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The Case For Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future
The Case for Nukes is a unique book. In it, world-renowned nuclear and aerospace engineer
Dr. Robert Zubrin explains how nuclear power works and how much it has to offer humanity. He
debunks the toxic falsehoods that have been spread to dissuade us from using it by variously the
ignorant, the fearful, the fanatical, and by cynical political operatives bought and paid for by
competing interests. He tells about revolutionary developments in the field, including new
reactor types that can be cheaply mass produced, that cannot be made to melt down no matter
how hard their operators try, that use a new fuel called thorium far more plentiful than uranium,
and still more advanced systems, employing thermonuclear fusion - the power that lights the sun
- to extract more energy from a gallon of water than can be obtained from 300 gallons of
gasoline. He tells about the bold entrepreneurs - a totally different breed from the government
officials who created the existing types of nuclear reactors - who are leading this revolution in
power technology.
But there are broader issues involved in the nuclear debate than technology alone, and Zubrin
is not shy about addressing them. He makes clear the critical difference between practical
environmentalism, which seeks to improve the environment for the benefit of humanity, and
ideological environmentalism, which seeks to use instances of human insult to natural
environment as evidence for a prosecutorial case against human liberty. He shows how the latter
school of thought is wrong, not only with respect to the catastrophic harm it would do to
humanity, but to nature as well. He also exposes the masters of mercenary environmentalism,
who deploy troops of dupes to shut down companies or whole industries in order to eliminate
competition in return for being suitably rewarded by the beneficiaries of such efforts. He shows
that when it comes to environmental improvement, freedom is not the problem; freedom is the
solution. He makes clear both the possibility and necessity of a nuclear-power-enabled
revolution in the human condition by putting it in a broader historical context of the overall
process of development of civilization, whereby new technologies create new resources and new
knowledge, which in turn make possible still more technological advance.
Finally, Zubrin brings all this to bear to address the greatest threat facing humanity today
- which is the possibility that we will turn on each other, as we did in the 20 th century, under the
spell of the false idea that resources are finite.
Only in a world of unlimited resources can all men and women be brothers and sisters.
Only in a world of freedom can resources be unlimited.
That is the world we can, and must, create. In The Case for Nukes, Zubrin shows us how.
Dr. Robert Zubrin explains how nuclear power works and how much it has to offer humanity. He
debunks the toxic falsehoods that have been spread to dissuade us from using it by variously the
ignorant, the fearful, the fanatical, and by cynical political operatives bought and paid for by
competing interests. He tells about revolutionary developments in the field, including new
reactor types that can be cheaply mass produced, that cannot be made to melt down no matter
how hard their operators try, that use a new fuel called thorium far more plentiful than uranium,
and still more advanced systems, employing thermonuclear fusion - the power that lights the sun
- to extract more energy from a gallon of water than can be obtained from 300 gallons of
gasoline. He tells about the bold entrepreneurs - a totally different breed from the government
officials who created the existing types of nuclear reactors - who are leading this revolution in
power technology.
But there are broader issues involved in the nuclear debate than technology alone, and Zubrin
is not shy about addressing them. He makes clear the critical difference between practical
environmentalism, which seeks to improve the environment for the benefit of humanity, and
ideological environmentalism, which seeks to use instances of human insult to natural
environment as evidence for a prosecutorial case against human liberty. He shows how the latter
school of thought is wrong, not only with respect to the catastrophic harm it would do to
humanity, but to nature as well. He also exposes the masters of mercenary environmentalism,
who deploy troops of dupes to shut down companies or whole industries in order to eliminate
competition in return for being suitably rewarded by the beneficiaries of such efforts. He shows
that when it comes to environmental improvement, freedom is not the problem; freedom is the
solution. He makes clear both the possibility and necessity of a nuclear-power-enabled
revolution in the human condition by putting it in a broader historical context of the overall
process of development of civilization, whereby new technologies create new resources and new
knowledge, which in turn make possible still more technological advance.
Finally, Zubrin brings all this to bear to address the greatest threat facing humanity today
- which is the possibility that we will turn on each other, as we did in the 20 th century, under the
spell of the false idea that resources are finite.
Only in a world of unlimited resources can all men and women be brothers and sisters.
Only in a world of freedom can resources be unlimited.
That is the world we can, and must, create. In The Case for Nukes, Zubrin shows us how.
353 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2023
43 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Robert Zubrin
41 books164 followersRobert M. Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of human exploration of Mars. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 research paper intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 2, 2023
Robert Zubrin fulfills this book's title that is part science book and part call to action.
August 1, 2023
As an environmentalist and as a nuclear advocate I must say this is a "must read". To those unfamiliar it lays out clearly and succinctly the pros and necessity of nuclear power (fission and fusion) while debunking myths (and showcasing their origins). To those already familiar with nuclear it brings the latest updates (especially in regards to new fusion progress).
February 21, 2025
This provocatively titled book makes the case for nuclear energy being the only rational option for humanity's future. Zubrin lays out the history, science, and future of nuclear in an accessible and sometimes-too-glib but fun way.
What makes this book stand out is that his vision for the future goes beyond merely a transition to nuclear energy effectively powering our grids. Zubrin details the potential of nuclear to enable interstellar space propulsion, geo-engineering and the astonishing possibilities that fusion power presents humanity. Zubrin also does a good job dispelling nuclear fears about safety, waste disposal, and putting historic accidents into context.
There's a lot of info on types of reactors, their pros/cons, along with innovations being developed enabling smaller and more potent fission reactor tech. China's role as a leader in the nuclear energy transition is covered to show a model for the world to follow.
The only negative is the final chapter where, out-of-nowhere, Zubrin goes on a tangent spuriously attempting to link modern environmental alarmism to the German National Socialist movement. There is a big difference between Blood-and-Soil conservationism and the de-growth anti-nuclear agenda pushed by the modern environmental movement. The chapter is so detached from the rest of the book, its inclusion baffled me.
Overall, this book is the best and most convincing argument I've read on the potential of nuclear energy and how imperative it is for the future.
What makes this book stand out is that his vision for the future goes beyond merely a transition to nuclear energy effectively powering our grids. Zubrin details the potential of nuclear to enable interstellar space propulsion, geo-engineering and the astonishing possibilities that fusion power presents humanity. Zubrin also does a good job dispelling nuclear fears about safety, waste disposal, and putting historic accidents into context.
There's a lot of info on types of reactors, their pros/cons, along with innovations being developed enabling smaller and more potent fission reactor tech. China's role as a leader in the nuclear energy transition is covered to show a model for the world to follow.
The only negative is the final chapter where, out-of-nowhere, Zubrin goes on a tangent spuriously attempting to link modern environmental alarmism to the German National Socialist movement. There is a big difference between Blood-and-Soil conservationism and the de-growth anti-nuclear agenda pushed by the modern environmental movement. The chapter is so detached from the rest of the book, its inclusion baffled me.
Overall, this book is the best and most convincing argument I've read on the potential of nuclear energy and how imperative it is for the future.
Read
January 16, 2026Too much smoke, Too Little Fire
Zubrin opens with "[We have been] doubling our carbon use every thirty years for more
than a century. In 1900, humanity burned 0.6 billion tons of carbon per year. This doubled
to 1.2 billion in 1930, doubling again to 2.5 billion tons in 1960, then yet again to 5 billion
tons in 1990, to 10 billion tons now .1 "Based on history, there is every reason to
expect human energy production and use to double again by 2050, and yet again by 2080.
"According to solid measurements, average temperatures have increased by about 1
degree centigrade since 1870. That, admittedly, is not a big deal. It is the equivalent to the warming that a New Yorker would experience if he or she moved to central New Jersey. So, there is no climate catastrophe now. But the climatic effects of continued CO2 emissions at a level an order of magnitude higher than today would be an entirely different matter."
A Brief History of Power
Mankind has depended on a number of different sources of power, light and transportation
energy. Here is a brief list, including the timeframes in which they were adopted.
• Fire – 2 million years ago. Warmth and cooked food.
• Wood fuel – from the beginning
• Charcoal fuel – Neolithic times
• Olive oil
• Wind power for sailing – bronze age
• Waterwheels – classical times
• Windmills for mechanical energy – 12th-century in France
• Coal– 12th-century in England
• Whale blubber for light, heat – 17th century
• Petroleum – 19th century
• Nuclear – 20th century
At this juncture – about 90% of our energy comes from fossil fuels. As the graph shows,
increased carbon use has been highly correlated with the increase in the world gross national
product.
The Case for Nukes Table Of Contents
1. Too much smoke, Too Little Fire
2. A Brief History of Power
3. Do We Really Need More Energy
4. What about Nuclear Energy
5. How to Make Nuclear Energy
6. Atoms for Subs, Atoms for Peace
7. How to Build a Nuclear Reactor
8. His Nuclear Power Safe
9. How to Cut Costs
10.Reading More Fuel Than You Burn
11.Entrepreneurial Nukes
12.The Power the Lights the Stars
13.Opening the Space Frontier
14.Upgrading the Earth
15.The Way Forward
16.There Program and Ours
There are concerns about the continued use of carbon-based fuels:
• Global warming,
• Air pollution,
• Ocean acidification
• The earth's limited endowment
But, all the alternatives going forward have severe limitations – except nuclear
• Solar
• Wind
• Hydro
• Biomass
• Nuclear
Zubrin makes the observation that technology advances are cumulative. The rate of advance
depends on how many people are working on improvements and how widely they are shared.
This is Metcalfe's law – the power of a network is equal to the square of its size. Or Isaac
Newton: "if I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." Zubin
credits seafaring, which vastly widened our horizons. He doesn't mention the printing press,
which facilitated sharing knowledge over distance and time.
Do We Really Need More Energy
Zubin recounts the way major innovations turn natural resources that had previously been
considered useless into something of value. The heavy plow, with coulter and mortarboard,
made heavy soils in northern Europe valuable. Horse collars and horseshoes made those
animals more valuable. Once discovered, petroleum oil quickly replaced whale oil. A sticky
nuisance became a thing of value.
Entrepreneurial Nukes
Governments have ceased innovating in the realm of nuclear reactors, but private industry
has not. There are four major types:
• Water Cooled Reactors (light water and heavy water)
• High temperature gas cooled
• Liquid metal cooled
• Molten salt cooled
NuScale corporation makes an SMR – small modular light-water reactor. It is the most
conservative design. A look at their investment material indicates that (1) they have a single
contract to install their system, in Romania and (2) the value of the stock, traded as
NYSE:SMR, has gone nowhere.
This would appear to be the bellwether. When the Romanian venture works, and the full
dimension of Germany's disastrous shutdown of nuclear and reliance on wind, solar and
Russian natural gas becomes clear, the company could be at the head of a parade back to
nuclear.
Ukraine would be a logical customer. Nuclear still provides about half its electricity. The
home of Chernobyl fears nuclear less than most. Ukraine is next door to power-hungry
customers that have saddled themselves with counterproductive politics that get in the way of
building their own plants. It has halted work on two partially completed plants due to the war.
The Power the Lights the Stars
Nuclear fusion was put to use in the H-bomb in the 1950s. It works because the critical mass
needs to be held together only for the instant it takes for the fast chain reaction to split the
fissile nuclei and combine the fusion nuclei. The intense explosion that results, blowing the
nuclear material apart, is the intended result.
Controlled nuclear fusion, without the explosion, has been the objective since the start of the
nuclear age. The problem is heat. Fusion reactors must operate at temperatures vastly
higher than the melting point of every possible structural material. The fusion must be
suspended within an intense magnetic field.
This is hard to do. Once that problem is solved, the dream of limitless energy can be
realized. However, in the near term the issue is the more mundane one of getting political
support for commonplace nuclear fission solutions that have been proven for half a century.
Opening the Space Frontier
Nuclear must be the source of power for long-distance space travel and distant space
colonies. First of all, they have no air to support normal combustion. More importantly, it is
the only solution with enough energy density to make it feasible to send by rocket ship.
Zubrin has given a lot of thought to how to use nuclear to power rocket ships. Fanciful ideas,
but we will be long gone before anybody is in a position to implement them.
Upgrading the Earth
Returning to the realm of near-term practical problems, Zubrin observes that increased CO2
in the atmosphere has so far been a net benefit, lengthening growing seasons worldwide by
about ten days and the total area covered by green leaves by 20%. However, continuing
indefinitely is very likely to be counterproductive. The earth needs an alternative, and that
alternative is nuclear.
Electric power can be used to create chemical energy in the form of hydrogen for
transportation, fertilizers and just about anything else. Put another way, all of our resource
problems boil down to limitations imposed by a shortage of energy.
The Way Forward
Politics, driven by fear, which is in turn driven by vested financial interests is the chief
obstacle to nuclear energy. The public needs to be informed. More than that, we need a
broader realization that our other options are running out. Fossil fuels are somewhat limited.
The atmosphere's ability to absorb CO2 is finite, and our tolerance of the pollution and
environmental damage they cause even more limited.
Their Program and Ours
Zubrin writes: "[The world] saw tens of millions of people slaughtered [in the 20th century] in
the name of struggle for existence that was entirely fictitious. The results of similar thinking in
the twenty-first could be far worse. The logic of the limited resource concept leads down an
ever more infernal path to the worst evils imaginable.
Basically it goes as follows:
Resources are limited.
Therefore: Human aspirations must be crushed.
So, some authority must be empowered to do the crushing.
Since some people must be crushed, we should join with that authority to make sure that it is
those we despise who are the ones crushed, rather than us.
By getting rid of such inferior people, we can preserve scarce resources and advance human
social evolution, thereby helping to make the world a better place."
This blog includes Zubrin's long passage on Vladimir Putin and his pet philosopher Alexandr
Dugin, and how the war in Ukraine is an expression of this mindset.
Zubrin sees growing availability of energy as an essential part of any plan for world peace.
Hydroelectric has long been fully exploited, fossil fuels are limited, and solar, wind and
biomass have never made any sense. Nuclear is the only option. Let's take off our blinders
and use it.
Zubrin opens with "[We have been] doubling our carbon use every thirty years for more
than a century. In 1900, humanity burned 0.6 billion tons of carbon per year. This doubled
to 1.2 billion in 1930, doubling again to 2.5 billion tons in 1960, then yet again to 5 billion
tons in 1990, to 10 billion tons now .1 "Based on history, there is every reason to
expect human energy production and use to double again by 2050, and yet again by 2080.
"According to solid measurements, average temperatures have increased by about 1
degree centigrade since 1870. That, admittedly, is not a big deal. It is the equivalent to the warming that a New Yorker would experience if he or she moved to central New Jersey. So, there is no climate catastrophe now. But the climatic effects of continued CO2 emissions at a level an order of magnitude higher than today would be an entirely different matter."
A Brief History of Power
Mankind has depended on a number of different sources of power, light and transportation
energy. Here is a brief list, including the timeframes in which they were adopted.
• Fire – 2 million years ago. Warmth and cooked food.
• Wood fuel – from the beginning
• Charcoal fuel – Neolithic times
• Olive oil
• Wind power for sailing – bronze age
• Waterwheels – classical times
• Windmills for mechanical energy – 12th-century in France
• Coal– 12th-century in England
• Whale blubber for light, heat – 17th century
• Petroleum – 19th century
• Nuclear – 20th century
At this juncture – about 90% of our energy comes from fossil fuels. As the graph shows,
increased carbon use has been highly correlated with the increase in the world gross national
product.
The Case for Nukes Table Of Contents
1. Too much smoke, Too Little Fire
2. A Brief History of Power
3. Do We Really Need More Energy
4. What about Nuclear Energy
5. How to Make Nuclear Energy
6. Atoms for Subs, Atoms for Peace
7. How to Build a Nuclear Reactor
8. His Nuclear Power Safe
9. How to Cut Costs
10.Reading More Fuel Than You Burn
11.Entrepreneurial Nukes
12.The Power the Lights the Stars
13.Opening the Space Frontier
14.Upgrading the Earth
15.The Way Forward
16.There Program and Ours
There are concerns about the continued use of carbon-based fuels:
• Global warming,
• Air pollution,
• Ocean acidification
• The earth's limited endowment
But, all the alternatives going forward have severe limitations – except nuclear
• Solar
• Wind
• Hydro
• Biomass
• Nuclear
Zubrin makes the observation that technology advances are cumulative. The rate of advance
depends on how many people are working on improvements and how widely they are shared.
This is Metcalfe's law – the power of a network is equal to the square of its size. Or Isaac
Newton: "if I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." Zubin
credits seafaring, which vastly widened our horizons. He doesn't mention the printing press,
which facilitated sharing knowledge over distance and time.
Do We Really Need More Energy
Zubin recounts the way major innovations turn natural resources that had previously been
considered useless into something of value. The heavy plow, with coulter and mortarboard,
made heavy soils in northern Europe valuable. Horse collars and horseshoes made those
animals more valuable. Once discovered, petroleum oil quickly replaced whale oil. A sticky
nuisance became a thing of value.
Entrepreneurial Nukes
Governments have ceased innovating in the realm of nuclear reactors, but private industry
has not. There are four major types:
• Water Cooled Reactors (light water and heavy water)
• High temperature gas cooled
• Liquid metal cooled
• Molten salt cooled
NuScale corporation makes an SMR – small modular light-water reactor. It is the most
conservative design. A look at their investment material indicates that (1) they have a single
contract to install their system, in Romania and (2) the value of the stock, traded as
NYSE:SMR, has gone nowhere.
This would appear to be the bellwether. When the Romanian venture works, and the full
dimension of Germany's disastrous shutdown of nuclear and reliance on wind, solar and
Russian natural gas becomes clear, the company could be at the head of a parade back to
nuclear.
Ukraine would be a logical customer. Nuclear still provides about half its electricity. The
home of Chernobyl fears nuclear less than most. Ukraine is next door to power-hungry
customers that have saddled themselves with counterproductive politics that get in the way of
building their own plants. It has halted work on two partially completed plants due to the war.
The Power the Lights the Stars
Nuclear fusion was put to use in the H-bomb in the 1950s. It works because the critical mass
needs to be held together only for the instant it takes for the fast chain reaction to split the
fissile nuclei and combine the fusion nuclei. The intense explosion that results, blowing the
nuclear material apart, is the intended result.
Controlled nuclear fusion, without the explosion, has been the objective since the start of the
nuclear age. The problem is heat. Fusion reactors must operate at temperatures vastly
higher than the melting point of every possible structural material. The fusion must be
suspended within an intense magnetic field.
This is hard to do. Once that problem is solved, the dream of limitless energy can be
realized. However, in the near term the issue is the more mundane one of getting political
support for commonplace nuclear fission solutions that have been proven for half a century.
Opening the Space Frontier
Nuclear must be the source of power for long-distance space travel and distant space
colonies. First of all, they have no air to support normal combustion. More importantly, it is
the only solution with enough energy density to make it feasible to send by rocket ship.
Zubrin has given a lot of thought to how to use nuclear to power rocket ships. Fanciful ideas,
but we will be long gone before anybody is in a position to implement them.
Upgrading the Earth
Returning to the realm of near-term practical problems, Zubrin observes that increased CO2
in the atmosphere has so far been a net benefit, lengthening growing seasons worldwide by
about ten days and the total area covered by green leaves by 20%. However, continuing
indefinitely is very likely to be counterproductive. The earth needs an alternative, and that
alternative is nuclear.
Electric power can be used to create chemical energy in the form of hydrogen for
transportation, fertilizers and just about anything else. Put another way, all of our resource
problems boil down to limitations imposed by a shortage of energy.
The Way Forward
Politics, driven by fear, which is in turn driven by vested financial interests is the chief
obstacle to nuclear energy. The public needs to be informed. More than that, we need a
broader realization that our other options are running out. Fossil fuels are somewhat limited.
The atmosphere's ability to absorb CO2 is finite, and our tolerance of the pollution and
environmental damage they cause even more limited.
Their Program and Ours
Zubrin writes: "[The world] saw tens of millions of people slaughtered [in the 20th century] in
the name of struggle for existence that was entirely fictitious. The results of similar thinking in
the twenty-first could be far worse. The logic of the limited resource concept leads down an
ever more infernal path to the worst evils imaginable.
Basically it goes as follows:
Resources are limited.
Therefore: Human aspirations must be crushed.
So, some authority must be empowered to do the crushing.
Since some people must be crushed, we should join with that authority to make sure that it is
those we despise who are the ones crushed, rather than us.
By getting rid of such inferior people, we can preserve scarce resources and advance human
social evolution, thereby helping to make the world a better place."
This blog includes Zubrin's long passage on Vladimir Putin and his pet philosopher Alexandr
Dugin, and how the war in Ukraine is an expression of this mindset.
Zubrin sees growing availability of energy as an essential part of any plan for world peace.
Hydroelectric has long been fully exploited, fossil fuels are limited, and solar, wind and
biomass have never made any sense. Nuclear is the only option. Let's take off our blinders
and use it.
April 14, 2023
Everything that you wanted to know about nuclear power, but were afraid to ask.
This book has a thorough explanation of how the two main types of nuclear power, fission and fusion. He then compares nuclear and conventional power plants.
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in power generation.
This book has a thorough explanation of how the two main types of nuclear power, fission and fusion. He then compares nuclear and conventional power plants.
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in power generation.
August 7, 2023
Great book
This one really gets the mind going and puts up a very valid case for not just nuclear but cheap clean energy
This one really gets the mind going and puts up a very valid case for not just nuclear but cheap clean energy
August 15, 2025
Not read, but I'm review-bombing off the editorial blurb:
Last part first.
People like me hate humanity, eh? Fuck off.
The first two thirds, next.
Thorium fission reactors have been "just around the corner" for 15 years. Nobody's built one.
Nuclear fusion power has been "just around the corner" for what, 60 years now? It will still be "just around the corner" 60 years from now.
Otherwise, the author is clearly a FreeDumb wingnut.
He tells about revolutionary developments in the field, including new reactor types that can be cheaply mass produced, that cannot be made to melt down no matter how hard their operators try, that use a new fuel called thorium far more plentiful than uranium, and still more advanced systems, employing thermonuclear fusion - the power that lights the sun - to extract more energy from a gallon of water than can be obtained from 300 gallons of gasoline. He tells about the bold entrepreneurs - a totally different breed from the government officials who created the existing types of nuclear reactors - who are leading this revolution in power technology. But there are broader issues involved in the nuclear debate than technology alone, and Zubrin is not shy about addressing them. He makes clear the critical difference between practical environmentalism, which seeks to improve the environment for the benefit of humanity, and ideological environmentalism, which seeks to use instances of human insult to natural environment as evidence for a prosecutorial case against human liberty. He shows how the latter school of thought is wrong, not only with respect to the catastrophic harm it would do to humanity, but to nature as well.
Last part first.
People like me hate humanity, eh? Fuck off.
The first two thirds, next.
Thorium fission reactors have been "just around the corner" for 15 years. Nobody's built one.
Nuclear fusion power has been "just around the corner" for what, 60 years now? It will still be "just around the corner" 60 years from now.
Otherwise, the author is clearly a FreeDumb wingnut.
November 19, 2023
Fun to read with serious messages
Author’s deep technical and scientific background comes through in this light hearted book which makes easy reading of a very technical subject.
The mind experiment examples of building your own atomic pile or pressure water reactor are the best I have seen at giving a nontechnical reader a clearer view of what is actually going on in a fission (or, speculatively, fusion) power reactor. This does a good job at demystifying the subject for the general public.
The editing is tight, with only a few repetitions that could be cleaned up.
Good gift for the nontechnical person who is captivated by the idea of sustainability but does not have the technical knowledge to go along with it.
Author’s deep technical and scientific background comes through in this light hearted book which makes easy reading of a very technical subject.
The mind experiment examples of building your own atomic pile or pressure water reactor are the best I have seen at giving a nontechnical reader a clearer view of what is actually going on in a fission (or, speculatively, fusion) power reactor. This does a good job at demystifying the subject for the general public.
The editing is tight, with only a few repetitions that could be cleaned up.
Good gift for the nontechnical person who is captivated by the idea of sustainability but does not have the technical knowledge to go along with it.
April 2, 2024
One of the best books I have ever read alongside Zubrin's other book The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility
He gives an excellent explanation of nuclear power (both fission and fusion) and the history of each, and a powerful argument for why we should invest in them and use them.
His philosophical views concerning human civilisation and progress are incredibly convincing. I hope that one day we will live in the world Zubrin wishes to see.
He gives an excellent explanation of nuclear power (both fission and fusion) and the history of each, and a powerful argument for why we should invest in them and use them.
His philosophical views concerning human civilisation and progress are incredibly convincing. I hope that one day we will live in the world Zubrin wishes to see.
June 28, 2024
An excellent book. Zubrin makes learning fun - the book does a good job of describing the issues without dumbing them down. Over the last few decades, I have frequently found myself disagreeing with almost all media, politicians etc- frequently coming to the opposite conclusion than the ones being espoused. Zubrin is one of those few (along with Elon Musk, Bjorn Lomborg and Alec Epstein) that talk common sense- real solutions for real problems. He makes a very strong case that Nuclear Power IS the solution for our climate issues. I have never heard a literate argument against nuclear power, but over the last thirty years society has failed to aggressively pursue the one technology that would have made a difference. Zubrin gives us some insights into the forces arrayed against nuclear power and calls into question the motives and intellectual honesty of the green movement. Zubrin makes the case that climate change is real (though the risks are overstated), and says we need to reduce CO2 emissions, and that nuclear is the primary solution. My only issue is that sometimes he adopts a smart aleck tone that, while humorous, sometimes subtracts from his message.
July 1, 2023
Extraordinario! Muy informativo y entretenido.
Recomendaría este libro a cualquiera interesado en temas de energía y ambientales. Es necesario romper los mitos que nos impiden aprovechar el gran potencial de la energía nuclear.
Recomendaría este libro a cualquiera interesado en temas de energía y ambientales. Es necesario romper los mitos que nos impiden aprovechar el gran potencial de la energía nuclear.
February 11, 2024
Science backed facts not emotional hype!
Robert Zubrin brings you along
From the basics of nuclear physics tohe forces driving human progress or extinction. He makes one think and appreciate the challenges and opportunities that we face today.
Robert Zubrin brings you along
From the basics of nuclear physics tohe forces driving human progress or extinction. He makes one think and appreciate the challenges and opportunities that we face today.
August 25, 2024
I'm going for 5 stars although he dives a little thick in the weeds at times, for my taste at least, and tends to get slightly sanctimonious towards the end. But the information and message is spot on.
October 1, 2023
very informative
November 26, 2024
an incredibly important book. Shifted my thinking in many ways. Everyone should read it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews