I liked The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Rhodes better, but Bomb is more approachable, although he overstates the nuclear winter effect, as many do.
I think it's one of those things where you're writing for Americans, so you have to aim several miles past the mark for it to have any impact.
Mom's should drink only in moderation during pregnancy? Okay, doctors have to say "don't drink at all", and that gets American moms down to guilty sips from their husband's beer, usually.
American parents are making peanut butter and jelly for their toddlers 10 to 14 times a week (because it's easy)? Okay… tell them no peanut butter until they're a certain age, and that should throttle it back to normal levels.
This feels like the same thing, sort of. "The consequences would be ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING" sinks in as "nuclear war would be pretty bad."
It's a Young Adult book (shelved in the teens section, locally), so I suppose if that's their takeaway at that age, mission accomplished?
Maybe.
He actually only talks about the potential dust clouds from, say, a 50-nuke India/Pakistan war for about a half-page in the epilogue, so I'm honestly not sure how many readers will even see it. :P
Good writer, though – the book kept me up til midnight to finish it up. I'd be interested to read his Benedict Arnold one.
I liked The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Rhodes better, but Bomb is more approachable, although he overstates the nuclear winter effect, as many do.
I think it's one of those things where you're writing for Americans, so you have to aim several miles past the mark for it to have any impact.
Mom's should drink only in moderation during pregnancy? Okay, doctors have to say "don't drink at all", and that gets American moms down to guilty sips from their husband's beer, usually.
American parents are making peanut butter and jelly for their toddlers 10 to 14 times a week (because it's easy)? Okay… tell them no peanut butter until they're a certain age, and that should throttle it back to normal levels.
This feels like the same thing, sort of. "The consequences would be ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING" sinks in as "nuclear war would be pretty bad."
It's a Young Adult book (shelved in the teens section, locally), so I suppose if that's their takeaway at that age, mission accomplished?
Maybe.
He actually only talks about the potential dust clouds from, say, a 50-nuke India/Pakistan war for about a half-page in the epilogue, so I'm honestly not sure how many readers will even see it. :P
Good writer, though – the book kept me up til midnight to finish it up. I'd be interested to read his Benedict Arnold one.