
When the Heavens Went on Sale
The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach
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
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Ashlee Vance
-
Robert Petkoff
-
By:
-
Ashlee Vance
About this listen
A momentous look at the private companies building a revolutionary new economy in space, from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk
In When the Heavens Went on Sale, Ashlee Vance illuminates our future and unveils the next big technology story of our time: welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering and its unprecedented impact on our lives.
With the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Silicon Valley began to realize that the universe itself was open for business. Now, Vance tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab by following four pioneering companies—Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab—as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands.
With the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new, scrappy companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth’s lower orbit for business. Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history, and he chronicles it all in full color: the top-secret launch locations, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear.
Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology’s most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Ashlee Vance (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- By: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Great history, but could poor narration
- By Lily Wong on 10-26-22
By: Chris Miller
-
SpaceX Starship
- Elon Musk's Rocket to Mars
- By: Jon Binder
- Narrated by: Brennen Blotner
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the mission of making humans a multiplanetary species. In the coming years, SpaceX will launch a crew of 24 people through space and onto Mars, in a new kind of rocket called Starship. Over 80 million miles away, Mars is both desolate, and at the same time, full of limitless potential. Mars holds limitless possibilities. Since the ideal alignment for Earth and Mars only happens once every two years, there is only a small window to get everything right.
-
-
Enjoyed this!!
- By Joy Michelle Aleman on 11-01-22
By: Jon Binder
-
Number Go Up
- Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall
- By: Zeke Faux
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2021 cryptocurrency went mainstream. Giant investment funds were buying it, celebrities like Tom Brady endorsed it, and TV ads hailed it as the future of money. Hardly anyone knew how it worked—but why bother with the particulars when everyone was making a fortune from Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, or some other bizarrely named “digital asset”? As he observed this frenzy, investigative reporter Zeke Faux had a nagging question: Was it all just a confidence game of epic proportions? What started as curiosity—with a dash of FOMO—would morph into a two-year globe-spanning quest.
-
-
Phenomenal story
- By Michael on 10-05-23
By: Zeke Faux
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Escaping Gravity
- My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age
- By: Lori Garver
- Narrated by: Lori Garver
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The inside look at how the battle of the space billionaires began and why it matters, Escaping Gravity is former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver’s firsthand account of how a handful of revolutionaries outmaneuvered the system of political patronage and bureaucracy that threatened the space agency. The success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and countless other commercial space efforts were preceded by decades of work by a group of people Garver calls “space pirates.”
-
-
Political Agenda!
- By Really, True and Sometimes Right on 10-20-22
By: Lori Garver
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- By: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Great history, but could poor narration
- By Lily Wong on 10-26-22
By: Chris Miller
-
SpaceX Starship
- Elon Musk's Rocket to Mars
- By: Jon Binder
- Narrated by: Brennen Blotner
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the mission of making humans a multiplanetary species. In the coming years, SpaceX will launch a crew of 24 people through space and onto Mars, in a new kind of rocket called Starship. Over 80 million miles away, Mars is both desolate, and at the same time, full of limitless potential. Mars holds limitless possibilities. Since the ideal alignment for Earth and Mars only happens once every two years, there is only a small window to get everything right.
-
-
Enjoyed this!!
- By Joy Michelle Aleman on 11-01-22
By: Jon Binder
-
Number Go Up
- Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall
- By: Zeke Faux
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2021 cryptocurrency went mainstream. Giant investment funds were buying it, celebrities like Tom Brady endorsed it, and TV ads hailed it as the future of money. Hardly anyone knew how it worked—but why bother with the particulars when everyone was making a fortune from Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, or some other bizarrely named “digital asset”? As he observed this frenzy, investigative reporter Zeke Faux had a nagging question: Was it all just a confidence game of epic proportions? What started as curiosity—with a dash of FOMO—would morph into a two-year globe-spanning quest.
-
-
Phenomenal story
- By Michael on 10-05-23
By: Zeke Faux
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Escaping Gravity
- My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age
- By: Lori Garver
- Narrated by: Lori Garver
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The inside look at how the battle of the space billionaires began and why it matters, Escaping Gravity is former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver’s firsthand account of how a handful of revolutionaries outmaneuvered the system of political patronage and bureaucracy that threatened the space agency. The success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and countless other commercial space efforts were preceded by decades of work by a group of people Garver calls “space pirates.”
-
-
Political Agenda!
- By Really, True and Sometimes Right on 10-20-22
By: Lori Garver
-
The Space Economy
- Capitalize on the Greatest Business Opportunity of Our Lifetime
- By: Chad Anderson
- Narrated by: Dan Strutzel
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Accomplished venture capitalist and Space Capital founder Chad Anderson offers investors, entrepreneurs, and aspiring professionals powerful tools and information for understanding how space-based technologies have, and will continue to, transform enterprise, government, and consumer markets for decades to come.
-
-
Great book
- By Luis on 08-05-23
By: Chad Anderson
-
Ignition!
- An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
- By: John Drury Clark, Isaac Asimov - foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ignition! is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise that eventually took men to the moon.
-
-
Science man lists names of chemicals for 9 hours
- By Adrian on 05-06-19
By: John Drury Clark, and others
-
Elon Musk
- Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
- By: Ashlee Vance
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs - a real-life Tony Stark - and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new makers.
-
-
The best of competence porn
- By Tristan on 08-20-16
By: Ashlee Vance
-
Steve Jobs
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 25 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
-
-
Good Biography, Fine narrator
- By Chris on 10-27-11
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Coming Wave
- AI, Power, and Our Future
- By: Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar - contributor
- Narrated by: Mustafa Suleyman
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organize your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.
-
-
Click bait
- By Buyer on 09-11-23
By: Mustafa Suleyman, and others
-
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
-
Liftoff
- Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX
- By: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX - and Elon Musk - from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.
-
-
Excellent. Would make a good movie.
- By Andrew Dodson on 03-04-21
By: Eric Berger
-
Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future: Young Readers' Edition
- By: Ashlee Vance
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With exclusive access to Elon, his family, and his friends, this book traces Elon's journey from a kid in South Africa to a young man in the United States, his dramatic technical inventions, and his world-changing companies. Elon has sparked new levels of innovation in the world, and this book gives young listeners a detailed but fast-paced look at his story.
-
-
Awesome book!
- By Anonymous User on 07-25-18
By: Ashlee Vance
-
Einstein
- His Life and Universe
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: You thought he was a stodgy scientist with funny hair, but Isaacson and Hermann reveal an eloquent, intense, and selfless human being who not only shaped science with his theories, but politics and world events in the 20th century as well. Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos.
-
-
Surprise: Two books in one!
- By Henrik on 04-20-07
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Leonardo da Vinci
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Alfred Molina
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leonardo da Vinci created the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and engineering. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry.
-
-
Wish the sample was not from the preface!
- By Chris M. on 11-13-17
By: Walter Isaacson
-
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 Code Breaker
- Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.
-
-
Except for the author, this book is good!
- By Johan on 03-14-21
By: Walter Isaacson
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Space Economy
- Capitalize on the Greatest Business Opportunity of Our Lifetime
- By: Chad Anderson
- Narrated by: Dan Strutzel
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Accomplished venture capitalist and Space Capital founder Chad Anderson offers investors, entrepreneurs, and aspiring professionals powerful tools and information for understanding how space-based technologies have, and will continue to, transform enterprise, government, and consumer markets for decades to come.
-
-
Great book
- By Luis on 08-05-23
By: Chad Anderson
-
Liftoff
- Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX
- By: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX - and Elon Musk - from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.
-
-
Excellent. Would make a good movie.
- By Andrew Dodson on 03-04-21
By: Eric Berger
-
Reentry
- SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets That Launched a Second Space Age
- By: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From launchpad explosions to a pernicious cricket infestation to the demanding management style of Musk himself, the rise of SpaceX was beset with challenges and far from inevitable. Find out how the startup beat the odds and flew high enough to outpace their rivals... and where they're going next.
-
-
Misplaced focus
- By Sam on 10-01-24
By: Eric Berger
-
Elon Musk
- Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
- By: Ashlee Vance
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs - a real-life Tony Stark - and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new makers.
-
-
The best of competence porn
- By Tristan on 08-20-16
By: Ashlee Vance
-
Uncaring
- How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients
- By: Robert Pearl MD
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hardly anyone is happy with American health care these days. Patients are getting sicker and going bankrupt from medical bills. Doctors are burning out and making dangerous mistakes. Both parties blame our nation’s outdated and dysfunctional health care system. But that’s only part of the problem. In this important and timely book, Dr. Robert Pearl shines a light on the unseen and often toxic culture of medicine.
-
-
Important to understand the current medical world
- By DMM on 07-12-21
By: Robert Pearl MD
-
Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
-
-
Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Space Economy
- Capitalize on the Greatest Business Opportunity of Our Lifetime
- By: Chad Anderson
- Narrated by: Dan Strutzel
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Accomplished venture capitalist and Space Capital founder Chad Anderson offers investors, entrepreneurs, and aspiring professionals powerful tools and information for understanding how space-based technologies have, and will continue to, transform enterprise, government, and consumer markets for decades to come.
-
-
Great book
- By Luis on 08-05-23
By: Chad Anderson
-
Liftoff
- Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX
- By: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX - and Elon Musk - from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.
-
-
Excellent. Would make a good movie.
- By Andrew Dodson on 03-04-21
By: Eric Berger
-
Reentry
- SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets That Launched a Second Space Age
- By: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From launchpad explosions to a pernicious cricket infestation to the demanding management style of Musk himself, the rise of SpaceX was beset with challenges and far from inevitable. Find out how the startup beat the odds and flew high enough to outpace their rivals... and where they're going next.
-
-
Misplaced focus
- By Sam on 10-01-24
By: Eric Berger
-
Elon Musk
- Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
- By: Ashlee Vance
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs - a real-life Tony Stark - and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new makers.
-
-
The best of competence porn
- By Tristan on 08-20-16
By: Ashlee Vance
-
Uncaring
- How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients
- By: Robert Pearl MD
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hardly anyone is happy with American health care these days. Patients are getting sicker and going bankrupt from medical bills. Doctors are burning out and making dangerous mistakes. Both parties blame our nation’s outdated and dysfunctional health care system. But that’s only part of the problem. In this important and timely book, Dr. Robert Pearl shines a light on the unseen and often toxic culture of medicine.
-
-
Important to understand the current medical world
- By DMM on 07-12-21
By: Robert Pearl MD
-
Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
-
-
Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
-
This Isn't Happening
- Radiohead's "Kid A" and the Beginning of the 21st Century
- By: Steven Hyden
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1999, as the end of an old century loomed, five musicians entered a recording studio in Paris without a deadline. Their band was widely recognized as the best and most forward-thinking in rock, a rarefied status granting them the time, money, and space to make a masterpiece. But Radiohead didn't want to make another rock record. Instead, they set out to create the future.
-
-
Amazing read but…
- By Alexis Feldman on 06-01-21
By: Steven Hyden
-
The Genesis Machine
- Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology
- By: Amy Webb, Andrew Hessel
- Narrated by: Amy Webb, Andrew Hessel, Tim Campbell, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Synthetic biology promises to reveal how life is created and how it can be re-created, enabling scientists to rewrite the rules of our reality. It could help us, for example, heal without prescription medications, grow meat without harvesting animals, or confront our looming climate catastrophe. Synthetic biology will determine the ways in which we conceive future generations and how we define family, how we identify disease and treat aging, where we make our homes, and how we nourish ourselves.
-
-
Thought provoking but politically biased
- By Andy on 07-02-22
By: Amy Webb, and others
-
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Apocalypse
- Expert Advice for Doomsday Situations
- By: David Borgenicht, Joshua Piven
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s the apocalypse—now what? The doomsday clock is seconds from midnight. Extinction-level dangers draw closer with every tick. But fear not! Here is an indispensable guide to preparing for and surviving the ultimate in worst-case scenarios, with humor to lighten the load. You can’t panic if you’re laughing.
-
-
Just buy the book
- By derick w northam on 03-13-24
By: David Borgenicht, and others
-
The Ghost Forest
- Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods
- By: Greg King
- Narrated by: Galen Osier
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this gripping historical memoir, journalist and famed redwood activist Greg King examines how investors and a growing U.S. economy drove the timber industry to cut down all but 4 percent of the original two-million-acre redwood ecosystem. King first examined redwood logging in the 1980s—as an award-winning reporter. What he found in the woods convinced him to leap the line of neutrality and become an activist dedicated to saving the very last ancient redwood groves remaining in private hands.
-
-
How the world’s most magnificent forest was destroyed!
- By John on 09-06-23
By: Greg King
-
Isobel Kuhn: On the Roof of the World
- By: Janet Benge, Geoff Benge
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gallagher
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a fourteen-year-old intent on living a “modern” life, the last thing Isobel Kuhn wanted to grow up to be was a missionary. But as it turned out, this young agnostic’s life was redirected―from crisis and doubt to hope and strength. Convinced that God wanted her to preach the gospel as a China Inland missionary, Isobel bravely served among the Lisu people in remote mountainous regions of China and Thailand. After twenty years of ministry Isobel returned to the United States, writing stirring stories of faith and inspiring generations of people
-
-
Compelling
- By soupy on 07-07-24
By: Janet Benge, and others
-
SpaceX
- Elon Musk and the Final Frontier
- By: Brad Bergan
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The private space industry’s consensus leader, SpaceX, headed by controversial billionaire Elon Musk, was worth an estimated $187 billion in 2023 while taking on more roles—flying cargo, supplies, and astronauts to outer space, and even playing a central role as rocket supplier to NASA’s Artemis moon mission. In SpaceX: Elon Musk and the Final Frontier, science journalist and editor Brad Bergan tells the story of SpaceX. Bergan examines every detail surrounding SpaceX’s efforts to accelerate humankind’s exploration and understanding of outer space.
-
-
Nothing new
- By mooreaa on 02-11-25
By: Brad Bergan
-
SpaceX Starship
- Elon Musk's Rocket to Mars
- By: Jon Binder
- Narrated by: Brennen Blotner
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the mission of making humans a multiplanetary species. In the coming years, SpaceX will launch a crew of 24 people through space and onto Mars, in a new kind of rocket called Starship. Over 80 million miles away, Mars is both desolate, and at the same time, full of limitless potential. Mars holds limitless possibilities. Since the ideal alignment for Earth and Mars only happens once every two years, there is only a small window to get everything right.
-
-
Enjoyed this!!
- By Joy Michelle Aleman on 11-01-22
By: Jon Binder
-
The Space Barons
- By: Christian Davenport
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
An Incredible Modern Story Well Told
- By Greg Autry on 04-06-18
-
Narcotopia
- In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Survived the CIA
- By: Patrick Winn
- Narrated by: Patrick Winn
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Asia’s narcotics-producing heartland, the Wa reign supreme. They dominate the Golden Triangle, a mountainous stretch of Burma between Thailand and China. Their 30,000-strong army, wielding missiles and attack drones, makes Mexican cartels look like street gangs.
-
-
A must listen for Asia history buffs
- By philip beere on 03-01-24
By: Patrick Winn
-
The Big Myth
- How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market
- By: Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway
- Narrated by: Liza Seneca
- Length: 21 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 20th century, business elites, trade associations, wealthy powerbrokers, and media allies set out to build a new American orthodoxy: down with 'big government' and up with unfettered markets. With startling archival evidence, Oreskes and Conway document campaigns to rewrite textbooks, combat unions, and defend child labor.
-
-
Refuting the Chicago School
- By Todd W. Laveen on 06-01-23
By: Naomi Oreskes, and others
-
The House of Government
- A Saga of the Russian Revolution
- By: Yuri Slezkine, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 45 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction. The House of Government is unlike any other book about the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experiment.
-
-
Inside saga of the leaders of Bolshevism & the USSR
- By Edward V. Blanchard on 11-05-17
By: Yuri Slezkine, and others
-
The Carnivale of Curiosities
- By: Amiee Gibbs
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Victorian London, where traveling sideshows are the very pinnacle of entertainment, there is no more coveted ticket than Ashe and Pretorius' Carnivale of Curiosities. Each performance is a limited engagement, and London's elite boldly dare the dangerous streets of Southwark to witness the Carnivale's astounding assemblage of marvels. For a select few, however, the real show begins behind the curtain. Rumors abound that the show’s proprietor, Aurelius Ashe, is more than an average magician. It's said that for the right price, he can make any wish come true.
-
-
Amazing Characters & a Carnival!
- By Glen Elliott on 08-14-24
By: Amiee Gibbs
What listeners say about When the Heavens Went on Sale
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Douglas C McAdams
- 08-22-23
Great
Really amazing book. Great background on many now well-known rocket startups, and some lesser-known.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ryan
- 05-18-23
Amazing story
This is an awesome story of journeys that the non-space x start ups have went through to create and build their space start ups.
It is amazing how Ashlee was able to shine a light on the realities of being a start up, working in the space industry, and re-creating a stagnant field.
All around amazing book. Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anders_E
- 06-12-23
Superb
Ashley Vance did it again, awesome topic and stories well told. Looking forward to the next book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lituus
- 04-19-24
Fascinating, highly recommend
Absolutely loved this book and didn't want it to end! A must for anyone with an interest in aerospace.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- daniel kreigh
- 05-27-23
Great Background for the New Rocket Startups
Wow. What a book. I worked for Aerojet in the mid 80's. I wanted to help "America get back to space". But I was just another number in an aerospace prime already having its heydey during Apollo. Where was SpaceX when I needed them?! So in 1988 I followed my true passion, aircraft, and joined Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites company in Mojave CA. I eventually became the structural lead for SpaceShipOne which is currently in the Smithsonian. SpaceShipOne earned Burt Rutan the Collier Trophy. But around that time, we had many interesting visitors like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Dennis Tito and Elon Musk. Elon was trying to poach at least one star Scaled Composites employee for his new company: SpaceX. So over the years, I wasn't really following the new budding rocket companies very closely. I had heard of Rocket Lab, Firefly, Astra but knew nothing about them. Ashlee does an incredible job filling in all that missing background in one publication! Holy cow. What drama! What hard work. Insane. So impressive. I thought the flying car startups were crazy. Most won't survive. But the rocket companies are that X 10!
So Ashlee, I feel like you're one of us. You are my hero. I also loved your book on Elon. You obviously know Mojave, where I've worked and lived since 1988. When are you going to write a book on "flying cars"? Or perhaps on "roadable airplanes"? ....which is a totally different type of vehicle.
Thank you for a superb job! The best is yet to come in the rocket industry!!
Dan Kreigh
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 05-30-23
So Much Information
I really had no expectations before reading this, but it was just excellent. Vance covers SpaceX, but this is more a book about all the other lesser known entrepreneurs. I learned a lot from this book.
The narration is really excellent. If I had one quibble, it's that Vance does lapse into a few moments of rhetorical excess.
Really ineresting, whether you are a space junkie or not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sean D. Mcclinton
- 12-20-23
Interesting and informative
Liked how he weaved the different stories together. This one focused on rockets, but there is a whole lot else going on in the space business
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael W Ramsey
- 05-26-23
Entertaining and enlightening
Ashlee tells a great story with a powerful theme. Things on Earth are about to change because of space. Lots of great details and inside action. Note to self - it’s hard to launch a rocket into space.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kyle Lipsky
- 06-09-23
Really well done
Fascinating listen and so well done. Highly recommend listening if you’re interested in the current space race
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ken M. Brown
- 07-02-23
Jeff, Richard and Elon not the only game in space.
Great detailed peak into the companies and personalities of the emerging space launch and satellite industry that is well underway but mostly overshadowed by the big three. Thoroughly enjoyable and engaging as an audio book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!