Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The History of the Future

  • Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality
  • By: Blake J. Harris
  • Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
  • Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (77 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The History of the Future cover art

The History of the Future

By: Blake J. Harris
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Metaverse cover art
Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever cover art
Doom Guy cover art
Masters of Doom cover art
A Very Public Offering cover art
Press Reset cover art
The Innovation Stack cover art
Dot.Bomb cover art
Amp It Up cover art
The Infinite Machine cover art
No Better Time cover art
How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars cover art
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels cover art
Startupland cover art
CTRL ALT Revolt! cover art
Liar's Poker cover art

Summary

The dramatic, larger-than-life true story behind the founding of Oculus and its quest for virtual reality, by the best-selling author of Console Wars.

From iconic books like Neuromancer to blockbuster films like The Matrix, virtual reality has long been hailed as the ultimate technology. But outside of a few research labs and military training facilities, this tantalizing vision of the future was nothing but science fiction. Until 2012, when Oculus founder Palmer Luckey - then just a rebellious teenage dreamer living alone in a camper trailer - invents a device that has the potential to change everything.

With the help of a video game legend, a serial entrepreneur, and many other colorful characters, Luckey’s scrappy start-up kick-starts a revolution and sets out to bring VR to the masses. As with most underdog stories, things don’t quite go according to plan. But what happens next turns out to be the ultimate entrepreneurial journey: a tale of battles won and lost, lessons learned, and never-ending twists and turns - including an unlikely multibillion-dollar acquisition by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg that shakes up the landscape in Silicon Valley and gives Oculus the chance to forever change our reality.

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with the key players driving this revolution, The History of the Future weaves together a rich, cinematic narrative that captures the breakthroughs, breakdowns, and human drama of trying to change the world. The result is a super accessible and supremely entertaining look at the birth of a game-changing new industry.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Blake J. Harris (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The History of the Future

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    50
  • 4 Stars
    19
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    45
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    49
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Does not live up to Console Wars

This felt like nothing other than a lacklustre cash grab following the fantastically written Console Wars.
While the book offers some interesting insight, most of it is just simply hollow, uninteresting information that really was not interesting to listen to. Anyone interested in Facebooks acquisition of Oculus could find out the key information online and spare themselves the unnecessary additives found in this book.
Very very disappointing.
Performance by narrator was good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

2/3 great story, end ruined by low politics.

most of book is real nice, but last half is mess. Trumpism today is real failure with elon and gang

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspiring and demotivating in the same time

You need to have some distance for this one sided story, but given ive worked with the industey it all sounds too real and painful.

Im glad i gave it all those 17 hours of my time. I feel there were some insights im going to use

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

not as exciting as the title suggests

the first few chapters were good but turns into a biography of Palmer lucky

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really eye opener

I’ve always been a massive fan of VR and oculus I owned a DK2 it was a great invention and to see some of the developers software for the rift was brilliant, this book put everything in perspective on how lucky Parmer was the founder of oculus and the other team of developers. The buy out of oculus by Facebook is well explained but not surprising on how it was done with the hidden agenda. I’d recommend this book to anyone thats had an interest in VR and those that don’t. Recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping story and credit to the narrator

Nothing beats a real story, that turns and twist at every corner. The American dream is very much alive in this extraordinary experience of Palmer Lucky.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read for all VR enthusiasts

The story of Oculus I already knew in a broad strokes manner, but this book fills in the gaps and expands the narrative nicely.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating with incredible access

I've got to say I'm just blown away by the access the author got and the under the hood (bonnet for me!) view we get of Oculus. I run a business in VR and this has filled in so many gaps to a story I saw from a far. Loved this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!