
The Space Barons
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Narrated by:
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Will Collyer
About this listen
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 AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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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
"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
Good read
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great
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Intriguing
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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.
Very informative and educational in a fun way!
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Very good overview
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great outline
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Amazing!
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The info about the new Space Race
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The narration is also excellent. Collyer conveys the tension and enthusiasm of the story without distraction. He gets the names and technical pronunciations correct as well (a thing that always bugs me in tech books).
"Space Barrons" is a great summer read for anyone but it is a must-listen for any aspiring Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson or Elon Musk. I hope they all download it and are motivated to do impossibly great things someday, themselves.
An Incredible Modern Story Well Told
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Great book
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