Customer Reviews

Weapons Grade: How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this good book, here in Brazil. This book has many great things:
1-Page 10 > Military research is mainly American.
2-Page 19 > Boeing depends of Pentagon.
3-Page 75 > Civil aviation came from military research.
4-Page 77 > Computers came from military money and will.
5-Page 152 > Atoms for peace was mainly a failure.
6-Page 211 > Articial inteligence is military.
7-Page 376 > USA is leader in military affairs, experience and reasearch.
In many places of this book, we can see many amazing things. The chapter 9 of this book is the best thing that I ever read, about non-lethal weapons. Anyone can understand this book.
This book has some failures:
1-Page 7. This book claims that United States Army Aviation Branch doesn't operates airplanes. In fact it uses airplanes, such as Beechcraft C-12 Huron(airplane), General Atomics MQ-1C Grey Eagle (UAV),etc.
2-Page 69. This book claims that wristwatches came from 1917 in the United States. In fact, the Brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont(1873-1932) really made a wristwatch in 1907 and it became fashion in this year. Even before, the Queen Victoria (1819-1901) used a crude wristwatch sometimes.
3-Page 73. This book claims that Boeing 707 was the first successful jet airliner. In fact the Soviet or Russian Tupolev Tu-104 was the first successful jet airliner, in the world. In fact the Tu-104 was the sole jetliner operating in the world between 1956 and 1958.
4-Page 84. This book claims that Enigma Machine used ten gears. In fact, any Enigma Machine had more than five rotors or gears.
5-Page 226. This book claims that in 1991, Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) was the mayor of Moscow. In fact, in 1991, he was the the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999 rulling Russia. In fact, Boris Yeltsin never was the mayor of Moscow.
These few failures are small mistakes in a mainly very good book. Four stars for it. Please, I read the paperback ediction of this good book. Perhaps this ediction has another number for each part of the text. Please, this book is for anyone.

I purchased this book for $1.00 at a discount store, and I think I paid just about the right amount for it. This book is tangible proof that anyone can write a 400-page book by skimming Wikipedia articles and summarizing them in your own words. Nearly every topic is covered so broadly and on such a general level that, unless you have no knowledge whatsoever of technology, you will probably find this book to be mostly tedious. I say "mostly" because there *are* a few interesting sections.

The book contains an annoying number of minor factual errors, especially in the discussions on aviation technology, but for the layperson who wants an easy read without straining his/her brain too much, I suppose this book could be a good purchase.

Many books about advanced technology are hard to read. Not this one. I found parts of his book actually gripping, such as when he explained that the technology for the stealth bomber was hidden for 9 or 11 years just by making all the personnel on the run-way lay down so they could not see the plane!