Reviews

The Bomber Mafia: A Tale of Innovation and Obsession by Malcolm Gladwell

liberrydude's review against another edition

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4.0

A quick, easy read that has you eagerly turning the pages. Lots of interesting information. For example, the B-29 was more expensive than the Manhattan Project. Norden bombsight was third.

Gladwell is a little too moralistic and preachy with his holding up the “moral” officers in the bomber mafia. Guys who continued to not get it done in terms of mission and goals. I loved Lemay and his doer style. He was a modern Sherman. Wage war ruthlessly to end it as soon as possible.

maddiespaceharper's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 stars. didn’t feel like this book was necessarily “well written”, but it was a nice look into WWII (and modern) air power mentalities. as someone who did quite a bit of work for aircraft national defense companies, it is certainly an amazing insight into the importance of developing technologies that avoid as much civilian casualties and collateral damage as possible.

berni396's review against another edition

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adventurous informative fast-paced

4.5

sadie_nyc's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

christinesmith205's review against another edition

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reflective

4.0

dbutlergallie's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

swilddn's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

pujafitz's review against another edition

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4.0

This was written as an audiobook, then adapted to print book format. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about bomber planes, war strategy, and WWII in general. The flow of the audiobook was entertaining, and I never felt bored. Very well written.

makelamarkus's review against another edition

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informative reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

Quite an easy read before bed which tells an engaging story about historical figures and diverging philosophies for waging war. Despite its easy read it still touches on serious moral questions that make you question the ethics of war and whether significant civilian casualties can be justified where this shortens the overall length of a war.

abeltirado's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

It's a very engaging audiobook. The damatization makes for an easy listen.
However, in terms of content, Gladwell is not entirely historically accurate.
I would say this is good for an overview of the general history of bombers and fascinating insight into the personal comments of various figures.

This topic would be fascinating to explore in depth.