The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World Hardcover – Deckle Edge, March 14, 2017

I worked there [95-96] and found this book to be highly informative and exceptionally well documented?Highly recommended for anyone with interest in technology and DoD

DARPA is a useful but certainly not the only framework for creating innovation in science and technology. However it is probably the only one that would have worked in DoD. DoD and the various services have never been known for their ability to recognize and nurture new ideas for prosecuting war. For example the Navy originally thought that aircraft would not be able to sink ships. Each service is typically more interested in protecting its own budget than funding speculative research in science and technology and is notoriously slow in adopting it. DARPA is a kind of kickstarter mechanism for providing seed money and early development money to wild and infant concepts in science and technology. Failures, if they don't arise from stupidity, are recognized as part of the risk taking process. Successes are transitioned to the services or other govt or even commercial organizations before serious money is spent. DARPA has been derailed at times by politics and media seeking a juicy story. This book was a good and mostly evenhanded summary of DARPA's history. What was surprising was that DARPA does not seem to have a long-term memory of its programs. It often recreates programs without knowledge of its own past successes or failures in identical or similar ventures. Also there may be too much compartmentalization for security purposes. Long tenures for the director or office directors should probably also be avoided.

DARPA did so much less than its reputation would suggest! Weinberger has every dead end, every odd detour and disappointment and twist, documented through colorful interviews that must have been great fun. She shows that it was a backwater, where crazy ideas went to die. It makes a great story--lots of fascinating anecdotes that you can share at cocktail parties.

I was a great fan of James Michener's earlier books such as The Source, Caravans and Hawaii. Seldom did I personally know about the many stories told in these books as "facts" even though the books were novels. When I did, however, I found them to correspond to what I already knew. This gave me a great deal of faith in the truth of the other stories of which I had no first-hand knowledge. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Ms Weinberger's book. When I run across a passage that I know is false, it leaves me doubting many of the other stories in the book. Interesting read, but who knows where the truth lays?

Learned several new episodes from DARPA's surprisingly deep engagement in theater during the Vietnam conflict. Kudos to the author for an even-handed but rigorous peek behind the gauzy veil of past PR. Still love the mission of DARPA, but good to be clear-eyed in assessing its performance over the years.

Having been funded by DARPA for the ALV (Autonomous Land Vehicle) in the 80's, I found the account of DARPA's early history very interesting. Although Sharon Weinberg's reference of our work was superficial and glib, on the whole she points to the good and bad results of DARPA in mostly fair terms. Despite being prone to hyperbolic rhetoric, questioning the past and future role of DARPA is a good start on the debate.

I was hooked. Excellent read. Hit home on many points and involved some great work discussions. Many Co workers bought the book after the conversations it had created.

Great book on the inner workings of DARPA and how it's influenced a generation of military programs and equipment.