic character of Frank Whittle and his revolutionary invention. The tale of how he overcame all the obstacles in his path is a gripping one. What also makes Duncan Campbell-Smith's narrative compelling is the way the complex mechanics of jet propulsion are so clearly explained." (Leo McKinstry)
Related to this topic
-
Geniuses at War
- Bletchley Park, Colossus, and the Dawn of the Digital Age
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Planning the invasion of Normandy, the Allies knew that decoding the communications of the Nazi high command was imperative for its success. But standing in their way was an encryption machine they called Tunny (British English for “tuna”), which was vastly more difficult to crack than the infamous Enigma cipher.
-
-
ok not great
- By JTA98 on 12-09-21
By: David A. Price
-
In the Shadow of the Moon
- A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969
- By: Francis French, Colin Burgess
- Narrated by: Gary L. Willprecht
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure.
-
-
Interesting book for space afficionados
- By Leslie F. on 04-21-16
By: Francis French, and others
-
Churchill's Bomb
- How the United States Overtook Britain in the First Nuclear Arms Race
- By: Graham Farmelo
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As award-winning biographer and science writer Graham Farmelo describes in Churchill's Bomb, the British set out to investigate the possibility of building nuclear weapons before their American colleagues. But when scientists in Britain first discovered a way to build an atomic bomb, Prime Minister Winston Churchill did not make the most of his country's lead and was slow to realize the bomb's strategic implications.
-
-
Loved it!! This was great.
- By MAC24211 on 09-08-21
By: Graham Farmelo
-
Tuxedo Park
- A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: John Kroft
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1930s, legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the 20th century at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
-
-
Fantastic book, weak technical execution
- By Paul on 10-13-18
By: Jennet Conant
-
Big Science
- Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Bob Saouer
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the 1930s, the scale of scientific endeavors has grown exponentially. The birth of Big Science can be traced to Berkeley, California, nearly nine decades ago, when a resourceful young scientist pondered his new invention and declared, "I'm going to be famous!" Ernest Orlando Lawrence's cyclotron would revolutionize nuclear physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact.This is the incredible story of how one invention changed the world and of the man principally responsible for it all. Michael Hiltzik tells the riveting full story here for the first time.
-
-
An informative and thought-provoking book
- By Jean on 08-23-15
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Schriever rhymes with beaver.
- By John Gardner on 11-13-09
By: Neil Sheehan
-
Geniuses at War
- Bletchley Park, Colossus, and the Dawn of the Digital Age
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Planning the invasion of Normandy, the Allies knew that decoding the communications of the Nazi high command was imperative for its success. But standing in their way was an encryption machine they called Tunny (British English for “tuna”), which was vastly more difficult to crack than the infamous Enigma cipher.
-
-
ok not great
- By JTA98 on 12-09-21
By: David A. Price
-
In the Shadow of the Moon
- A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969
- By: Francis French, Colin Burgess
- Narrated by: Gary L. Willprecht
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure.
-
-
Interesting book for space afficionados
- By Leslie F. on 04-21-16
By: Francis French, and others
-
Churchill's Bomb
- How the United States Overtook Britain in the First Nuclear Arms Race
- By: Graham Farmelo
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As award-winning biographer and science writer Graham Farmelo describes in Churchill's Bomb, the British set out to investigate the possibility of building nuclear weapons before their American colleagues. But when scientists in Britain first discovered a way to build an atomic bomb, Prime Minister Winston Churchill did not make the most of his country's lead and was slow to realize the bomb's strategic implications.
-
-
Loved it!! This was great.
- By MAC24211 on 09-08-21
By: Graham Farmelo
-
Tuxedo Park
- A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: John Kroft
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1930s, legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the 20th century at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
-
-
Fantastic book, weak technical execution
- By Paul on 10-13-18
By: Jennet Conant
-
Big Science
- Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Bob Saouer
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the 1930s, the scale of scientific endeavors has grown exponentially. The birth of Big Science can be traced to Berkeley, California, nearly nine decades ago, when a resourceful young scientist pondered his new invention and declared, "I'm going to be famous!" Ernest Orlando Lawrence's cyclotron would revolutionize nuclear physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact.This is the incredible story of how one invention changed the world and of the man principally responsible for it all. Michael Hiltzik tells the riveting full story here for the first time.
-
-
An informative and thought-provoking book
- By Jean on 08-23-15
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Schriever rhymes with beaver.
- By John Gardner on 11-13-09
By: Neil Sheehan
-
Racing for the Bomb
- The True Story of General Leslie R. Groves, the Man Behind the Birth of the Atomic Age
- By: Robert S. Norris
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 23 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Revealed for the first time in Racing for the Bomb, Groves played a crucial and decisive role in the planning, timing, and targeting of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions. Norris offers new insights into the complex and controversial questions surrounding the decision to drop the bomb in Japan and Groves' actions during World War II, which had a lasting imprint on the nuclear age and the Cold War that followed.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 04-22-15
By: Robert S. Norris
-
Chasing the Moon
- The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America into the Space Age
- By: Robert Stone, Alan Andres
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy proposed the nation spend $20 billion to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. Based on eyewitness accounts and newly discovered archival material, Chasing the Moon reveals the unknown stories of the fascinating individuals whose imaginative work across decades culminated in America’s momentous achievement. More than a story of engineers and astronauts, the moon landing - now celebrating its 50th anniversary - grew out of the dreams of science fiction writers, filmmakers, military geniuses, and rule-breaking scientists.
-
-
Fifty years ago...
- By GraceAgnes on 06-14-19
By: Robert Stone, and others
-
Empires of the Sky
- Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
- By: Alexander Rose
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the dawn of the 20th century, when human flight was still considered an impossibility, Germany’s Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin vied with the Wright Brothers to build the world’s first successful flying machine. As the Wrights labored to invent the airplane, Zeppelin fathered the remarkable airship, sparking a bitter rivalry between the two types of aircraft and their innovators that would last for decades, in the quest to control one of humanity’s most inspiring achievements. And it was the airship—not the airplane—that led the way.
-
-
Actually, a One-Sided Story
- By JP on 08-03-20
By: Alexander Rose
-
American Moonshot
- John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race
- By: Douglas Brinkley
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing approaches, the award-winning historian and perennial New York Times best-selling author takes a fresh look at the space program, President John F. Kennedy’s inspiring challenge, and America’s race to the moon.
-
-
This narrator sounds like a frikkin robot! 👎👎👎
- By Timothy Anderson on 04-04-19
By: Douglas Brinkley
-
Stealth
- The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft
- By: Peter Westwick
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen US aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Each aircraft was more than 60 feet in length and with a wingspan of 40 feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating.
-
-
Good Overview of the original development
- By Amazon Customer on 08-01-22
By: Peter Westwick
-
The Idea Factory
- Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
- By: Jon Gertner
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of today’s most exciting technologies.
-
-
Great story -- horrible pauses
- By Rodney on 01-29-13
By: Jon Gertner
-
Agents of Influence
- A British Campaign, a Canadian Spy, and the Secret Plot to Bring America into World War II
- By: Henry Hemming
- Narrated by: Henry Hemming
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As World War II raged into its second year, Britain sought a powerful ally to join its cause - but the American public was sharply divided on the subject. The Canadian-born MI6 officer William Stephenson, with his knowledge and influence in North America, was chosen to change their minds by any means necessary.
-
-
Shaken, not stirred.
- By Reeka on 06-21-20
By: Henry Hemming
-
Dark Sun
- The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Richard Rhodes
- Length: 6 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Abridged??
- By Delano on 04-17-13
By: Richard Rhodes
-
First War of Physics
- The Secret History of the Atom Bomb 1939-1949
- By: Jim Baggott
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding: the monumental race to build the first atomic weapons.
Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives.
-
-
For all atom bomb and physics nerds
- By Jodie Swafford on 11-30-18
By: Jim Baggott
-
The Hidden Nazi
- The Untold Story of America’s Deal with the Devil
- By: Dean Reuter, Colm Lowery, Keith Chester
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sidekick to SS Chief Heinrich Himmler and supervisor of Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, General Hans Kammler was responsible for the construction of Hitler's slave labor sites and concentration camps. He personally altered the design of Auschwitz to increase crowding, ensuring that epidemic diseases would complement the work of the gas chambers. Why has the world forgotten this monster? Kammler was declared dead after the war. But the aide who testified to Kammler's supposed "suicide" never produced the general's dog tags or any other proof of death.
-
-
10 minutes of content hidden in a 12+ hour book
- By Scott G on 10-21-19
By: Dean Reuter, and others
-
The Secret Lives of Codebreakers
- The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park
- By: Sinclair McKay
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bletchley Park looked like any other sprawling country estate. In reality, however, it was the top-secret headquarters of Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School - and the site where Germany’s legendary Enigma code was finally cracked. There, the nation’s most brilliant mathematical minds - including Alan Turing, whose discoveries at Bletchley would fuel the birth of modern computing - toiled alongside debutantes, factory workers, and students on projects of international importance. Until now, little has been revealed about ordinary life at this extraordinary facility.
-
-
Dull treatment of an exciting subject
- By Drew on 01-31-14
By: Sinclair McKay
-
Burning the Sky
- Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space
- By: Mark Wolverton
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the Soviet Union proved to the United States that it possessed an operational intercontinental ballistic missile with the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, the world watched anxiously as the two superpowers engaged in a game of nuclear one-upmanship. Amid this rising tension, eccentric physicist Nicholas Christofilos brought forth an outlandish, albeit ingenious, idea to defend the US from a Soviet attack: detonating nuclear warheads in space to create an artificial radiation belt that would fry incoming ICBMs. Known as Operation Argus, this plan is the most secret and riskiest experiment in history, and classified details of these nuclear tests have been long obscured.
-
-
Extraordinary interesting history
- By Magnus Almgren on 10-23-20
By: Mark Wolverton