Marco Visscher

MARCO VISSCHER

The Power of Nuclear

‘Highly entertaining.’ – New Scientist

‘This brisk and entertaining book is as much a cultural history as a technological one.’ – Wall Street Journal


 

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About the book

From the cockpit of the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to Chernobyl’s exclusion zone and the Finnish repository where highly radioactive waste will be buried, this is the incredible story of nuclear power.

Providing a vivid account of the characters and events that have shaped the world’s most controversial energy source and our thinking around it, The Power of Nuclear weaves politics, culture and technology to explore nuclear power’s past and future. 

In his quest to disentangle myth from fact, Marco Visscher asks: Have nuclear weapons made the world less safe? Why do some continue to reject the growing evidence that nuclear reactors can play a major role in combating climate change? Are we really ready to handle something this powerful? 

This is the story of what we might do with nuclear power – and what nuclear power is doing to us.

‘It reads like a thriller but informs like a textbook. Essential reading.’

– Mark Lynas, environmental campaigner, author of Our Final Warning

‘Marco Visscher engagingly and effectively shows us how we should think about the greatest challenge of this century.’

– Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of Enlightenment Now

‘A lively and even-handed book about the history and future of nuclear power. Original and gripping.’

– Lucy Jane Santos, expert on the cultural history of radioactivity

‘Lively and informative, Marco Visscher combines an eye for good stories with a broad expertise on this widely misunderstood energy source.’

– Joshua Goldstein, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, American University

‘Visscher gallops through decades of history and summarizes sweeping intellectual movements without bogging down in needless detail.’

– James B. Meigs, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute

‘This highly accessible book tells the incredible story of radioactivity, atomic bombs and nuclear power. It lucidly explains why so many of us have gotten so terrified, and why this fear is baseless.’

– Maarten Boudry, philosopher of science

Marco Visscher is a Dutch journalist and author who writes about technology, politics and the ideas that shape modern societies. He also works as an editor on essays, long-form journalism and research publications. He is currently working on a biography of feminist and socialist Odette Keun.

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