Jeremy Bernstein
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By: Cambridge University Press
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Subjects -> History -> Military -> Weapons & Warfare -> Conventional -> General
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Weapons & Warfare -> Conventional -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Weapons & Warfare -> Nuclear
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Highly Recommended 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 10 people found this review helpful.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS: What You Need To Know, is a very well written account of the people and the physics that went into creating the world's weapons of mass destruction. Any one teaching about this topic will surely wish to consider this as a textbook or reference. The book makes a nice complement to the video THE DAY AFTER TRINITY in which one "meets" many of the characters in Bernstein's book. The Day After Trinity
A 2007 book, it makes reference to many contemporary problems, Iran, Iraq, a terrorist bomb, DPRK, and proliferation. It includes suggestions for further reading should one find something missing, or wish to pursue the topic in more depth.
The one element I found missing in detail, since this is "What You Need To Know," is what happens to people when such a device explodes overhead or otherwise nearby. Bernstein does state numbers for deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He gives, 90,000 and 74,000. I believe Carey Sublette provides similar numbers. The question becomes, "In what year do you stop counting?" For many decades now the "official" figure that comes from reliable sources in Hiroshima is that by Dec. 31, 1945, the death toll was 140,000, with 10% possible error. Sadako Sasaki died 10 years later as did many others between 1945 and 1955. In general, not criticizing Bernstein or Sublette, when an enemy of ours kills, we use death figures from the victims; when WE kill we use OUR figures. When the 90,000 figure is used for nuclear deaths, I wonder if someone is trying to make it seem no worse than the Tokyo air raids. The United States government has never published a full and detailed account of what happened to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and still remains with the few survivors to this day, some 63 years after.
I would add to the Further Reading Suggestions, Naomi Shohno's THE LEGACY OF HIROSHIMA, Legacy of Hiroshima: Its Past, Our Future, James C. Warf's ALL THINGS NUCLEAR, All Things Nuclear, and DAYS TO REMEMBER from the Hiroshima Nagasaki Publishing Committee, Days to Remember: An Account of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS: What You Need To Know, is an excellent book. It has my highest recommendation. Give it 10 STARS!
Editorial Review:
Nuclear Weapons is a history of nuclear weapons. From their initial theoretical development at the start of the twentieth century to the recent tests in North Korea, the author seeks to, at each point in the narrative, describe the basic science of nuclear weaponry. At the same time, he offers accounts and anecdotes of the personalities involved, many of whom he has known firsthand. Dr. Bernstein writes in response to what he sees as a widespread misunderstanding throughout the media of the basic workings and potential impact of nuclear weaponry.
