The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities
How Information Warfare Shapes Your World
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 $9.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sumit Kaul
About this listen
'Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan's stellar examination of how modern conjurers apply the art of perception management to shape reality uses wonderful Indian epics and pop culture stories to convey complex information-warfare concepts like reflexive control, cybercriminal psychology, and how authoritarians exploit the information environment to solidify power. A breath of fresh air showcasing information operations topics outside typical Western case studies, their work has pressing relevance to a global audience of laypersons and experts alike. I am excited to recommend this book to friends and colleagues.'
- Cody Gentry Barrow, information warfare expert, former senior intelligence officer, The Pentagon
'This is a beguiling and fascinating story of the worlds we have created and now live in. It sees WhatsApp and Facebook as imagined communities no more or less than nation states and religious groups, bonded and sustained by ritual and story-telling, novelty and community. Uniquely Indian, drawing on ancient myth and religious traditions, yet universal. The authors show us why we should fear the power of the gods that rule these new worlds no less than those that ruled the heavens and earth in centuries past. Their ability to shape our reality is perhaps greater than any more earthly, geographical and physical power. Nation states and political parties are both threatened by this new source of power, and ruthlessly exploiting it. Perhaps the most important battle of the century ahead will be the one for people's minds, the victor the one best able to conjure a reality people want to believe in, real or not.'
- Group Captain Keith Dear, former intelligence officer, Royal Air Force, former advisor to the Prime Minister (UK) on defence modernisation, science, technology and the Integrated Review
'As societal interactions get digitized, a crucial bastion of human agency-the ability to interpret reality via information-comes under attack. The sacred spaces of truth and objectivity are encroached upon by parasitic ideologies, beliefs and dogma. Increasingly sophisticated methods are utilized to influence the thoughts of people, and nation states turn into forces trying to shape the information environment. The machinery of a state is repurposed to target its own citizenry and create alternate realities. This book is a critical re-evaluation of the cognitive forces shaping our country and its digital architecture of information.'
- Pukhraj Singh, cyber intelligence analyst, former cyber operator, Government of India
HOW DO POLITICIANS IN TODAY'S world attain power? How do nations become powerful? Why do human beings follow others unquestioningly, even if it is to their own detriment? What factors determine which politicians, nations and organizations will dominate the modern world?
Through much of human history, societal control was determined by militaristic strength. Individuals and tribes fought to control vital resources and land. In the next part of evolution marked by colonialism and the emergence of mega-corporations, money determined power. In the recent decade, the key to supremacy has shifted again. The power and control individuals, leaders and nations have is now determined by their ability to mould the information environment.
In The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities, Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan dive into the operations of political parties, cyber criminals, godmen, nation states and intelligence agencies from around the world to explain how the power to manipulate your thoughts is being harnessed, and how information warfare is shaping your life and world.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Sandworm
- A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers
- By: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2014, the world witnessed the start of a mysterious series of cyberattacks. Targeting American utility companies, NATO, and electric grids in Eastern Europe, the strikes grew ever more brazen. They culminated in the summer of 2017, when the malware known as NotPetya was unleashed, penetrating, disrupting, and paralyzing some of the world's largest businesses—from drug manufacturers to software developers to shipping companies. At the attack's epicenter in Ukraine, ATMs froze. The railway and postal systems shut down. Hospitals went dark.
-
-
Thru the eyes of the Sandworm's hunters and prey
- By ndru1 on 11-12-19
By: Andy Greenberg
-
How to Win an Indian Election
- What Political Parties Don’t Want You to Know
- By: Shivam Shankar Singh
- Narrated by: Terry D’Souza
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by a former election campaign consultant for a major political party, How to Win an Indian Election takes listeners into the forbidden world of election war-rooms and gives them a glimpse of how strategy is formulated, what works with voters on the ground and what doesn't. Based on research, interviews and the author's own experiences, this book is invaluable for its insight into the inner workings of politics, political parties and what really makes for a winning election campaign.
-
Stealth War
- How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept
- By: Robert Spalding
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America's national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America's economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure - and they're winning. It's almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China's motives and secret attacks on the West.
-
-
A General with a backbone loaded with truth "woke"
- By Jason on 10-01-19
By: Robert Spalding
-
Dark Future
- Uncovering the Great Reset's Terrifying Next Phase (The Great Reset Series)
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At important meetings in 2021 and 2022, powerful leaders from government, finance, media, and business who support the World Economic Forum’s plan for a Great Reset of capitalism launched a new “call to action” titled the “Great Narrative.” The Great Narrative campaign seeks to use the decay of traditional values throughout the West and new and future advancements in technology—including in the areas of artificial intelligence, automation, the metaverse, robotics, and more—to seize control of economies and societies in North America and Europe.
-
-
Very good
- By Yup on 07-23-23
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
The Plot to Destroy Democracy
- How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West
- By: Malcolm Nance, Rob Reiner - foreword
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the greatest intelligence operation in the history of the world, Donald Trump was made president of the United States with the assistance of a foreign power. For the first time, The Plot to Destroy Democracy reveals the dramatic story of how blackmail, espionage, assassination, and psychological warfare were used by Vladimir Putin and his spy agencies to steal the 2016 US election. It will show how Russia and its fifth column allies tried to flip the cornerstones of democracy in order to reengineer the world political order that kept most of the world free since since 1945.
-
-
OH NOOOO
- By Red on 07-18-18
By: Malcolm Nance, and others
-
The Square and the Tower
- Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and field marshals. It's about states, armies, and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?
-
-
Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
- By David on 02-05-18
By: Niall Ferguson
-
Sandworm
- A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers
- By: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2014, the world witnessed the start of a mysterious series of cyberattacks. Targeting American utility companies, NATO, and electric grids in Eastern Europe, the strikes grew ever more brazen. They culminated in the summer of 2017, when the malware known as NotPetya was unleashed, penetrating, disrupting, and paralyzing some of the world's largest businesses—from drug manufacturers to software developers to shipping companies. At the attack's epicenter in Ukraine, ATMs froze. The railway and postal systems shut down. Hospitals went dark.
-
-
Thru the eyes of the Sandworm's hunters and prey
- By ndru1 on 11-12-19
By: Andy Greenberg
-
How to Win an Indian Election
- What Political Parties Don’t Want You to Know
- By: Shivam Shankar Singh
- Narrated by: Terry D’Souza
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by a former election campaign consultant for a major political party, How to Win an Indian Election takes listeners into the forbidden world of election war-rooms and gives them a glimpse of how strategy is formulated, what works with voters on the ground and what doesn't. Based on research, interviews and the author's own experiences, this book is invaluable for its insight into the inner workings of politics, political parties and what really makes for a winning election campaign.
-
Stealth War
- How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept
- By: Robert Spalding
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America's national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America's economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure - and they're winning. It's almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China's motives and secret attacks on the West.
-
-
A General with a backbone loaded with truth "woke"
- By Jason on 10-01-19
By: Robert Spalding
-
Dark Future
- Uncovering the Great Reset's Terrifying Next Phase (The Great Reset Series)
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At important meetings in 2021 and 2022, powerful leaders from government, finance, media, and business who support the World Economic Forum’s plan for a Great Reset of capitalism launched a new “call to action” titled the “Great Narrative.” The Great Narrative campaign seeks to use the decay of traditional values throughout the West and new and future advancements in technology—including in the areas of artificial intelligence, automation, the metaverse, robotics, and more—to seize control of economies and societies in North America and Europe.
-
-
Very good
- By Yup on 07-23-23
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
The Plot to Destroy Democracy
- How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West
- By: Malcolm Nance, Rob Reiner - foreword
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the greatest intelligence operation in the history of the world, Donald Trump was made president of the United States with the assistance of a foreign power. For the first time, The Plot to Destroy Democracy reveals the dramatic story of how blackmail, espionage, assassination, and psychological warfare were used by Vladimir Putin and his spy agencies to steal the 2016 US election. It will show how Russia and its fifth column allies tried to flip the cornerstones of democracy in order to reengineer the world political order that kept most of the world free since since 1945.
-
-
OH NOOOO
- By Red on 07-18-18
By: Malcolm Nance, and others
-
The Square and the Tower
- Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and field marshals. It's about states, armies, and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?
-
-
Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
- By David on 02-05-18
By: Niall Ferguson
-
The Assault on Reason
- Our Information Ecosystem, from the Age of Print to the Age of Trump - 2017 Edition
- By: Al Gore
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is a visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith have combined with the public sphere's degradation to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason. Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason explains, we have precious little time to waste.
-
-
A few good nuggets
- By R. Hilton on 05-26-07
By: Al Gore
-
Whistleblowers
- Honesty in America from Washington to Trump
- By: Allison Stanger
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Misconduct by those in high places is always dangerous to reveal. Whistleblowers thus face conflicting impulses: by challenging and exposing transgressions by the powerful, they perform a vital public service - yet they always suffer for it. This episodic history brings to light how whistleblowing, an important but unrecognized cousin of civil disobedience, has held powerful elites accountable in America.
-
-
Wow!
- By Private on 11-15-20
By: Allison Stanger
-
Countdown to Socialism
- By: Devin Nunes
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Democratic Party has changed beyond recognition. Once the party of anti-communism and tax-cutting under President Kennedy, it is now dominated by a surging socialist movement and led by a presidential candidate who vows to “transform” America. In Countdown to Socialism, Congressman Devin Nunes exposes the nexus between the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, and the social media corporations. These three entities cooperate to blast out the Democrats’ message and downplay their extremism while suppressing and censoring conservative points of view.
-
-
Short and to the Point.
- By Joe Merritt on 11-18-20
By: Devin Nunes
-
Consequences of Capitalism
- Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance
- By: Noam Chomsky, Marv Waterstone
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do politics shape our world, our lives, and our perceptions? How much of “common sense” is actually driven by the ruling class’ needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet? Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen, connections between neoliberal “common sense” and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalized. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.
-
-
Everyone must read this book.
- By Lydia M. Prado on 02-03-21
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
The Plot to Hack America
- How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election
- By: Malcolm Nance
- Narrated by: Gregory Itzin
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 2016, computer technicians at the Democratic National Committee discovered that someone had accessed the organization's computer servers and conducted a theft that is best described as Watergate 2.0. In the weeks that followed, the nation's top computer security experts discovered that the cyber thieves had helped themselves to everything: sensitive documents, emails, donor information, even voice mails.
-
-
Short and Terrifying
- By Teadrinker on 03-19-17
By: Malcolm Nance
-
We Have Been Harmonized
- Life in China's Surveillance State
- By: Kai Strittmatter
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As heard on NPR's Fresh Air, We Have Been Harmonized, by award-winning correspondent Kai Strittmatter, offers a groundbreaking look, based on decades of research, at how China created the most terrifying surveillance state in history.
-
-
Wonderful, but Cannot See Past Their Own Bias
- By StPierre85 on 07-15-21
By: Kai Strittmatter
-
The Tyranny of Big Tech
- By: Josh Hawley
- Narrated by: Tom Parks, Josh Hawley - preface
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amassing unimaginable amounts of personal data, giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple - once symbols of American ingenuity and freedom - have become a techno-oligarchy with overwhelming economic and political power. Decades of unchecked data collection have given Big Tech more targeted control over Americans’ daily lives than any company or government in the world. In The Tyranny of Big Tech, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri argues that these mega-corporations - controlled by the robber barons of the modern era - are the gravest threat to American liberty in decades.
-
-
An important book everyone should read.
- By Bill on 05-14-21
By: Josh Hawley
-
The Deep State
- The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government
- By: Mike Lofgren
- Narrated by: Brian O'Neill
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Lofgren is back with a book perfectly pitched for the frenzied circus of the primaries. His argument this time is that for all of the backstabbing and money grubbing of the campaign season, the politicians we elect have as little ability to shift policy as Communist party apparatchiks. Welcome to Mike Lofgren's Washington, DC - a This Town where the political theater that is endlessly tweeted and blogged about has nothing to do with actual decision making.
-
-
Almost good, but profoundly misunderstands economics and very biased towards Democrats
- By Nina Prevot on 04-08-16
By: Mike Lofgren
-
Messing with the Enemy
- Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News
- By: Clint Watts
- Narrated by: Joe Knezevich
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A former FBI Special Agent, US Army officer, and leading cyber-security expert offers a devastating and essential look at the misinformation campaigns that have become the cutting edge of modern warfare - and how we can protect ourselves against them. Clint Watts electrified the nation when he testified regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. In Messing with the Enemy, the counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and homeland security expert introduces us to a frightening world in which terrorists and cyber criminals don’t hack your computer, they hack your mind.
-
-
Could Have Been Much Better - Disappointing!
- By @CyberSpaceSA on 06-11-18
By: Clint Watts
-
American Exception
- Empire and the Deep State
- By: Aaron Good
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term “deep state” was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
-
-
I buy the premises, but not the conclusions...
- By Clark on 01-05-23
By: Aaron Good
-
How Spies Think
- Ten Lessons in Intelligence
- By: David Omand
- Narrated by: David Omand
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the former director of GCHQ, learn the methodology used by the British intelligence agencies to reach judgements, establish the right level of confidence and act decisively. Intelligence officers discern the truth. They gather information - often contradictory or incomplete - and, with it, they build the most accurate possible image of the world. With the stakes at their absolute highest, they must then decide what to do.
-
-
Great content, bad narration
- By ArizonaKilroy on 07-09-21
By: David Omand
-
Antisocial Media
- How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy
- By: Siva Vaidhyanathan
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging.
-
-
a modest look at what Facebook can repair
- By Elkobri on 01-19-21
Related to this topic
-
The Hacked World Order
- How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age
- By: Adam Segal
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Internet today connects roughly 2.7 billion people around the world, and booming interest in the "Internet of things" could result in 75 billion devices connected to the web by 2020. The myth of cyberspace as a digital utopia has long been put to rest. Governments are increasingly developing smarter ways of asserting their national authority in cyberspace in an effort to control the flow, organization, and ownership of information.
-
-
Wrong narrator for material
- By Locnar on 02-21-17
By: Adam Segal
-
Twitter and Tear Gas
- The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest
- By: Zeynep Tufekci
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An incisive observer, writer, and participant in today's social movements, Zeynep Tufekci explains in this accessible and compelling book the nuanced trajectories of modern protests - how they form, how they operate differently from past protests, and why they have difficulty persisting in their long-term quests for change.
-
-
Insightful but frustrating
- By James on 03-11-18
By: Zeynep Tufekci
-
The Weaponisation of Everything
- A Field Guide to the New Way of War
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: Mark Galeotti
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hybrid war, grey-zone warfare, unrestricted war: Today, traditional conflict - fought with guns, bombs, and drones - has become too expensive to wage, too unpopular at home, and too difficult to manage. In an age when America threatens Europe with sanctions, and when China spends billions buying influence abroad, the world is heading for a new era of permanent low-level conflict, often unnoticed, undeclared, and unending.
-
-
Clear, concise, and thought provoking
- By Dad / Husband (who rarely reviews) on 03-08-22
By: Mark Galeotti
-
A Lot of People Are Saying
- The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new - conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum reveal how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.
-
-
INSIGHTFUL
- By JaredENH on 04-30-19
By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, and others
-
American Exception
- Empire and the Deep State
- By: Aaron Good
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term “deep state” was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
-
-
I buy the premises, but not the conclusions...
- By Clark on 01-05-23
By: Aaron Good
-
The Russia Conundrum
- How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit—and How to Fix It
- By: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Martin Sixsmith - contributor
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has seen behind the mask of Vladimir Putin. Once an oil tycoon and the richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky spoke out against the corruption of Putin's regime—and was punished by the Kremlin, stripped of his entire wealth and jailed for over ten years. Now freed, working as a pro-democracy campaigner in enforced exile, Khodorkovsky brings us the insider's battle to save his country's soul. Offering an urgent analysis of what has gone wrong with Putin, The Russia Conundrum maps the country's rise and fall against Khodorkovsky's own journey.
-
-
This should be required reading!
- By Jasmine J. on 10-29-22
By: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and others
-
The Hacked World Order
- How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age
- By: Adam Segal
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Internet today connects roughly 2.7 billion people around the world, and booming interest in the "Internet of things" could result in 75 billion devices connected to the web by 2020. The myth of cyberspace as a digital utopia has long been put to rest. Governments are increasingly developing smarter ways of asserting their national authority in cyberspace in an effort to control the flow, organization, and ownership of information.
-
-
Wrong narrator for material
- By Locnar on 02-21-17
By: Adam Segal
-
Twitter and Tear Gas
- The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest
- By: Zeynep Tufekci
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An incisive observer, writer, and participant in today's social movements, Zeynep Tufekci explains in this accessible and compelling book the nuanced trajectories of modern protests - how they form, how they operate differently from past protests, and why they have difficulty persisting in their long-term quests for change.
-
-
Insightful but frustrating
- By James on 03-11-18
By: Zeynep Tufekci
-
The Weaponisation of Everything
- A Field Guide to the New Way of War
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: Mark Galeotti
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hybrid war, grey-zone warfare, unrestricted war: Today, traditional conflict - fought with guns, bombs, and drones - has become too expensive to wage, too unpopular at home, and too difficult to manage. In an age when America threatens Europe with sanctions, and when China spends billions buying influence abroad, the world is heading for a new era of permanent low-level conflict, often unnoticed, undeclared, and unending.
-
-
Clear, concise, and thought provoking
- By Dad / Husband (who rarely reviews) on 03-08-22
By: Mark Galeotti
-
A Lot of People Are Saying
- The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new - conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum reveal how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.
-
-
INSIGHTFUL
- By JaredENH on 04-30-19
By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, and others
-
American Exception
- Empire and the Deep State
- By: Aaron Good
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term “deep state” was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
-
-
I buy the premises, but not the conclusions...
- By Clark on 01-05-23
By: Aaron Good
-
The Russia Conundrum
- How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit—and How to Fix It
- By: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Martin Sixsmith - contributor
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has seen behind the mask of Vladimir Putin. Once an oil tycoon and the richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky spoke out against the corruption of Putin's regime—and was punished by the Kremlin, stripped of his entire wealth and jailed for over ten years. Now freed, working as a pro-democracy campaigner in enforced exile, Khodorkovsky brings us the insider's battle to save his country's soul. Offering an urgent analysis of what has gone wrong with Putin, The Russia Conundrum maps the country's rise and fall against Khodorkovsky's own journey.
-
-
This should be required reading!
- By Jasmine J. on 10-29-22
By: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and others
-
Who Controls the Internet
- Illusions of a Borderless World
- By: Jack Goldsmith, Tim Wu
- Narrated by: Bob Loza
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is the Internet erasing national borders? Who's really in control of what's happening on the Net--Internet engineers, rogue programmers, the United Nations, or powerful countries?In this provocative new book, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu tell the fascinating story of the Internet's challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, and the ensuing battles with governments around the world.
-
-
Mostly delves into questions of law
- By Amazon Customer on 05-07-11
By: Jack Goldsmith, and others
-
The Plot to Hack America
- How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election
- By: Malcolm Nance
- Narrated by: Gregory Itzin
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 2016, computer technicians at the Democratic National Committee discovered that someone had accessed the organization's computer servers and conducted a theft that is best described as Watergate 2.0. In the weeks that followed, the nation's top computer security experts discovered that the cyber thieves had helped themselves to everything: sensitive documents, emails, donor information, even voice mails.
-
-
Short and Terrifying
- By Teadrinker on 03-19-17
By: Malcolm Nance
-
The End of Power
- From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be
- By: Moises Naim
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The End of Power, award-winning columnist and former Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naím illuminates the struggle between once-dominant megaplayers and the new micropowers challenging them in every field of human endeavor. Drawing on provocative, original research and a lifetime of experience in global affairs, Naím explains how the end of power is reconfiguring our world.
-
-
Another Power book
- By Anonymous User on 04-12-24
By: Moises Naim
-
The Square and the Tower
- Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and field marshals. It's about states, armies, and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?
-
-
Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
- By David on 02-05-18
By: Niall Ferguson
-
Stealth War
- How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept
- By: Robert Spalding
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America's national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America's economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure - and they're winning. It's almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China's motives and secret attacks on the West.
-
-
A General with a backbone loaded with truth "woke"
- By Jason on 10-01-19
By: Robert Spalding
-
The Deep State
- The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government
- By: Mike Lofgren
- Narrated by: Brian O'Neill
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Lofgren is back with a book perfectly pitched for the frenzied circus of the primaries. His argument this time is that for all of the backstabbing and money grubbing of the campaign season, the politicians we elect have as little ability to shift policy as Communist party apparatchiks. Welcome to Mike Lofgren's Washington, DC - a This Town where the political theater that is endlessly tweeted and blogged about has nothing to do with actual decision making.
-
-
Almost good, but profoundly misunderstands economics and very biased towards Democrats
- By Nina Prevot on 04-08-16
By: Mike Lofgren
-
The Shadow Party
- How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party
- By: David Horowitz, Richard Poe
- Narrated by: Gregg Rizzo
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is under attack. Its institutions and values are under daily assault. But the principal culprits are not foreign terrorists. They are influential and powerful Americans secretly stirring up disunion and disloyalty in the shifting shadows of the Democratic Party. Radical infiltrators have been quietly transforming America's societal, cultural, and political institutions for more than a generation. Now, backed by George Soros, they are ready to make their move.
-
-
Best introduction to the Democrat party in 2019
- By Larry on 06-12-19
By: David Horowitz, and others
-
How Democracy Ends
- By: David Runciman
- Narrated by: David Runciman
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated 20th-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable....
By: David Runciman
-
Whistleblowers
- Honesty in America from Washington to Trump
- By: Allison Stanger
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Misconduct by those in high places is always dangerous to reveal. Whistleblowers thus face conflicting impulses: by challenging and exposing transgressions by the powerful, they perform a vital public service - yet they always suffer for it. This episodic history brings to light how whistleblowing, an important but unrecognized cousin of civil disobedience, has held powerful elites accountable in America.
-
-
Wow!
- By Private on 11-15-20
By: Allison Stanger
-
The Hacker and the State
- Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of Geopolitics
- By: Ben Buchanan
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Packed with insider information based on interviews, declassified files, and forensic analysis of company reports, The Hacker and the State sets aside fantasies of cyber-annihilation to explore the real geopolitical competition of the digital age. Tracing the conflict of wills and interests among modern nations, Ben Buchanan reveals little-known details of how China, Russia, North Korea, Britain, and the United States hack one another in a relentless struggle for dominance.
-
-
A good overview of hacking influence on government
- By Eric Jackson on 08-05-20
By: Ben Buchanan
-
The Death of Truth
- Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases.
-
-
Prescient Account of the Mechanics of Tyranny
- By Brian Price on 07-27-18
By: Michiko Kakutani
-
System Error
- Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot
- By: Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami, Jeremy M. Weinstein
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In no more than the blink of an eye, a naïve optimism about technology’s liberating potential has given way to a dystopian obsession with biased algorithms, surveillance capitalism, and job-displacing robots. System Error exposes the root of our current predicament - how big tech’s relentless focus on optimization is driving a future that reinforces discrimination, erodes privacy, displaces workers, and pollutes the information we get- and outlines steps we can take to change course, renew our democracy, and save ourselves.
-
-
Excellent on tech. Weak on political speech.
- By Kindle Customer on 11-05-21
By: Rob Reich, and others