Customer Reviews

Megawatts and Megatons: The Future of Nuclear Power and

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You might think Megawatts and Megatons subtitled "The Future of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons" (paperback) would have different contents than the one subtitled "A Turning Point in the Nuclear Age" (hardback), like I did; however, with the exception of a new couple-page "Note to the Paperback Edition," I saw no differences. I'd suggest not falling for Amazon's Buy Both on these two, because you'll probably be disappointed to find out you got two editions of the same book.

While I appreciate the discussion on nuclear arms I don't think it needed to be at the length the authors took it.

And while I really enjoyed the discussion on nuclear power I was disspointed that the authors took great care to detail and expound ideas (Rubia's for example) at the expense of other economical and safe technologies (Gen III+ and IV LWR for example).

There was no reason not to expand on the the available, decades-proven, and economical designs of today. Basically what I'm thinking is they could've done better to discuss evolutionary designs as opposed to completely new (relatively speaking) concepts. Either way it's a great book, -Ali

In Megawatts and Megatons, Garwin and Charpak collaborated on an excellent description of nuclear power and weapons, starting with discussions of nuclear physics and energy, and ending with a narrative of post WWII international relations, centered upon arms control and prevention of use of nuclear weapons.

The authors have strong opinions on the proper use of nuclear energy and the means to reduce dependence on nuclear weapons, as one would imagine from two scientific practitioners. As such, they have presented a well-developed argument that aims to convince the reader that the U.S. should modify its energy and nuclear weapons policies to reduce the threats of global warming and nuclear contamination as well as nuclear conflict and terrorism.

Unfortunately for the layman, the technical nature of the first portion of the book may make difficult reading for the reader without a background in science or engineering, although the authors do make an effort to describe the concepts so that the non-expert may understand.

I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the technical description of nuclear power and weapons, nuclear policy, and recommendations new policy directions.

This is a strange book. Actually, it's two books in one, with a dopey chapter for children thrown in for good measure. The first half is about nuclear power, both in energy production and weapons. The second half is an editorial for nuclear disarmament. The authors make no attempt to divorce their politics from the discussion. Even the first, more substantive half of the book is liberally laced with disarmament talking points.

Notwithstanding their views on disarmament, the authors support nuclear power and do a pretty good job explaining the scientific, financial and engineering aspects of the Peaceful Atom. If the portions on nuclear power were available separately as a pamphlet I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. On balance, however, those few chapters don't justify wading through the entire book.

For me this was a required text for a college course on nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and energy. I can honestly say that if you are a person with a significant scientific background you will enjoy this read. The authors (Charpak and Garwin) present facts about all areas of nuclear issues.

The authors explain in detail about past, current, and future nuclear power generation and its impact on the human race. In addition they go into detail on the upsides and pitfalls of nuclear versus fossil fuel energy production. In the same regard the authors discuss the past, current, and future of nuclear weapons. The authors provide a detailed schedule for nuclear disarmament, which they really mean as a dwindling of nuclear arms.

The authors do a fantastic job of explaining the effects of nuclear power production and nuclear weapons on human life. The fact that the catastrophe at Chernobyl had far less impact on human life than mainstream media would have you believe was interesting.

All in all the authors provide an incredible amount of information on the past and future of nuclear arms and nuclear power.

Negative reviews of this book are most likely from people who do not understand the vast amount of math and units used in this book. The authors do their best of explain Sv, eV, MWe, and other units, but if you do not have a basic understanding of physics and SI units you may find this book difficult to understand.

To the scientifically inclined - enjoy this read and understand that nuclear power will play an integral role in our future as is the curbing of our dependence on nuclear weapons as our supreme power in the world.

This book manages to be informative without being boring. I highly recommend it if you are interested in nuclear technology, nuclear proliferation, history of 20th century, international relations and national security issues.