Episode · Lex Fridman Podcast · 2024-03-22
Books mentioned on #420 – Annie Jacobsen: Nuclear War, CIA, KGB, Aliens, Area 51, Roswell & Secrecy
Annie Jacobsen is an investigative journalist and author of “Nuclear War: A Scenario” and many other books on war, weapons, government secrecy, and national security. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – HiddenLayer: https://hiddenlayer.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Area 51
Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen is an investigative non-fiction book that explores the history, top-secret projects, and government operations associated with the famous military installation in Nevada.
Discussed“I mean, my first learning about the CIA came from the work I did on the "Area 51" book about their aerial reconnaissance programs, which were set up again to prevent World War III, nuclear World War III.”
Where to get it
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Nuclear War
Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen is a non-fiction scenario-based book detailing the catastrophic sequence of events that would unfold during a global nuclear exchange.
Discussed“I think the sense-making part of this is really what I'm after in this book, because I want people to understand, on the one hand, it's incredibly simple; it's just the people that have made it so complicated.”
Where to get it
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Operation paperclip
Discussed“In my research on Third Reich weapons for 'Operation Paperclip', because of course, we got a lot of those scientists after.”
Where to get it
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Surprise, Kill, Vanish
Discussed“Later, I wrote a book about the CIA's paramilitary, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish."”
Where to get it
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First Platoon
Discussed“But the real problem, what has happened, and I write about this in my book, 'First Platoon', which is about a group of young soldiers who goes to Afghanistan and unwittingly becomes part of the Defense Department’s biome efforts to capture biometrics on 85% of the population of Afghanistan.”
Where to get it
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Phenomena
Discussed“You've written, like you said, the book "Phenomena" on the secret history of the US government's investigations into extrasensory perception and psychokinesis.”
Where to get it
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The Cold and the Dark
Discussed“Carl Sagan talked about that in this amazing book he wrote with two scientist colleagues called "The Cold and the Dark."”
Where to get it
