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The Men Who Stare at Goats
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
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Summary
In 1979, a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known accepted military practice - and indeed, the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.
Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror.
The Men Who Stare at Goats reveals extraordinary - and very nutty - national secrets at the core of George W. Bush's War on Terror. With first-hand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades, and sees how it is alive today within US Homeland Security and post-war Iraq.
Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners-of-war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 de-bleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces command centre at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the US Military associated with the mysterious mass-suicide of a strange cult from San Diego? The Men Who Stare At Goats answers these, and many more, questions.
Jon Ronson is an award-winning writer and documentary maker. He is the author of many best-selling books, including Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie, Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries, The Psychopath Test, The Men Who Stare at Goats and Them: Adventures with Extremists. His first fictional screenplay, Frank, co-written with Peter Straughan, starred Michael Fassbender. He lives in London and New York City.
Critic reviews
"Simultaneously frightening and hilarious." ( The Times)"
What listeners say about The Men Who Stare at Goats
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Richard Fletcher
- 16-12-19
I'm an hour in and wanting to burst my own heart!
Because I actually paid money for this title, I'm going to torture myself and finish it in the vain hope that I find something of value in the information I hear.
I have no idea what other peoples idea of a good narrator is but in my opinion Jon Ronson isn't one.
He definitely should leave the oration to the experts and the repetitive "he said", "then I said", "then he said" ping pong dialogues to the local junior school.
He puts emphasis on the wrong words in sentences and bounces about the subject like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh on speed.
It's painful and frustrating to listen to and if it were a free title I would have deleted it but I'm tight and deserve punishing for not reading the many other reviews similar to mine.
I seriously hope that there is some redeeming feature in this title.
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43 people found this helpful
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- Neil
- 13-04-17
A book written the wrong way round.
This was okay but in my opinion a long way from Ronson's best.
Its starts out amusing, slightly whimsical and typically bizarre and then weaves a slightly scatter-gun narrative through the US Military from the late 70s to the present day.
By the end of the book it becomes clear that Ronson's aim has been looking at how progressive but radical ideas have been misappropriated. Unfortunately, this aim wasn't clear throughout the book and I would have preferred Ronson to state his thesis at the outset.
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26 people found this helpful
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- Sue
- 02-03-17
Truth is stranger than fiction
While a lot of readers may find this conspiratorial, it is actually bizarrely captivating and incredible to listen to. Some of the areas explored borders on bonkers, but actually much of it is true. Around 75 per cent of the time, it is absolutely hilarious, but there poses a genuine concern about what our intelligence agencies are doing outside of public knowledge.
Having read Jon Ronson's works before, it hardly comes as a surprise that he has managed to infiltrate such an eccentric part of the US military. I only wish each idea was more carefully investigated rather than feeling like Alice tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thoroughly enjoyable nevertheless.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Nik Jewell
- 16-03-17
Better than the Film
I'm a fan of Jon Ronson's work and this is certainly more entertaining than the film, but it is not him at his best. It is full of laugh out loud moments in his understated sardonic style, made all the better by his narration (I am not at all sure it would work so well if somebody else was narrating it).
However, the narrative jumps around, leaves one yearning for more depth at times, and somehow the book falls slightly short of a coherent whole. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it because I certainly did - Ronson has a great ability for teasing out the barmy views of people who have, or have had, worryingly, a great deal of power and influence.
"Maybe, I thought, as my mind drifted, and I glanced out of his window to the lawn outside his office in the vain hope of spotting injured goats, he was performing some kind of PsyOp on me."
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13 people found this helpful
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- Mr Luxembourg
- 04-09-16
Compelling Ronson at his best
Ronson has a really compelling style that draws the reader in. The audible version of this and his other books has the added dimension of his own speech pattern- something Ronson does really well. At points it's like he is say in the room with me revealing a secret he heard from someone over the garden wall. A real pleasure for the ears.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Charles
- 08-10-17
Disappointing
I bought this expecting to hear lively-told stories of extraordinary investigations etc. Well, the stories were ok but the narration is dire. Boring, lifeless and, strangely, a narrator with a British regional accent that didn't sit well with essentially US-based stories involving the Pentagon's mad-cap ideas on how to win wars. I tried to get past this and concentrate on the stories but it was useless and I switched off before the end - very unusual for me.
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9 people found this helpful
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- sunny summers
- 20-12-16
Eye opening and jaw dropping
Loved the film but had no idea of the depth this topic and book goes too. Amazing and shocking.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Darkly
- 22-03-17
Great story. Really engaging
I wasn't sure about this at first, but it was fantastic. Really interesting and thought provoking and not what I expected. A good listen.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Mike Nield
- 01-04-17
Thank you Jon Ronson
A step into the bizarre world of the psychic spy with an excellent performance by the author- thank you Mr Ronson for taking not only the time to write the book but to read it to is as well. Without this I feel the book would have lost much of its charm
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-10-20
Absolutely sh#t
Narrative diabolical.. I said he said ping-pong, never been so bored, gave up half way through
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4 people found this helpful