Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking

by Charles Seife

The author of

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Physics, History Of Science, Technology, Popular Science

294 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2008

About the author

CHARLES SEIFE is a Professor of Journalism at New York University. Formerly a journalist with Science magazine, has also written for New Scientist, Scientific American, The Economist, Science, Wired UK, The Sciences, and numerous other publications. He is the author of Zero: The Biography Of A Dangerous Idea, which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. He holds an M.S. in mathematics from Yale University and his areas of research include probability theory and artificial intelligence. He lives in Washington D.C.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are plenty of books about the discovery of radioactivity, the Manhattan project, the atomic bomb and nuclear fission in general. This book focuses on fission's lesser-known cousin, nuclear fusion, the process that generates the energy we receive from the sun and other stars. The red thread through this book is the belief that lab- or reactor-generated fusion could be a cheap and reliable source of energy, a clean alternative to the dangers of the classic nuclear reactors. As the author shows, this belief has repeatedly been shown to be erroneous, or at least hugely optimistic. He is particularly interested in the two or three times that scientists announced they had achieved fusion by experiments that other scientists then showed were wrong (think of the Pons and Fleischman Cold Fusion debacle in the late eighties). He also does a good job of describing the congressional and international politics involved in the decisions to build or not build the increasingly complex and expensive reactors that the "believers" wanted to build. I thought that the science itself was a bit summarily treated. The illustrations were okay, nothing special. The diagrams of various experiments and reactions could have been clearer. Still, overall this was an enjoyable book for those what ever became of nuclear fusion.

[Cav · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There’s something uniquely powerful about the promise of fusion energy. It harks back to the ancient quest to build a perpetual motion machine, but this time the source of unlimited energy doesn’t violate the laws of physics. To anyone who could harness the energy of a miniature star, fusion promised power. Not only would it give the world endless electrical power, it would give power to its inventors. To some scientists, this meant financial power.
Still others sought the power of fame. Some saw military and political power. The rewards are so great that they can blind the scientists on the quest...."

Sun in a Bottle is an excellent look into the quest for nuclear fusion.

Author Charles Seife is a Professor of Journalism at New York University. Formerly a journalist with Science magazine, he has also written for New Scientist, Scientific American, The Economist, Science, Wired UK, The Sciences, and numerous other publications.

Charles Seife:


Sun in a Bottle begins by giving the reader a brief description of the history of the quest to unlock nuclear power. Seife then lays out a cursory outline of how nuclear fission works.

Seife covers the development of this technology through The Manhattan Project. He talks about Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller; going through their histories working on projects to develop nuclear bombs, and their eventual long-term feud.
Oppenheimer objected to the dropping of the second bomb on Nagasaki, and opposed research into a fusion-powered "Super" bomb. Teller was more hawkish. He was a Hungarian immigrant that would eventually see his home country fall to Communism, and he lead the charge for the creation of a "Super". Teller heavily advocated for American military supremacy in the Cold War.

"Instead of breaking atoms apart to release energy (fission), the superbomb would stick them together ( fusion) and release even more.
While this might seem to be a subtle difference, fusion, unlike fission, had the potential to produce weapons of truly unlimited power. A single Super would be able to wipe out even the largest city—a task far beyond even the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
A fusion bomb would be the ultimate weapon.
It would also split the scientific community in two and would drive humanity to the brink of ruin..."

Robert Oppenheimer:


Edward Teller:


The writing here is excellent. Charles Seife does a great job of telling the story in an easy-to-follow fashion. He also succeeded in conveying some very technical information to the reader in an easily-digestible manner. Super effective communication, for sure.
He talks about the valley of iron here:

"Fusion gets its energy by making light elements roll down the hill toward iron. Fission gets its energy by making heavy elements roll down the hill toward iron. Iron, already at the bottom of the hill, can’t yield energy through fusion or fission. It is the dead ashes of a fusion furnace, utterly unable to yield more energy. When a star runs out of other fuels, its iron cannot burn in its fusion furnace. The fusion engine has nothing that it can turn into energy, so it shuts off and the star abruptly collapses. Depending on the star’s nature, it can die a fiery death: the final collapse ignites one last, violent burn of its remaining fuel, blowing up the star with unimaginable violence. A supernova, as such an explosion is called, is so energetic that a single one will typically outshine all the other stars in its galaxy combined. The star spews its guts into space, contaminating nearby hydrogen clouds in the process of collapsing into new stars. This is what happened before our sun was born; it got seeded with the nuclear ash of a supernova explosion. All the iron on Earth, all the oxygen, all the carbon— almost all the elements heavier than hydrogen and helium—are the remnants of a dead fusion furnace. We are all truly made of star stuff..."

Sun in a Bottle also covers more of the modern attempts at achieving nuclear fusion. Magnetic fusion, laser fusion, bubble fusion, and "cold" fusion are all covered here by Seife. Again; these topics are all fielded by Seife in a way that should be accessible to the person only somewhat familiar with nuclear physics.

The incredible challenges of achieving nuclear fusion has seen it become dubbed "the technology that is always thirty years away."
Seife writes this about the almost-delusional quest to achieve this extremely elusive breakthrough:

"The community seems to be in thrall to a collective delusion. Since the early 1950s, physicists have convinced themselves that fusion energy is nearly within their grasp. The perennially overoptimistic Edward Teller thought that within a few years, hydrogen bombs would carve canals, propel spacecraft, and generate almost unlimited amounts of energy. Lyman pitzer thought powerful magnetic fields would create an artificial star within a decade. The ZETA team thought they had achieved fusion in 1958, freeing the planet from its dependence on fossil fuels. Laser fusion scientists thought that Shiva would produce energy, and that Nova would produce energy.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The history of fusion energy remained a series of failures.
Even if scientists finally change their luck, even if NIF breaks even and ITER manages to get a plasma burning for minutes at a time, both machines are still far from becoming working fusion reactors. NIF’s design, particularly its slow lasers that need to cool for hours between shots, suggests that researchers will have to move to an entirely different type of laser system to have any hope of a practical energy source. ITER will never achieve ignition and sustained burn, the hallmark of a successful magnetic fusion reactor.
It is entirely possible that after billions of dollars and decades of research, fusion scientists will take the experimental results from ITER and turn them into a design for a viable fusion reactor. No physical law stands against it, after all. But if history is any guide, a long, long road lies ahead before physicists will be able to tame fusion reactions in a bottle..."

I have to admit that I began this one with some trepidation, given the extremely technical nature of the subject matter. I am happy to report that this book is actually very accessible, and readable; a welcome surprise for me.
Some bonus points can be added here for the effective manner in which Seife conveys this technical content to the reader.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested.
5 stars, and an addition to my "favorites" shelf.

[Becky L Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook read by Bill Weideman. Excellent narration.
Huh …. Wow …. Had no idea there has been so much failure in attempting to get fusion to work. I studied nuclear engineering in college 15 years ago and recall the professors mention several times that fusion power may be a viable career option cause scientist might just get it figured out in our lifetime. This book - our rather the history of fusion over the past century - is fascinating, with all the advancements and utter failures scientists/ engineers/ etc. have seen attempting to achieve "break even". I keep seeing updates for the fusion reactor in China and wanted some background to be able to intelligently read those updates. Probably not a book for everyone to read, but if you're interested in science and engineering and need some background history on fusion, it is well written and researched. Maybe not a page turner but definitely not dull. You won't be disappointed. 

[Dave Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing insider’s look into the fact and fiction of usable, scalable fusion power. Beyond a standard popular science book, the author has done an amazing job of injecting the human side of the story. Highly recommended.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really well-researched (fusion seems to be a pet interest of the author) and well-written book. I found it interesting that the Mr. Seife has migrated from being a science reporter to a journalism professor. He certainly is qualified both from his experiences as a reporter and the quality of his work.

One of the things I learned from this book is that we are still decades (or more) away from a viable method of using fusion as a power source.

Before reading it, I knew of fusion bombs (the "super" as it was referred to during and after The Manhattan Project), attempts to use magnetic fields and lasers to compress & confine plasmas for fusion, and, of course, the infamous "Cold Fusion" scandal.

What I didn't know was that there have been other attempts (some successful, some not) to create "table-top" fusion. In fact the earliest such attempt was by Philo Farnsworth (the same man that invented electronic television in 1927). He came up with an idea in the late '50s and actually created fusion with a fairly cheap and simple apparatus. As have several people (including at least two teenagers) that applied his basic concept.

And, there was a whole second family of failed table top fusion experiments that were initially promising, but proven to be unworkable.

It's a great read even if you know little about the history and science behind at A-bomb, the H-Bomb, or nuclear reactors. There is enough explanation of concepts and terms to help those who need it, without making those in-the-know annoyed.

A final "fun fact": Back when the rest of The Manhattan Project was working on the fission bomb, Edward Teller was mostly working on his concept of "The Super" of fusion bomb. In his office at Los Alamos, he would write down his blackboard each increasingly powerful device that he conceived along with its delivery method. The last entry on the board had "back yard" written next to it. It was so powerful that the human race would be wiped out no matter where it was set off.

[Ushan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The world's first fission bomb (Trinity) was exploded in 1945, and the world's first fission power plant (in Obninsk, Russia) was connected to the grid in 1954, 9 years later. The world's first fusion bomb (Ivy Mike) was exploded in 1952. We'll be lucky if the fusion power plants are connected to the grid in 2052, 100 years later. The difference is so large because a fission power plant has solid fuel rods and either solid or liquid moderator, and the fuel in a fusion power plant is plasma, and it took decades to understand how difficult it is to make plasma stable. In Cory Hall at UC Berkeley in the 1990s there was an exhibit made by a graduate student of plasma physics: a plastic aquarium holding alcohol and glycerin colored with different dyes, and a little knob-regulated electric motor shaking it. When the shaking speed was small, the boundary between the two liquids was well-defined, but when it increased, the boundary became a mess. For decades, scientists have said that practical fusion is 20 years away, but this has been a moving target, Seife says because of wishful thinking. A fusion power plant would be inherently safe from Chernobyl-type disasters; it would produce a lot less radioactive waste than a fission power plant; peak deuterium would never come, unlike peak uranium. ITER (which is pronounced "eater") is supposed to be finished in 2018, but such projects often go over budget and over the deadline. When I thought about it, I realized that even if a fusion device produces less energy than what was put into it, you can put uranium and plutonium around it and use it as a neutron source for a a subcritical fission reactor, and have some of the advantages of a pure fusion power plant. An Internet search showed that this idea was not original, and in fact such experiments are planned for ITER.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sun in a Bottle (2008) by Charles Seife looks at the history of fusion research. Seife starts with a look at nuclear weapons and leads into the development of various attempts to generate power with fusion.

The book looks at how Stellarators and then Tokomaks and various other devices have attempted to achieve fusion. Seife also gives considerable coverage to claims of fusion that have been shown to be false. First the claims of Richter in Argentina, then Cold Fusion and then bubble fusion. Seife was a reporter for science when the bubble fusion claims broke.

Finally ITER's slow progress is described and Seife ends oddly with a conclusion that self-deception is a major part of fusion research. It's not a strong ending. Sun in a Bottle isn't a bad book, but the book A Piece of the Sun is definitely a better history of fusion. However, there is still a lot of interesting information about fusion research in the book.

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the book had an excellent start, but disagreed with the tone the book took toward the end, and especially its conclusions. The author seems to think believe that we somehow can't achieve reliable and useful fusion because of the hubris of many scientists that work on the problem. It's as if the human difficulties of politics, ego, etc are the main barrier rather than the monumental technical difficulties.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice history of fusion, from Teller through the National Ignition Facility. Fairly negative about fusion, very negative about Teller. The author was a science journalist for Science during the cold fusion debacle, which he gives a behind-the-scenes description of. One of the better books I've seen about how science really works.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A relatively cynical summary of the science behind nuclear fusion and its possible benefits and drawbacks. Unlike the author, I do not believe that it is worthwhile to dismiss nuclear fusion out of hand as a practice because it has not been achieved as of yet; if scientists never strove to push the boundaries of what the current times consider possible, we would never advance scientifically as a species.
That said, I will happily acknowledge that this book is incredibly well-researched. The author works hard to impress upon readers that his well-founded cynicism does not necessarily discount any future discoveries in the field.
Overall, the wording in the book was a little too technical for me at times, but given that its topic is about a developing discipline that we haven't fully unlocked I will overlook this - On average I was really impressed and learned a great deal. Give it a shot if you like nonfic!

[Biscoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like science history/progression type books so this was perfect for me. The characterisations were humorous and made the people I was reading about more memorable, the explanations were easy to understand, and the overall storyline flowed well.

The rest of this review by no means takes away from the book, but I felt like mentioning it anyway:

While the difficulty of attaining fusion is known from the start, it does get slightly depressing (for me at least) reading about failure after failure. It made me wonder what kept such belief going. I get the feeling that the author sees breaking even as impossible since the ending sounded somewhat condescending on the continuous efforts and belief in fusion.

The repetition of ‘sun in a bottle’ and Teller’s optimism were also slightly annoying, but that’s minor.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Seife does a magnificent job recounting the marvels and failures of the quest for sustainable fusion, as it continues today. It's a story complete with characters forlorn, achieving the heights of fame and then falling from grace, like Pons and Fleischmann. But other than the personal stories, Seife is a master storyteller of things scientific and technical, giving masterful overviews of the instabilities in current platforms -- namely Inertial and Magnetic Confinement Fusion. Before the culmination into current ventures he lays the ground for the nuclear fusion process, describing in great textbook-worthy detail on how such events proceed.
As a former scientist in one such project, I was elated to see the story told so keenly.

[Jeffrey Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting history of the scientific pursuit of nuclear fusion.

Chapter 8 played out like a soap opera, where the author spent some time defending his actions, so I skipped over a lot of the drama. But the rest of the book was about science and the people sciencing.

The hidden gem in this book is that a commercial fusion power plant, assuming humanity could ever build one, would generate nearly as much nuclear waste as a fission power plant. Anyone who tells you fusion will give us clean energy isn't telling you the whole story. Instead of fusion power plants, the author recommends newer fission power plant designs like the pebble reactor, and my own research into the subject leads me to the same conclusion.

[Calum MacKinnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling and comprehensive

I expected a technical history and description of fusion power. I did get that but also much more. This book is also about the process of scientific discovery and the drives and motivations of the scientists. It’s about human hope and despair and is written in an engaging, lucid and entertaining style that makes it understandable to the “ non- nuclear” physicist. I gave it four stars only because of its age. I now need to get up to date on the current state of the art.

[Daniel Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily Digestible Science

This was well written and understandable to a non-scientist.
The author gives a historical overview as well as current obstacles to fusion reactor development.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and fascinating read that walks you through the wild world of nuclear fusion research from when it was first conceived of to the struggles we face today in trying to get the technology to work on a large and marketable scale.

[Niamh Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the history of fusion. Excellent description of the plasma instabilities in MCF. Good that science and scientists are self-aware and not convinced science is full of only good people.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written!
I would say, a reference style of writing on scientific topics.
And the topic itself is super interesting!

I hope that these guys https://www.helionenergy.com/faq/ will eventually solve the fusion problem.

[Rayma Nilsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

History combined with a teaching of fusion

Charles is very good at telling an historical story while at the same time explaining scientific concepts. Great read and I recommend it.

[Scott Margo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written description of the problems with fusion power.

[Luis Brudna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente livro sobre a história da busca pela fusão nuclear. A leitura é muito agradável. (ainda não está disponível em português)

[John Ens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of fusion.

[Logan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely accomplishes the goal of laying out the history of fusion and some foundational history of fission. Interesting read to think about implications of fusion, like environmental - there is still waste.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just about the perfect thing to read for a quick, easy explanation and history of fusion and its role in society.

The book starts off talking about the politics and development of nuclear weapons. This section, like most parts of the book, doesn't go very deep into the subject -- but then again, a full treatment has been the subject of other (very good) books. The next chapter talks about the physics of fusion reactions and weapons. I think it does a great job of balancing out a real description of what's happening with a directness that keeps it simple to understand.

The book moves into describing some of the politics of nuclear weapons. Again, it's a good overview -- a full treatment could more than cover a thick book of its own. It also describes some of the bizarre proposed peaceful uses of nuclear weapons, such as weather control. This chapter also transitions into the heart of the matter of this book: fusion power.

The first chapter of fusion power involves efforts in the 50's to create true high-temperature controlled thermonuclear reactions. The book describes the difficulties that the first researchers encountered, and the difficulties of determining exactly how successful they were: whether they achieved a true fusion reaction, or whether some other phenomenon was only giving that appearance. The following chapter describes later attempts at achieving break-even fusion power: a reaction that delivers back as much power as it took to start.

After talking about high-temperature fusion reactions, the book describes the history of cold fusion attempts. I remember cold fusion announcements and later realization, but this book helped fill out the picture of what was really attempted, and how it came to be so public.

This book is a pretty compelling combination of physics, politics, and history. If there's any part of the discussed topics that interests you, you can find a book that covers it in more depth, but I don't think you'll find a better one that ties all of the topics together.

[Eden Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the JetBlackDragonfly book blog at www.edenthompson.ca/blog

The books of Charles Seife are always fascinating to me, well spoken and inviting no matter what the subject. He was a science reporter turned journalism professor and writes science I can enjoy. I've read three so far and find them entertaining on subjects that may not seem so welcoming.
Just look at that cover! The concept and creation of giant superconductors is mind boggling to me - a world so far from my own - they are totally fascinating.

It's an informal history of fusion research from the Manhattan project in the 1950's to the projected working fusion reactor in 2030. By that I mean, it might not be comprehensive, but for me, it was the perfect amount. Seife details the politics, development, and uses of nuclear weapons, and then into the race for harnessing fusion power - both high temperature and cold fusion. I am only into science as far as my interest in the concepts and his writing style simplified the process of thermonuclear reactions so that I could enjoy and understand it. He describes the many attempts over the years to achieve true fusion - some even at the expense of spending as much power was it took to create - and the competing teams of scientists working towards it.

This was the most fascinating part to me, the human side of the endeavour. Seife goes into the many ways scientists conceive creating a sustainable, zero-energy fusion reaction, so far without success. There are millions of dollars spent on each attempt for the future of fusion power itself, and whether it was true fusion or just a phenomena that mimicked that can be overlook in the race for glory. Claims could be made for success, only to be investigated as non-existant or flawed. The peer-review system the scientists go through to claim their prize and the problems that reveals was the most fascinating part of the book - the human side of success and failure.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in science, an enjoyable and informative glimpse into the world of science.

[Andres L · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sun in a Bottle", by Charles Seife, is a great expository book. Throughout the book are stories after stories of how people tried to unleash the power of the sun on planet earth. It started with the Manhattan project. Oppenheimer was in charge of the operation. However, the atomic bomb was not enough for Edward Teller. He did everything he could to build a fusion device, to build the H-Bomb. That's when it all started. Teller was obsessed with harnessing the power of fusion. He saw nuclear fusion as the answer to just about anything. Later on, several different scientist attempt to create fusion for different reasons. One of the main ones is an alternative energy source. Scientist attempt different methods from lasers to magnets. All through history, people lie, cheat, and deceive others to try to accomplish fusion. I truly enjoyed this book. It is very thorough. Throughout the book are diagrams to help understand just how things work. Bundles of information are packed into an understandable piece of text. I truly enjoyed this book. I would relate to Oppenheimer. He understood lots of things. One of the quotes from the book was "why, Oppenheimer knows about everything. He can talk to you about anything you bring up. Well, not exactly, I guess there are a few things he doesn't know about. He doesn't know anything about sports." That is similar to me. (Besides the knowing everything part). I can talk about anything academically. However, if you mention sports, I don't understand most of it. However, Oppenheimer did eventually start to get a little weird. But then again, lots of scientist did. I truly enjoyed this book. I wouldn't change a single thing. It was great. It definitely deserved five stars. I recommend this to any science lover. They will love this book. I know I did.

[Todd Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Sun in a Bottle’ examines nuclear fusion – the process by which multiple atomic nuclei join together to form a single heavier nucleus and a release of energy, and the force that powers the sun. Scientists were first able to create a fusion reaction in the form of a hydrogen bomb in the 1950’s and ever since have been looking for a more beneficial use of the phenomenon as a source of clean energy. Charles Seife describes the history of these efforts, and as the subtitle alludes, their repeated and continuing failures.

Efforts to use fusion as an energy source have been going on for the past 50 years with billions having been spent on research. Along the way the path has been littered with the careers of physicists and chemists who have deluded themselves and others as to whether fusion (or it’s seedier pseudo-science counterpart … cold fusion) could be achieved. The obvious allure of cheap and abundant energy has kept the dream alive even if fusion is not as clean as one would like, or cheap, or easy. As Seife points out, the promise of fusion energy has always been 10 years in the future. There is no evidence that this time horizon is about to change.

The book is very well written and geared towards the general science reader and does not require any prior knowledge of physics. As a science writer, Seife knows how to keep the story interesting and informative at the same time. My only complaint of the book is that the illustrations are extremely crude. They look as though they were created by a child in PowerPoint using the ‘shapes’ tool and are often so primitive that they confuse rather than illuminate the point the author is trying to convey.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1939, Hans Bethe submitted a scientific paper which revealed how the stars, and our sun, convert matter into vast amounts of energy, just as Einstein had theorized, by fusing light elements together. Ever since, the governments of the industrialized nations have spent billions of dollars in searching for a way to bring that energy to earth; the holy grail of generating virtually unlimited energy from cheap, abundant hydrogen. Except for the uncontrolled destructive power of the hydrogen bomb, that effort has been, to this point, a dismal failure. And yet, billions of dollars continue to be thrown into the black hole of fusion power generation; such is it's lure.

Charles Seife has written a concise, easy to read history of the efforts to achieve fusion power and of the current state of that quest. Seife is not a scientist. He is a science journalist with a long and impressive resume and this, I am convinced, is what makes "Sun in a Bottle" such an enjoyable book. He doesn't bog you down with dry science. He presents the subject in the best tradition of investigative journalism and with the literary skills to make it exciting and entertaining.

Bottom line: I enjoyed "Sun in a Bottle" so much that I had my library procure a copy of Seife's award winning book from 2000, "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea," which it did and which I am currently reading with great relish. What fun!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sun in a Bottle' by Charles Seife is not just about the history of fusion-This book is about the lives of those affected by fusion & about the state of the world as fusion technology progressed throughout the years. This brutally honest account of the rise and decline of fusion research is gripping and educational, as Seife begins by explaining how fusion works as well as the early projects that prefaced the Fusion Age (such as the Manhattan Project and Project Plowshare, which was a plan to use atomics for 'peaceful' purposes). He then begins to tell stories of those involved in early fusion research, and how their lives took turns for the better (or worse). Finally, he finishes his book by discussing how science and research is perception-free despite the claims of researchers; in other words, how science frees scientists from what they 'want' to see and reveals the true face of nature.

I was surprised by this gem. I picked it up as a way to whittle the time away during bus rides and breaks, but I found myself poring over the novel a 3 or 4 in the morning! 'Sun in a Bottle' starts quickly, moves faster, and never lets you go. Ultimately, though, it is a sad account of the current state of fusion research, of tokamaks and high-powered lasers, of broken careers and lies and fringe science. A little depressing, true-Nevertheless you must check this out!

[Austin Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up as a companion to the book I read on Uranium and fission. In this case, the book has the same starting point - the Manhattan Project during world war two - but continues to tell the story of the American weapons program after the war as they turner their efforts from nuclear fission weapons (uranium and plutonium bombs) to fusion weapons (thermonuclear or hydrogen bombs). After the development of the first weapons, thoughts quickly turned to nuclear fusion as a power source. From the 1950s to the present, there have been large scale government projects around the world trying to use either magnetism or lasers to confine a fission reaction and obtain energy from it. We've made surprisingly little progress in that time. Seife's interest in the subject seems to have derived from an episode when he worked for Science Magazine at a time when it published a study claiming to have achieved "bubble fusion." His personal story is one of the more engrossing chapters in the book. Seife left the publication with a pessimistic view of the potential for fusion to ever provide useful energy and concludes that the billion dollars that have gone toward fusion research would have been better spent on improving nuclear fission.