If I could only recommend a single work of non-fiction to intelligent men, it would be The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes (1987).
The tale of this consequential invention is one of the greatest stories in the history of mankind and Rhodes tells it in masterly fashion. Every angle is covered, from the larger-than-life personalities to the politics and geopolitics, to a full account of the horrors of the "conventional" war that made the military use of the Bomb the most foregone conclusion ever. Although Rhodes is not a technologist his descriptions of the physics are remarkably accurate and accessible to non-technical minds.
I don't make this recommendation lightly, as the 900-page book weighs in at just under three pounds. (At least if you don't like it you can use it as a door-stop.) But if you have any interest in "an epic worthy of Milton" as physics Nobel Laureate I.I. Rabi called it, check out this book.
(Note: I'm posting this now because it did not escape me at the meet-ups both in Berlin and in DC that when normal, healthy men congregate their conversations so naturally tend to roam to martial topics of warfare and weapons, often including nuclear weapons.)
The tale of this consequential invention is one of the greatest stories in the history of mankind and Rhodes tells it in masterly fashion. Every angle is covered, from the larger-than-life personalities to the politics and geopolitics, to a full account of the horrors of the "conventional" war that made the military use of the Bomb the most foregone conclusion ever. Although Rhodes is not a technologist his descriptions of the physics are remarkably accurate and accessible to non-technical minds.
I don't make this recommendation lightly, as the 900-page book weighs in at just under three pounds. (At least if you don't like it you can use it as a door-stop.) But if you have any interest in "an epic worthy of Milton" as physics Nobel Laureate I.I. Rabi called it, check out this book.
(Note: I'm posting this now because it did not escape me at the meet-ups both in Berlin and in DC that when normal, healthy men congregate their conversations so naturally tend to roam to martial topics of warfare and weapons, often including nuclear weapons.)
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