No More War!

by Linus Pauling

This item is a used paperback.

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Linus Carl Pauling, Chemistry, Winner of multiple Nobel Prizes including 2 unshared awards

Reviews

[Laura Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro es básicamente de química, explica muy bien cómo funcionan las bombas nucleares y porque hay que evitarlas. Pero no es literariamente hermoso.

[Peter Langston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Linus Pauling was an immensely interesting man. At a time when the right held sway in American politics, during a decade when a military application of incredible science placed the world on a precipice overhanging destruction. he not only rocked the political boat but he guided a large proportion of the world's scientists aboard. Not only did he gather the support and signature of 51 other Nobel Laureates on his Mainau Declaration opposed to nuclear weapons and present it to the United Nations but in time, added more than 500 additional scientists from across the planet. Pauling is the only person to individually win two Nobel prizes - one for chemistry in 1954 and then for peace in 1964. His first objection in the mid 1950's, where the only informed voice prepared to go public and he was attacked from the Presidency down.
The book itself is a read that tires: after all, his acclamations weren't for literature. It bogs down in the technical descriptions of how weapons work and the potential yields and the intricacy of radiation. He seemed to have a particular fascination with gonads. Its only when Pauling leaves the technical and allows the passionate to take the reins that the book leaps, rather than crawls forward.
Sixty years later and with a large share of the former arsenals disarmed, he stands as a maverick, a crusader and the world a slightly safer place.
That knowledge doesn't make this book more readable.