Customer Reviews

The Effects of Nuclear Weapons

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Third Edition was originally published in 1977. In the slightly more than 3 decades since, this book is just as vital and informative as it was originally. Compiled and editted by Samuel Glasstone, who also wrote the Sourcebook on Atomic Emergy (another must read) this book is written in the paragrapsh delimited style as the Sourcebook. This is wonderful, highly readable treatise on nuclear weapon technology and explosion aftermath. The photographs of test results are numerous and tell-taleing, even though all pictures are in black and white. The section on Biological Effects relies heavily on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as on follow up studies from the Marshall Islands.

Chapter 8 talks about the various types radiation (particulate and wave) emitted from an explosion. The charts and diagrams are clear, concise and extremely informative.

This is a physics book and as such is highly technical in places. These parts are clearly indicated and the authors point out those sections that may be omitted without loss of continuity or material.

I have found this book extremely useful, especially when access to classified material was not available.

This is the classic Cold War study of the effects of nuclear weapons. It is a timely book in today's world as we all ponder the nature and effects of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

One of the best resources around. This is a technical work: not light reading. It is a good reference work and provides a great amount of detail including graphs and formulae. It is a shame that the calculator wheel is not included in this edition.

This publication by "Knowledge Publications Corporation" is (from the front matter): "Digitally remastered and corrected for maximum quality. This version of the book is a derivative work by Knowledge Publications Corporation of the original Glasstone and Dolan authored book. It has been remastered and reformatted for modern day duplications methods and systems. Photos have been enhanced for maximum quality and the text has been sharpened and formatted."

If this makes sense to you, order from these folks. If not, buy an original copy second-hand.

The book is as the first reviewer noted: a bit heavy in Physics. Nonetheless, there is valuable information in this text: It was one of our texts in a late-1960s course on fallout shelter analysis and design.
That course--especially this book--convinced me early on that mankind had gone berserk: This was because the British and the French then (1970) had enough nuclear weapons (and delivery systems) to destroy the world as we know it--yet the USSR and the US had twenty or thirty times as many weapons (and delivery systems).
Which may be why MAD worked, when there were only two protagonists.
Today, with so many protagonists--so quickly--MAD is a bit mad, at least.
Earlier editions of this book included a circular slide rule for calculating the effects of various blast sizes and burst heights.

Don't buy it for these high prices. Do a search, Princeton's Program on Science and Global Security hosts a pdf version of the book available for chapter by chapter downloads.

Obviously this is the standard reference, and one of the more detailed works looking both at the direct blast and radiation effects and such second order effects as electromagnetic pulse. Worth finding an old copy or downloading for anyone with (hopefully!) a theoretical interest in nuclear weapon effects.