Fascinating history of how the military has been the dominant force driving scientific research, particularly for astrophysics. The extent to which the military dominates is chilling. I was disappointed that at the end Degrasse Tyson didn't come out more forcefully for independence for scientists. He should be the poster child for Science for the People. But astrophysics is so expensive, without military support it would be crippled. A similar book should be written for biology, chemistry, medicine, etc. Yes, the spinoffs from military research have benefitted us all, but if that money was directly going to fund research for peaceful uses, it would be much more beneficial.

I knew there were lots of synergies between military and non-military space activities, but this was an incredibly informative and interesting book. It certainly is clear after reading this that Trump's Space Force idea is really really bad...

My non-fiction reading really has little rhyme or reason to it. I pick up books that grab my attention or that I’ve seen other people love. I have to admit I don’t really have a huge interest in space exploration or military history, but Neil deGrasse Tyson is a big name and I’ve seen a show or two on tv and at a planetarium that he’s hosted, which is why I picked up Accessory to War.

At times Accessory to War is just fascinating. For me, that was mostly when it was discussing the history of astrophysics and how its beginnings affected armies and explorers and merchants. I also found the parts about how current countries approach space interesting. It’s well-written. It doesn’t talk down to those of us who don’t know much, but it also wasn’t over my head. It was conversational and easy to follow.

Unfortunately, there were other parts that were dry and boring. Lists of treaties and resolutions or companies or countries. It was making its points, but blah.

I listened to the audio, which maybe was part of the problem. I couldn’t skim over anything. Other than that, the narrations was good, clear and with a tone that fit the content.

The connection between the military and science is obvious and clear. Science benefits military and “defense” pays for science. The book was clearly anti-war. The authors prefer science for science’s sake, not to help destroy people/places, which didn’t surprise me.

Overall, Accessory to War was worth my time. It had a lot of information—some I might even remember.

This was informative, but all together too long and attempted to cover too much history. It also failed to be clear in its messaging at times. Possibly because of the multiple authors, but I found myself struggling to understand the point of some of the comments or how the provided information was actually pertinent.

This contained a lot of information about GPS and navigation in general that I found interesting. There was a ton of interesting details on technology development as well (how projects get funding, resources, focus of study, etc). Overall, this felt mostly cautionary and somewhat demoralizing. Hard to rate.

Insightful book. I learned some new things, although it was a bit disorganized. Jumped around a lot. I was impressed by his descriptions and word usage, though a bit too wordy.

Excellent read! The first parts constitute a history of certain sectors of human scientific discovery so inclusive this book would make a good grab should we have another burning of the library of Alexandria type crisis. The later chapters are an incredibly detailed account of military projects so shocking they drop the jaw and require the authors to remind you they are only sharing declassified details. There were a few parts that seemed incongruent with the overall message however. For instance towards the end there was an envisioned utopia, “Rationalia” where laws are based solely on evidence and cannot be constructed in its absence. This seems fine except the whole book has centered on how science or the generation of evidence is politically and militaristically motivated and therefore sorely lacking outside of those purposes. Overall the book is excellent and worth a read just to applaud the extensive research efforts (nearly 200 pages are dedicated to sources and footnotes alone).