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The use of plutonium in RTGs or nuclear fuels such as MOX is mentioned only in passing. The last chapter is titled "Now What." but it doesn't attempt to offer any possible solutions. The author is not an expert on the subject, and although the book contains some interesting facts and anecdotes, they are presented incoherently. The unique chemical structure of plutonium was interesting, but the presentation of that information was not illustrative. The book amounts to little more than "Cliff Notes" on a subject that deserves a deeper and more coherent treatment. Often the main explication diverges into tangential narratives that do not serve the larger thesis. The subtitle claims to provide a history of plutonium, but the chronology essentially stops after the Manhattan project.
It reminds me of Alan Greenspan.This book could have just about been produced as a Gantt/milestone type linear chart - and in that would way would have been FAR easier to understand and correlate events - rather than the disjoined presentation it had. Why not just get into that topic. Why have a lengthy explanation about why to go into talking about why to talk about a subject. This book is both interesting, and very very dry. Or at least ADD a Gantt chart to it as a supplemental, that could be very helpful.I liked it, as I'm a bit of a geek and history wonk; but the presentation detracts from the contents, and limits me to rating it at 3 stars. The effort put into compiling this book cannot be ignored, and is no small feat, so the author should be recognized for the volume of work. While the history and technical data are fascinating - the presentation of the book needs a little help. The problem I had with it was, over and over, the author would state ".but first I'd like to touch on X topic".
As with all of his writing this is clear, concise, informative, and entertaining. We trace the history of Plutonium from its discovery and isolation to the large surplus in the world today. And what we get is fresh. We get a look at how close Germany came to having an atomic bomb.
If you pay close attention he does link everything up. But the most revealing thing is the descriptions of the personalities involved; the dedicated Curies, the rather arrogant but brilliant Oppenheimer, the contentious and paranoid Teller, and many more. This, I think, is the fault of his editor. Despite this one annoyance this is an informative, instructive, and thoughtful book by someone in touch with the major players in the drama. Careful editing would have removed all of this discontinuity. We get fascinating and personal looks at most the big players in early 20th Century physics.
And finally we end up with a readable (for anyone with a modicum of technical understanding) account to the most toxic substance on earth; a substance, which has, but one use.Perhaps because he usually writes shorter pieces there is a somewhat annoying abundance of phrases such as "we'll get to that later" or "I'll explain in Chapter x". Read it, think about it, act on it. We meet the Curies, Thomson, Szilard, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Zachariesen, Heisenberg, Edward Teller and the list goes on. The overall story is fascinating, involving, as it does, two hot wars and one cold one.
Or "Omnivores' Dilemma", the first half of the book is very interesting but then the author goes into nonsense of cooking & eating a wild pig. e.g. The first part of the book deals in details of the periodic table that few would be interested in & less would understand. Conclusion: far more significant information could have been given in the book about plutonium; less about questionable individuals. Giving Ed Teller any credit for the Fusion ("hydrogen") bomb is a common absurdity. It gives credit of discovery(ies) to individuals that is questionable, lengthy, and off-subject of the physics. Like "Brotherhood of the Bomb" that goes on, ad nauseam, about the absurd FBI.
This is one of the most technically challenging books I have ever read- the element plutonium never ceases to amaze me- it goes through the complete history of the element, from conception to vaporization, and everything in between- I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in nuclear engineering~
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