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

~ (Author) "Every day, without realizing it, we use military technology..." (more)
Key Phrases: solar aircraft, rocket belt, baton rounds, Second World War, First World War, Cold War (more...)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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  Hardcover, March 9, 2005 $26.00 $8.36 $0.55
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hambling surveys technologies developed by military research that ultimately found civilian applications, tracing this war/peace crossover effect from World War II to the present. A British defense journalist, Hambling keeps the data about particular weapons to a level manageable by general readers, who will learn the physical principles of a weapon, and its route into the civilian world. Aerospace technology is the preeminent WWII spin-off and, for better or worse, traceable to Nazi-sponsored research. Hambling's coverage of the German jets and rockets emphasizes their teething problems and military effectiveness. Occasionally widening his commentary to analyze the worth of huge expenditures on military research, Hambling also lightens matters with jaunts into common items (microwave ovens, cell phones, T-shirts, sunglasses) seeded by the global conflict. Although Hambling hesitates to predict what contemporary military R & D will reap for future consumers, he does probe the perimeter of this mostly secret research on items that sound like something out of science fiction, such as vortex rings and pulsed energy weapons. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


Product Description

Understanding how business is likely to evolve in the coming years is itself a multi-million dollar business. Plenty of gurus, academics and snake-oil salesmen will tell you all about the future — for a price. What all of these experts often overlook is that the future is already here. Chances are, the products and services we will buy and sell tomorrow are available — to a very limited clientele — at a top-secret research institute near you.

Throughout human history war and the threat of war have driven innovation and accelerated the uptake of new technology — from the nomadic warriors who introduced the stirrup and the kebab to the world, to the British Navy’s funding of Marconi’s new-fangled radio. And since 1945 the relationship between military needs and modern business has grown ever closer, especially in the United States. David Hambling traces the history of this relationship in the modern era and shows how precision eye surgery emerged out of the military quest for a ‘death ray,’ how transistors and silicon chips first helped build better bombs, and exactly why the 747 has such a distinctive shape.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 414 pages
  • Publisher: Da Capo Press (April 9, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0786717696
  • ISBN-13: 978-0786717699
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,435,864 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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David Hambling
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Hambling explains technology so the layperson understands, April 17, 2008
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!
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