The Curve of Binding Energy

Rating:
Summary: One of the most influential books of the last 30 years
Review: "The Curve of Binding Energy" is the landmark work that changed the American government's collective mind about the possibility of nuclear terrorism. It is fair to say that until nuclear weapon designer Ted Taylor sat down with John McPhee, and until McPhee's articles and book were published, the U.S. government believed that building a nuclear weapon required a regiment of top scientists and an effort on the scale of the Manhattan Project, something which could only be done by major industrialized powers (despite China).

After "Curve" was published, the government accepted the idea that terrorists could build nuclear devices, given only that they had access to fissile material and shifted gears almost immediately, an occurrence as rare as its effects were crucial. Taylor demonstrated that a few competent people mining the scientific literature could do the job. Many millions of dollars, pounds, francs, euros and rubles have been spent by many governments since publication of "Curve" to ensure that no terrorist ever gets his hands on plutonium or enriched uranium, and we are all safer as a result.

The book is, of course, incredibly readable and compelling. One would not expect less from the foremost prose stylist in the United States.

Rating:
Summary: World Trade Center First Discussed as a Terrorist Target!
Review: A slightly over-scientific profile of Ted Taylor, a wunderkind physicist who started out at the Manhattan Project, got interested in nuclear-fueled space travel, and ended up obsessed with the idea that atom bombs wouldn't be that difficult for a terrorist to produce. Often repetitive and lacking a clear organizing structure, it's not one of McPhee's highlights (like Levels of the Game, Encounters with Archdruid, etc.). Certainly weighty subject matter, but seems quaint when, 20 years after the fact, the ominous portents have come to nothing in particular.

Rating:
Summary: Far ahead of its time. Fascinating and perhaps prophetic
Review: I read this book in 1975 and have subsequently reread it several times. The possibilities imagined in this book haven't yet come to pass, mainly, I think, because Ted Taylor is a genius and the terrorists are actually pretty stupid. Dr. Taylor, or someone like him, could build a home-made bomb that would make the events of 9/11 look like a tea party. However, the people motivated to actually carry out events like 9/11 are fortunately not so technically inclined.

The book spells out in chilling detail how it is actually pretty simple to put together an atomic bomb that could rival a Hiroshima-class explosion, IF, and it is a big IF, you have enriched uranium or plutonium.

The book does into enough detail to prove the point that bomb construction is fairly simple, but it contains several deliberate mistakes (one in chemistry and one in physics, that I could find) that keep this book from being a "blueprint" for bomb construction.

Like "The Hot Zone" about ebolla, this book may keep you awake nights if you read it carefully and really think about the implications.

Rating:
Summary: WAAY ahead of his time
Review: One of the best and brightest, through Mr. McPhee's able penmanship, Mr. Taylor gives a guided tour of the (then) current state-of-the-art. Chock full of facts, figures and references, all verifiable. With the current glut of so-called 'expert' writers in this field, this book is one of the better uses of a tree on this subject ;O). I guarantee that any person interested in the nuclear weapons stockpile-to-target sequence will find the book an EXCELLENT buy.