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Area 51 cover art

Area 51

By: Annie Jacobsen
Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
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Summary

It is the most famous military installation in the world. And no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside of it. Until now. This is the first book based on interviews with scientists, pilots, and engineers - 58 in total - who provide an unprecedented look into the mysterious activities of a top-secret base, from the Cold War to today. With a jaw-dropping ending, it proves that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.

©2011 Annie Jacobsen (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Area 51

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

fascinating listen - great narration

Brilliant listen. I couldn't put this down- well my ipod anyway! Interesting and informaive content without all the BS that you often hear about Area 51. The narrating is fantastic - easily listenable for long length of times without your concentration wandering. The' truth' about the Roswell crash is hard to believe but makes sense. But this is only a small part of the book. This really is an insight into the history of Area 51. If you're into conspiracy UFO stories then move on as this will disappoint you- this is about reality!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Area 51 without the aliens.

Jacobsen's history of Area 51 provides something fresh to the mythology of the most well-known secret site in the world - historical research and testimony. Brushing aside talk of alien spacecraft and the conspiracy theories of adolescent fanboys, the book gives the first published accounts of the rather more mundane history of the founding and early days of Area 51. Jacobsen's sources are the people, almost exclusively men, who lived and worked at the Nevada Weapons Testing location and the base often referred to as the "Skunkworks". These stories are of the creation and testing of spy planes such as the U2 and the A12 (more popularly known by its military version the SR71 Blackbird). The development of these unique aircraft and the men who flew them are the main thrust of this history. There are secrets about nuclear powered spacecraft and fatal accidents, but the darkest secret, never revealed fully, seems far fetched due to its seemingly comical pointlessness. After having come so far at the outset, to have the big reveal be shortened to the interviewees shaking their heads and giving the excuse that it's too terrible to talk about, just leaves the reader feeling like this stuff has been made up. Surely after over 60 years Stalin-era technology can't be so advanced that it has never been revealed - even by later Russian engineers. In the end, Jacobsen's history of Area 51 is a great addition to other military histories but her Roswell seems just as absurd as that of the UFO conspiracists, but less interesting.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb but terrible narration

I was fascinated by this book and it's superb content. It would have been a joy to listen to, although it seemed the aim of the narration was to give a sexy, almost pointless ASMR feel to proceedings. It felt like seemingly inconsequential words were extended and softened to the point where I nearly found this book unlistenable. It is probably personal preference, but I really couldn't wait to finish this book (which I sped up to 1.45x), even though the content was so enjoyable. It got to the point where the little clicks and nubs in the voice, along with the ASMR style extended softenings, became stressful to listen to.
Other than what I consider to be terrible narration, the content of the book is brilliant. I would recommend the text version though if you are at all susceptible to stress by voice torture!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great but get a better narrator!

A fascinating book with the occasional fanciful sub-plot but nonetheless remarkably well-researched and written. My only problem is that Annie Jacobson's narration can be extremely soporific at times.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

fascinating, Roswell aliens??

excellent work, way more than aliens covered ( don't buy for alien Roswell as it's minimal)spy planes, nukes,drones. a great listen

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Heard it all before

A coming together of many intelligence stories mission insight and heard it all before content. Author, please stick to writing you lack tonality and the art or compelling story telling. I give myself 5 stars for endurance.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book about US black projects

90% of the book is fantastic and very informative, final chapter veers violently off the road with very hard to believe Roswell alien conspriacies. Doesn't spoil the book as a whole, but worth taking the subject matter with a pinch of salt.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A legitimate Area 51 History

Fantastic book! I couldn't put it down that is until the end. I had to stop and start and listen to it over and over again just to be sure I got what the author is talking about.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Some great information to inspire

Being ex military I find a lot of what's in this book to be of some truth. No I haven't worked at Area 51 but have seen some weird things in my time and many I could not explained

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Area 51 debunked?

Having listened to the audio book (my first by Annie Jacobsen) first felt excited by what the book divulged; however, after a while, somethings began to become "clouded" and facts also stated were not true. I believe that the authors research is probably very extensive, but in order to draw some conclusions, facts are apparently "altered" to fit. The Horten brothers being one of the main issues, along with the "Russian Roswell connection"; available facts simply do not corroborate the assumptions!

In contrast, the book certainly outlines much of the "secret nature" of Area 51, and are correctly portrayed within the book, that make it a genuine and really admirable listen; and debunk some of the mysteries surrounding one f the most TOP SECRET MILTARY BASES in US; however, the errors put question marks over the books status.

The narration by Annie was not compelling, but understandable; and some of the pronunciations of personal names were difficult to ignore (something I found also evident in the next Annie Jacobsen book I listened to - Operation Paperclip).

Great writer nonetheless.

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1 person found this helpful