Before the Fallout

by Diana Preston
Category: "Nature/Science"
Pages:340
Year of Publication:2005
Date Added:07/26/2006
Date Read:05/15/2006
Notes:Subtitle: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima

The book covers discovery of radioactivity, the make-up of the atom and its development into atomic weapons. It concentrates more on the people involved than it does on the technical aspects, and includes the story of Paul Tibbets, the pilot who flew the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima) and Moe Berg, the big league catcher who was a U.S. spy during the war.

Preston concludes with a chapter on the morality of using the bomb. She believes, as do some Japanese, that it shortened World War II and ultimately saved lives. It was inevitable that scientific study would lead to knowledge of the atom which in turn would lead to atomic weapons. Somebody was going to develop the bomb, and it was better for the world that it was us, with all our faults and shortcomings, than it would have been if Russia or Germany or even Japan had built one first.
My Rating: 8

Reviews for Before the Fallout

Review - Before the Fallout

The book wasn't too technical. I understood most of the physics and was able to keep track of most of the people. It wandered off the point in places. I also didn’t like the cover painting of a naked Eve picking an atomic apple in Eden. Preston is a good writer. The book was less technical and probably less informative than Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which I read back in 1989.
Back to the list