
The Imagineers of War
The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the 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
3 months free
Buy for $22.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Hillary Huber
The definitive history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly 60 years.
Founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, the agency's original mission was to create "the unimagined weapons of the future". Over the decades, DARPA has been responsible for countless inventions and technologies that extend well beyond military technology. Sharon Weinberger gives us a riveting account of DARPA's successes and failures, its remarkable innovations, and its wild-eyed schemes. We see how the threat of nuclear Armageddon sparked investment in computer networking, leading to the Internet as well as to a proposal to power a missile-destroying particle beam by draining the Great Lakes. We learn how DARPA was responsible during the Vietnam War for both Agent Orange and the development of the world's first armed drones, and how, after 9/11, the agency sparked a national controversy over surveillance with its data-mining research. And we see how DARPA's success with self-driving cars was followed by disappointing contributions to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Weinberger has interviewed more than 100 former Pentagon officials and scientists involved in DARPA's projects - many of whom have never spoken publicly about their work with the agency - and pored over countless declassified records from archives around the country, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and exclusive materials provided by sources. The Imagineers of War is a compelling and groundbreaking history in which science, technology, and politics collide.
©2017 Sharon Weinberger (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...






The reader was a little robotic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good information, but a bit to chew.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Don’t stop at chapter 6 it gets better
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I would of much preferred a different narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book itself is a few really interesting stories about some of the politics and ventures of (D)ARPA and its origins. There's always deeper investigations that could have happened but you also can't always get very far when it comes to the government. I'd recommend the book but not the audiobook.
Good book, really hard listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What disappointed you about The Imagineers of War?
I thought the book would be more about the imagineers themselves - their ideas and the way that they advanced technology. Sadly, the book is just about William Godel and the politics that he played to get his work done.Has The Imagineers of War turned you off from other books in this genre?
I would hope not.What three words best describe Hillary Huber’s performance?
Monotonous in many parts, dialogues had passion, There is only so much she could doWhat reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
DisappointmentBlandly written story about DARPA politics
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Dull and duller
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Woeful reading of a flat story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An interesting subject dumbed down and made dull
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.