Nobody appreciates a good dumb joke these days. What is a guy to do?
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| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book’s cover:
The astonishing biography of a mineral that can sustain our world- or destroy it
Uranium occurs naturally in the earth's crust-yet holds the power to end all life on the planet. This is its fundamental paradox, and its story is a fascinating window into the valor, greed, genius, and folly of humanity. A problem for miners in the Middle Ages, an inspiration to novelists and a boon to medicine, a devastating weapon at the end of World War II, and eventually a polluter, killer, excuse for war with Iraq, potential deliverer of Armageddon and a possible last defense against global warming-Uranium is the riveting story of the most powerful element on earth, and one which will shape our future, for better or worse.
Synopsis:
Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock that Shaped the World, by Tom Zoellner, takes a world-spanning look at the history and importance of a fairly common but (some would say) game changing mineral. The early chapters focus on the recorded history of Uranium, from its origins as a nuisance rock - called “bad luck rock” by early miners who were seeking more traditional fare like gold and silver - to its discovered radioactive properties and eventual employment for both destructive and beneficial results.
Uranium discusses such aspects of the mineral’s history as the period of the radium fad of the early twentieth century, which Uranium played a role in. Next was the proposition by legendary sci-fi author H.G. Wells in one of his lesser known works that a substance, thinly veiled as “Caroliniaum,” which held Uranium’s general characteristics and its tendency toward instability, could be used to create an atomic weapon. This idea sparked the imagination of others, many of them renowned physicists of the period, who saw the chance to use neutrons to release the potential of the energy locked up in atoms.
The Manhattan Project is covered, as are the results of the atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, mostly from the U.S. perspective. The immediate aftermath of World War II is portrayed as a sober event for most Americans, though Zoellner also relates how atomic weapons and atomic power had a press agent of sorts (I forget the man’s name specifically, but he was from Lithuania originally and wrote in what Zoellner described as “purple prose”). This man was given specific authorization by the U.S. government to be the official spokesman for the power of the atom, and he did it with aplomb. The somber events of “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” soon were overshadowed with the promise of a bright future in which the United States would lead the world in scientific discovery and in military might, via atomic weapons, which the U.S. was scrambling to build and stockpile against future conflicts.
The book then takes a look at the mining of Uranium across the world, and the politics of nuclear diplomacy that have caused great strife in particular hot zones, such as the Middle East, as well as in the rest of the world. He spends a great deal of time on Australian Uranium mining, and then goes on to point out how Uranium is currently seeing a “renaissance” of sorts, as fossil fuels rise in price and environmental concerns lead nations to seek cleaner and cheaper sources of energy.
I wouldn’t say this is a complete summary of the book’s relevant material, but it gives you a taste of it. There is a lot of stuff covered. At times it seems like too much, as one reviewer on Amazon.com notes when he says the book is more “travelogue” than historical and scientific analysis of Uranium. But I’ll get to that more in What I Didn’t Like.
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| The author, Tom Zoellner, from his own website. Isn't he "dreamy?" Alright, if I had my own website and wrote professionally, I'd like a decent photo of myself as well, so I guess I can't begrudge the guy his glamour shot, now can I? / Source: TomZoellner.com |
The book covers a wide and quite varied amount of subjects that relate to the history and use of Uranium. Though I thought at times that the author was going for broke a bit too much, I did appreciate all the detail that the book had to offer. And it can’t be effectively argued that he failed to do his homework, as there was a lot of “bang for your buck” in the text.
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| A spa at Joachimsthal, which was once the only place in the world known to have Uranium, and which still is trying to use the "fad' of radioactive waters as a curative, even after Marie Curie and her husband died of radium poisoning from overexposure in the early years of the twentieth century. Personally, I'd not "take the waters," even if they do have a fun looking water slide. / Source: Prague-Guide.UK.com |
What I didn’t like about it:
A reviewer on Amazon.com, who claims to be a nuclear technician, said the book was more travelogue than relevantly factual history. When I first read this review, I didn’t agree, as I was still in the early chapters of the book. Zoellner does take great pains to cover his subject in detail, which, as noted in What I Liked About It, is a good thing. On the other hand, the farther I read, the more the book tended to pull into less direct content, such as describing the detailed situation surrounding Political Islam, or giving lots of “you are there” insights on research trips the author took to various spots on the globe which are associated with the ore’s use in weapons, mining, waste products, or other sundry aspects.
I thought that the author might have trimmed his work just a bit and still been just as successful. I have complained about this in the past with other authors, and I know I am the last person who should point fingers when it comes to keeping on topic, but I think Zoellner might have done just as good a job if he’d kept a few things aside for the footnotes. Know what I mean? Well if you are reading my blog, you must, as there are times even I think I ought to be more brief in my own writings and “cut to the chase,” as they say.
Ok, time to take my own advice and do just that. One last thing. Zoellner says that the U.S.’s post-WWII press agent for atomic weapons and Uranium ore was guilty of “purple prose,” but I must confess there were times when I thought Zoellner was also being a bit over the top. This is especially true in his opening paragraphs. But then he ends the book itself on such a plain note, almost anticlimactic as it were, that I nearly didn’t realize the book was coming to an end. It was a little strange. But to each his own, I guess. The book’s meat was pretty good, in and of itself, but it had its ups and downs of occasional blandness and a polar streak of flowery descriptions Does that make sense? I hope so, as I can’t seem to explain much better than that. If you read it, I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.
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| Semi-enriched Uranium, colloquially known as Yellow Cake." This material was responsible for the infamous 16 words (I think it was sixteen, but I might be mistaken) that were uttered by former President George W Bush regarding nuclear materials that were supposedly supplied to Saddam Hussein's Iraq by Niger, and were used as part of the excuse for the invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s. / Source: Wikipedia.org |
What I learned, if anything:
I learned a great deal from this book, and feel a bit chagrined now since I had been putting off reading it in favor of some of my other recently reviewed books.
Hmmm... Let me see. A few interesting tidbits I picked up from Uranium. Well for one thing, I learned about how the German High Command sent a U-boat with a secret payload of Uranium to the Japanese on the eve of the Nazi’s surrender, and how this Uranium never reached its intended destination, but was instead delivered to the United States. The German crew, after hearing the broadcast from the acting head of state after Hitler committed suicide, surrendered their boat to the Americans. They chose the U.S. because they feared the British would be harsh due to U-boat incidents, and not to the French due to the occupation. This Uranium made its way to the Manhattan Project, and almost became part of the first bombs that were subsequently used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A matter of a few months was all that kept the material from being in time to be enriched and delivered to Japan by air and in destructive form, rather than via U-boat as originally planned.
Another interesting story related to the birthplaces of the word that would later become the name of U.S. currency - the “dollar.” The mines at Joachimsthal, originally in Bohemia but in present day what is known as the Czech Republic, have a fascinating history that is intertwined with the Third Reich, the Soviet Union, and Uranium. The site became a so-called Uranium Gulag during the Cold War, and the author’s prose on the subject paints a very vivid picture of the conditions there. I had not associated the use of the term “gulag” with locations outside the proper of the former Soviet Union previously, but this part of the text opened my eyes to the idea that the Soviets could introduce Gulags to their Eastern European-occupied states as well.
The parts on the boom and bust of Uranium mining, the weapons programs of both Israel and later Pakistan and India, the threat of nuclear terrorism and the potential use of nuclear weapons by failed states, and the future of Uranium in the ever-hungry energy industry were also quite informative. On the whole, the book had many interesting accounts to give, though at times the author really laid it on a bit thick, in my opinion (as you noticed in my comments on What I Didn’t Like).
Recommendation:
Despite being a bit “traveloguey” from the mid point onward, the book is good. It covers a wide array of subjects relating to Uranium, and is thus not just another re-telling of the story of the Manhattan Project and the decision in 1945 to use the bomb against Japan. In my opinion, this wide spectrum of topics covered makes the book worth the time invested. I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about this unique rock and the power it contains, and how that power shapes the world today in which we live.
Learn more about Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World on Amazon.com
The parting comment:
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| Source: AtomCentral.com |
A bit of math-related humor. That would have been my first answer as well.
Dreamy?
ReplyDeleteI was making fun of his glamor shot photo. I must confess that I don't know what women find attractive, being the sort of guy who doesn't "check out" other guys.
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