Reddit Reddit reviews Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

We found 18 Reddit comments about Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
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18 Reddit comments about Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base:

u/streetbum · 25 pointsr/insanepeoplefacebook

https://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304

Read that sometime. The paperclip scientists did some fucked up human experimentation for our government after they came here. Wasn't all good.

EDIT: apparently she has a book on paperclip too. Didn't know. Probably goes over a lot of the same stuff but in more detail.

u/_badwithcomputer · 22 pointsr/UnresolvedMysteries

> 4) Area 51. I suspect the truth is pretty mundane, but it'd be neat to see what projects they work on there. Maybe, just maybe, there's a group of giant space cockroaches there that shoot the shit around the coffee station.
>

https://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304

That book is a pretty good read about Area 51. Essentially an Air Force (military) and CIA (civilian) aeronautics research facility. Doing research and operations that are extremely sensitive. Also reverse engineering and studying foreign aircraft like MiG and Chinese warplanes. Specifically the U2, F117, A12/SR71, and drone reconnaissance aircraft (before anyone even knew what a drone was) development.

It was/is also used to study effects of using nuclear weapons. Specifically contamination effects and how long it would take to clean up a nuked city (they did this by setting off nukes to contaminate the desert and see how much dirt they had to dig out to make it safe again). I believe the defense contractor EG&G handled most of the nuclear research at Groom Lake.

u/tom_riddler · 9 pointsr/IAmA

For anyone thinking "What? I thought Area 51 was for aliens!" I would encourage you to read Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen. Really interesting book that explores aerial reconnaissance and nuclear arms development post-WWII.

u/DisregardedWhy · 6 pointsr/conspiracy

"It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government-but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades.

Myths and hypotheses about Area 51 have long abounded, thanks to the intense secrecy enveloping it. Some claim it is home to aliens, underground tunnel systems, and nuclear facilities. Others believe that the lunar landing itself was filmed there. The prevalence of these rumors stems from the fact that no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside the base.

Until now."

https://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304

u/Tumble85 · 6 pointsr/television

MiB? No way. The reality of the situation was that it was a bunch of insanely smart people developing novel solutions to spying on the soviets - you had one group of people working (under IMMENSE pressure) to develop a paint that absorbs radar, and another group working to develop the proper angles to deflect radar, and sometimes they weren't even sure what project they were working on. Then it all came together and it turns out the teams were working on the SR-71.

That can be the first episode; maybe the second or third can focus on one of the janitorial staff working on cleaning up on a project that ended up killing some of them.

http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304 <- probably not ALL bullshit, and a really cool, honest look about some of the crazy shit that goes down in covert R&D facilities.

u/schleprock69 · 4 pointsr/AirForce

If you ever wanted to read about the interesting history of the creation of the SR-71, check out this book [Area 51] (http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304)

The last chapter or so of this book jumps the tracks and goes off on some crazy conspiracy theories but the first part on the history of the U-2 and SR-71 is pretty good.

u/MoronicChemistry · 3 pointsr/pics

Not really, but you should read a book by Annie Jacobsen's about area 51 it gives a good overview on the subject. Some of her other books are also very good and 100% good journalism.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316202304/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i2

Edit: She was also recently on JRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VoVIpIzj_c&t=9s

u/thatnameagain · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

This book made the interesting point that a lot of Oxcart (early SR-71) test planes didn't have black paint but were silver. Flying a lot higher than commercial flights, the recently-set sun would still be shining on them, and could have made them look like bright flying saucers going at then-unheard of speeds.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316202304?pc_redir=1409111139&robot_redir=1

u/droxile · 2 pointsr/IAmA

Science fiction is nice, but it's also important to be realistic, especially when he's consulting others on the future of technology and space. If you're interested in UFO stuff you should check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304/ref=la_B001K7ZHF0_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346813936&sr=1-1

u/by_a_pyre_light · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

If you've never read Los Angeles Times reporter Annie Jacobsen's "Area 51" book, it's about the development of the U2 spyplane (Overhead), the A12 Oxcart (what would become the SR-71), the SR-71, and several other spy plane and nuclear weapons developments out at Area 51 in Nevada.

It's a non-fiction book based on recently declassified documents and first-hand testimonies from officers and engineers who worked out there at Area 51 during the aftermath of WWII, now that their projects have been declassified.

I've got it on Audible, and it's incredibly fascinating to hear about how these planes and projects came about, all of the new scientific theories and technologies that had to be developed, obstacles to overcome.

I've read it 3 times and I just re-started it. I cannot recommend it enough!

u/meatball4u · 2 pointsr/worldnews

When the prototype for the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane first reached subspace and then returned to Groom Lake a.k.a. Area 51, the engineers there were troubled and perplexed as to what all these little blacks specs were that were covering their extremely expensive plane. They were all over the windshield and fuselage.

They were shocked to discover that after a little testing, they were bugs. Gnats. But how?

Atom bombs. The testing of massive atom bombs, like for instance in the Bikini Atol, blasted unknown masses of insects into orbit. This was explained in the book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

Perhaps these plankton rode the blasts into space too, and are hardy enough to have survived and to have even found a home on the ISS?

u/mixer73 · 1 pointr/WTF

Basically continued and lengthy experiments with nuclear devices.

This is a very credible book, worth a read, with the caveat that the last chapter is a bit nuts:
http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304

u/AWAHN9901 · 1 pointr/AdviceAnimals

Annie Jacobsen wrote a book about area 51 from accounts of the place by people who worked there. I read it and it was really cool. As far as we know they are pretty much an R&D department with a ton of resources. But its pretty cool. If they were building Mach 3 airplanes in the 1970s (60s, 80s? Im not sure sometime around then), then imagine what they are building today. Super giant killer robot of death? I vote yes
http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304

u/Quetzalmantzin · 1 pointr/AdviceAnimals

It's all been declassified and it's in this book, which is a legitimate thing and not the rantings of a conspiracy theorist. Turns out the conspiracy theories are wrong and the truth is equally crazy but far more plausible.

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u/awsmwsm · 1 pointr/audiobooks

http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/dp/0316202304

This is a great book if you are into Air Force history and airplanes.

u/Isgrimnur · 1 pointr/Nevada

You might be interested in reading Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen. It goes into some really good detail about what shenanigans the Department of Energy and others were getting up to out in the desert.

u/Theministryhasfallen · 1 pointr/thedailyzeitgeist

So back in the day, my dad’s squadron had a plane that needed to make an emergency landing at the air strip in Groom Lake. The pilot and RIO were detained. My dad, being the head crew chief for the aircraft, and a couple of his crew members, had to fly to Las Vegas then Groom Lake under the cover darkness. Apparently, the plane they flew in in had blacked out windows and they were taxied to the broken plane. They weren’t allowed to leave the area and had one night to get the plane running again.


If you want to find out more about the history of Area 51, there’s an excellent book here