Saturday, May 11, 2013

Weinberg: The First Nuclear Era

This was a part of my plan for the weekend---to read this book.

It will take my several days or a couple weeks to read it.  After the first couple chapters, it seems to be mostly about details of the Manhattan Project that don't interest me much.

From a historical perspective, it is a significant book.  Also in terms of the people the man knew, and mentions in this book.

An aside here that has nothing to do with the book:

We don't have the benefits of nuclear energy for the same reasons we blundered into World War II.  That is, the stupidity and blindness of politicians.  We got the bomb, but not the energy.  We got the bomb because of the war.  We didn't get the energy because the politicians were more interested in the bombs after they got built.  The scientists didn't want the bomb, but were recruited to build it because of the politicians who blundered into war.  Now that the politicians have gotten their bomb, they aren't interested in the energy, but are definitely interested in the bomb.  To the extent that they aren't interested in bombs, they still fail to see the real usefulness of nuclear energy and fail to develop its potential.  Hence, the likelihood that their stupidity might well be the reason that they blunder into another war, and this one may well involve nuclear weapons.

The politicians may blame the scientists for the bomb, but it will be their own fault.  If they listened to the scientists, they would make fewer mistakes.


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