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Six Minutes to Winter: Nuclear War and How to Avoid It
'Terrifying and timely, this is a book everyone should read and heed' - George Monbiot
'Urgent, gripping and sobering, Six Minutes to Winter is a hair-raising wake-up call' - David Wallace-Wells
'Powerful and insightful. Although many have forgotten about nuclear weapons, we shouldn't'
- Charles Oppenheimer
The world is currently closer to superpower conflict than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. World War III is a real possibility, and with 12,000 warheads in the arsenals of more than half a dozen countries, we are standing on a nuclear knife edge.
Despite receiving very little attention, nuclear war is a far greater threat to humanity's immediate survival than climate change. While climate heating threatens humanity over many decades, nuclear war could destroy civilisation in just a few hours. A major missile exchange would mean months of near-total darkness, followed by a decade-long global nuclear winter that would destroy most life on Earth. Virtually everyone would starve in the resulting worldwide famine, and there would be no reliable refuge.
We are sleepwalking to Armageddon. There are no mass marches, no COPs, no nuclear Greta. But the climate experience teaches us that ignoring a problem is no solution, and that a worldwide mobilisation can work. Six Minutes to Winter presents an unflinching view of the nuclear nightmare, but also describes how weapons can be taken off hair-trigger alert and ultimately abolished altogether. If human civilisation is to survive long term, we have no alternative.
'Urgent, gripping and sobering, Six Minutes to Winter is a hair-raising wake-up call' - David Wallace-Wells
'Powerful and insightful. Although many have forgotten about nuclear weapons, we shouldn't'
- Charles Oppenheimer
The world is currently closer to superpower conflict than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. World War III is a real possibility, and with 12,000 warheads in the arsenals of more than half a dozen countries, we are standing on a nuclear knife edge.
Despite receiving very little attention, nuclear war is a far greater threat to humanity's immediate survival than climate change. While climate heating threatens humanity over many decades, nuclear war could destroy civilisation in just a few hours. A major missile exchange would mean months of near-total darkness, followed by a decade-long global nuclear winter that would destroy most life on Earth. Virtually everyone would starve in the resulting worldwide famine, and there would be no reliable refuge.
We are sleepwalking to Armageddon. There are no mass marches, no COPs, no nuclear Greta. But the climate experience teaches us that ignoring a problem is no solution, and that a worldwide mobilisation can work. Six Minutes to Winter presents an unflinching view of the nuclear nightmare, but also describes how weapons can be taken off hair-trigger alert and ultimately abolished altogether. If human civilisation is to survive long term, we have no alternative.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 8, 2025
10 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Mark Lynas
20 books78 followersMark Lynas is a British author, journalist and environmental activist who focuses on climate change.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 18, 2025
Nuclear war is … bad. That’s a premise on which most of us can agree. However, for the past eighty years, nuclear war has been possible and—at various times, including this past week as I write this review (looking at you, India and Pakistan)—more or less likely. In Six Minutes to Winter, Mark Lynas catalogues the potential scope and consequences of nuclear war—including the dreaded but much-misunderstood nuclear winter—and then makes a passionate plea for supporting the cause of nuclear disarmament. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the eARC in exchange for a review.
In the first chapters, Lynas basically games out what would happen if two countries attacked each other with nuclear missiles. He goes over the literal global implications, from the estimated death tolls around the world to the difficulty of avoiding retaliation if a system mistakes a malfunction for a real first strike. However, one important detail looms large in these chapters: the spectre of nuclear winter.
Lynas spends a lot of time on nuclear winter, and for good reason. Portrayed in numerous movies, TV shows, and books, this phenomenon has often been misunderstood or misexplained. To help his audience fully comprehend how devastating nuclear winter would be to human civilization and life as we know it, he takes us through a whistle-top tour of Earth’s biohistory. He covers previous mass extinctions and connects nuclear winter with climate change (which is really what it is a form of) to demonstrate that this is definitely something we do not want and could not, reasonably, expect to survive in any meaningful sense as a species of consequence.
From there, Lynas segues into showcasing more of the individual human toll of nuclear war. For this he leans on first- and secondhand interviews with survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He tells us their stories and emphasizes all the myriad ways nuclear strikes can not just kill people but cause lifelong and indeed intergenerational trauma.
Finally, the last part of the book becomes a manifesto: nuclear war must be prevented at all costs, and only we (Smokey the Bear says) can stop nuclear forest fires. Lynas is quite vehement in his rhetoric here, arguing that this is the overriding issue of the time and that nothing should be allowed to get in the way of a unified movement for disarmament. In that last, he’s taking shots at progressive moments that have become mired in infighting over things like terminology—Lynas blames both the woke and anti-woke crowds, seemingly equally, at derailing disarmament.
It took me quite a while to read Six Minutes to Winter—I actually started other books alongside it, something I tend to avoid. First, this is just a dismal subject, something Lynas acknowledges readily. No one wants to think about nuclear war because we all feel powerless to do something about it. Second, though, this book is dry. Like technical dry. Though Lynas gets pretty fired up towards the end—a welcome sight—the first two-thirds of the book are difficult to get through, not just because of the subject matter but also because of how it is presented.
I appreciate Lynas’s insistence that resistance is the most rational reaction to the prospect of nuclear war. I might even agree with it. Yet I don’t think he’s going to succeed in disarming the irrational part of us with that approach. In the same way that yelling at people to fight against oil companies because climate change is an existential threat isn’t going to motivate them, neither will talking about the rational need to reduce nuclear weapon stockpiles. I don’t pretend to have a solution (other than perhaps the very awful prospect of another nuclear bombing of civilians in our lifetime to shock people into activism—something I of course do not advocate for). But like, as much as I agree with Lynas and would happily sign a petition advocating for disarmament, I would be lying if I said he’s galvanized me into going to a protest or organizing a local anti-nuke chapter of my own. So if that is the bar for success, this book is a failure.
That’s harsh though. There is a lot to appreciate about Six Minutes to Winter. It is meticulously researched. It is interesting albeit depressing. I learned a lot from it that I didn’t already know, even having read books like the much-cited Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. Anyone who is interested in international politics, warfare, and weaponry would do well to read this book. I’m just not convinced it will change hearts as well as minds … and that is a shame.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
In the first chapters, Lynas basically games out what would happen if two countries attacked each other with nuclear missiles. He goes over the literal global implications, from the estimated death tolls around the world to the difficulty of avoiding retaliation if a system mistakes a malfunction for a real first strike. However, one important detail looms large in these chapters: the spectre of nuclear winter.
Lynas spends a lot of time on nuclear winter, and for good reason. Portrayed in numerous movies, TV shows, and books, this phenomenon has often been misunderstood or misexplained. To help his audience fully comprehend how devastating nuclear winter would be to human civilization and life as we know it, he takes us through a whistle-top tour of Earth’s biohistory. He covers previous mass extinctions and connects nuclear winter with climate change (which is really what it is a form of) to demonstrate that this is definitely something we do not want and could not, reasonably, expect to survive in any meaningful sense as a species of consequence.
From there, Lynas segues into showcasing more of the individual human toll of nuclear war. For this he leans on first- and secondhand interviews with survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He tells us their stories and emphasizes all the myriad ways nuclear strikes can not just kill people but cause lifelong and indeed intergenerational trauma.
Finally, the last part of the book becomes a manifesto: nuclear war must be prevented at all costs, and only we (Smokey the Bear says) can stop nuclear forest fires. Lynas is quite vehement in his rhetoric here, arguing that this is the overriding issue of the time and that nothing should be allowed to get in the way of a unified movement for disarmament. In that last, he’s taking shots at progressive moments that have become mired in infighting over things like terminology—Lynas blames both the woke and anti-woke crowds, seemingly equally, at derailing disarmament.
It took me quite a while to read Six Minutes to Winter—I actually started other books alongside it, something I tend to avoid. First, this is just a dismal subject, something Lynas acknowledges readily. No one wants to think about nuclear war because we all feel powerless to do something about it. Second, though, this book is dry. Like technical dry. Though Lynas gets pretty fired up towards the end—a welcome sight—the first two-thirds of the book are difficult to get through, not just because of the subject matter but also because of how it is presented.
I appreciate Lynas’s insistence that resistance is the most rational reaction to the prospect of nuclear war. I might even agree with it. Yet I don’t think he’s going to succeed in disarming the irrational part of us with that approach. In the same way that yelling at people to fight against oil companies because climate change is an existential threat isn’t going to motivate them, neither will talking about the rational need to reduce nuclear weapon stockpiles. I don’t pretend to have a solution (other than perhaps the very awful prospect of another nuclear bombing of civilians in our lifetime to shock people into activism—something I of course do not advocate for). But like, as much as I agree with Lynas and would happily sign a petition advocating for disarmament, I would be lying if I said he’s galvanized me into going to a protest or organizing a local anti-nuke chapter of my own. So if that is the bar for success, this book is a failure.
That’s harsh though. There is a lot to appreciate about Six Minutes to Winter. It is meticulously researched. It is interesting albeit depressing. I learned a lot from it that I didn’t already know, even having read books like the much-cited Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. Anyone who is interested in international politics, warfare, and weaponry would do well to read this book. I’m just not convinced it will change hearts as well as minds … and that is a shame.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
October 30, 2025
Read this along with Annie Jacobsen's Nuclear War: A Scenario and you've got a spooky but all-too-important reading list for potential IRL Halloween horror—much more plausible than being killed by a 6'6" masked machete murderer while having sex with the cheer captain.
June 1, 2025
****.5
During the cold war, the threat of nuclear war was ever-present, much like climate change is now, but more immediate and imminent. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fears diminished, although the nuclear weapons never went away. As Lynas clearly describes, they are essentially still on a hair trigger, with the president of the United States allowed only six minutes to decide whether to launch a civilization ending retaliation if an enemy attack is detected. A similar system is in place on the Russian side. This should be intensely alarming, regardless of who currently inhabits the White House or the Kremlin.
Lynas approaches the impact of a nuclear war from the perspective of a climate scientist. He details the devastation caused by the initial detonation, but that's fairly well known and was covered in the recent Nuclear War: A Scenario (although overall this is a much better book, and now that it's out would recommend not bothering with that one). Where Lynas shines is his insight into what happens next, which should scare even the most well-prepped prepper. Using the modern tools and climate models, he shows how the resulting firestorms form, and in turn lead to a prolonged nuclear winter as a result of all the gunk thrown up into the upper atmosphere. The effect is chilling, both literally and metaphorically.
He then deviates and looks back at previous cold periods and extinction level events in earth's history. While interesting, these topics have been extensively covered elsewhere, and are only peripherally related to the topic of the book. I found it to be an unnecessary digression that distracted from the main point.
We then get a history of the development of nuclear weapons, and gory accounts of the devastation caused by their use in Japan and the many tests conducted in the 1940's-1960's. I learned almost nothing from these sections because there have been many dozens of books that have exhaustively delved into every imaginable detail, and again they were only marginally relevant to the point of the book, which is the current threat and what to do about it.
More pertinent was the listing of various near misses, demonstrating the very real risks, and how close we've been to catastrophe on multiple occasions. At this rate, it's only a matter of time until the worst case scenario happens. Which leads to the concluding chapters, which consist of a forceful manifesto for disarmament.
There are lots of great quotes in the book worth repeating, but here are a couple from the conclusion that stuck with me:
I rounded down because it's a bit of a chore to get through the middle part of the book, which is a shame because the beginning and end are so important, but the main points almost get lost in the shuffle. Still, a highly recommended read, especially for the younger generations who don't remember the existential dread that I grew up with in the 80's.
During the cold war, the threat of nuclear war was ever-present, much like climate change is now, but more immediate and imminent. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fears diminished, although the nuclear weapons never went away. As Lynas clearly describes, they are essentially still on a hair trigger, with the president of the United States allowed only six minutes to decide whether to launch a civilization ending retaliation if an enemy attack is detected. A similar system is in place on the Russian side. This should be intensely alarming, regardless of who currently inhabits the White House or the Kremlin.
Lynas approaches the impact of a nuclear war from the perspective of a climate scientist. He details the devastation caused by the initial detonation, but that's fairly well known and was covered in the recent Nuclear War: A Scenario (although overall this is a much better book, and now that it's out would recommend not bothering with that one). Where Lynas shines is his insight into what happens next, which should scare even the most well-prepped prepper. Using the modern tools and climate models, he shows how the resulting firestorms form, and in turn lead to a prolonged nuclear winter as a result of all the gunk thrown up into the upper atmosphere. The effect is chilling, both literally and metaphorically.
He then deviates and looks back at previous cold periods and extinction level events in earth's history. While interesting, these topics have been extensively covered elsewhere, and are only peripherally related to the topic of the book. I found it to be an unnecessary digression that distracted from the main point.
We then get a history of the development of nuclear weapons, and gory accounts of the devastation caused by their use in Japan and the many tests conducted in the 1940's-1960's. I learned almost nothing from these sections because there have been many dozens of books that have exhaustively delved into every imaginable detail, and again they were only marginally relevant to the point of the book, which is the current threat and what to do about it.
More pertinent was the listing of various near misses, demonstrating the very real risks, and how close we've been to catastrophe on multiple occasions. At this rate, it's only a matter of time until the worst case scenario happens. Which leads to the concluding chapters, which consist of a forceful manifesto for disarmament.
There are lots of great quotes in the book worth repeating, but here are a couple from the conclusion that stuck with me:
"This is not a zero-sum game, it is a zero-win game."
"Fatalism is not an option, unless you’re content for the outcome to be fatal."
I rounded down because it's a bit of a chore to get through the middle part of the book, which is a shame because the beginning and end are so important, but the main points almost get lost in the shuffle. Still, a highly recommended read, especially for the younger generations who don't remember the existential dread that I grew up with in the 80's.
November 30, 2025
I was looking forward to reading this, seeing as, in 2025, we are closer to nuclear war than at any time over the past thirty-forty years.
The problem was that a lot of the book had nothing to do with nuclear war, and very little had anything to do with avoiding it. I skipped vast swathes of text that went on about other crises and about dinosaurs and extinction events. All interesting digested in a page or two, but not over chapters. If I wanted a book on climate change I'd have got one.
It's a shame because the other chapters are incredibly well-researched and well-written. Lynas is knowledgeable and brings the topic alive in a manner that isn't fatalistic - far from it. The entire point is to show that nuclear war is unwinnable, ergo pointless, ergo should be avoided, and ergo can. What's needed now are steps to (military) denuclearisation. Agreed.
His chapter on how nuclear winter would destroy civilisation were scientific and scary, but still fairly light. His explanations of how we know what nuclear winter would look like were deeply interesting. His final chapter on what steps we can take was insightful, but also a little nonsensical - nobody can win a nuclear war, but weapons should be kept as a deterrence until all nuclear states agree at the same time to reduce them? It's geopolitically impossible to think that such a deal could be made with Putin, who has repeatedly ignored or blatantly overridden international agreements he has signed up to. His paranoid mistrust of NATO means he would never abandon nuclear weapons, even if NATO had.
In fact, although he argues against unilateral disarmament, this might actually be the only step that could bring a Putin-like figure to be able to trust the West. If the UK and France, for example, were to abandon their nuclear weapons, it would be a strong sign. Yes, they're still under the NATO umbrella, but it would remove the fertile ground that led to the creation of Putin. Future Russian leaders, sleeping easier in their beds, may come to the table.
I wouldn't really recommend unless you are interested in a plethora of other subjects other than nuclear war. Not that my review should detract from the author's knowledge and ability. I just think he merged two books into one.
The problem was that a lot of the book had nothing to do with nuclear war, and very little had anything to do with avoiding it. I skipped vast swathes of text that went on about other crises and about dinosaurs and extinction events. All interesting digested in a page or two, but not over chapters. If I wanted a book on climate change I'd have got one.
It's a shame because the other chapters are incredibly well-researched and well-written. Lynas is knowledgeable and brings the topic alive in a manner that isn't fatalistic - far from it. The entire point is to show that nuclear war is unwinnable, ergo pointless, ergo should be avoided, and ergo can. What's needed now are steps to (military) denuclearisation. Agreed.
His chapter on how nuclear winter would destroy civilisation were scientific and scary, but still fairly light. His explanations of how we know what nuclear winter would look like were deeply interesting. His final chapter on what steps we can take was insightful, but also a little nonsensical - nobody can win a nuclear war, but weapons should be kept as a deterrence until all nuclear states agree at the same time to reduce them? It's geopolitically impossible to think that such a deal could be made with Putin, who has repeatedly ignored or blatantly overridden international agreements he has signed up to. His paranoid mistrust of NATO means he would never abandon nuclear weapons, even if NATO had.
In fact, although he argues against unilateral disarmament, this might actually be the only step that could bring a Putin-like figure to be able to trust the West. If the UK and France, for example, were to abandon their nuclear weapons, it would be a strong sign. Yes, they're still under the NATO umbrella, but it would remove the fertile ground that led to the creation of Putin. Future Russian leaders, sleeping easier in their beds, may come to the table.
I wouldn't really recommend unless you are interested in a plethora of other subjects other than nuclear war. Not that my review should detract from the author's knowledge and ability. I just think he merged two books into one.
June 30, 2025
Pros: Engaging and interesting writing style
Cons: Struggles across to cross the finish line, or introduce any groundbreaking arguments.
I was very interested in the premise of this book, as it seemed like a good next step after reading Nuclear War: A Scenario. Rather than focusing on its main thesis of how to avoid war, the author spends most of the book at least describing what a nuclear winter could look like based on previous mass extinctions and their catalysts: volcanoes, meteors, etc. While the review of the natural history of mass extinctions was really interesting, most readers will probably tap out here. It's just too much explaining and not enough tying the examples back to the main topic. On several occasions I forgot the book I was reading was about nuclear war at all.
Next we move on to the history of above-ground nuclear testing and their subsequent banning. Again, interesting, but I don't need convincing on the science of nuclear winter. Lynas only turns to avoiding this outcome in this last chapter, and his advice is a little ironic. He says the nuclear abolition movement can't be overly academic or intellectual, but to me that's what this text is. Not in the writing style, but in the insistence that a reader stick with it through a wide, detailed amount of evidence for a conclusion that doesn't do anything new.
Ultimately, though, I would like to read more of Lynas' work, because his narrative sections were very well written and enjoyable.
Cons: Struggles across to cross the finish line, or introduce any groundbreaking arguments.
I was very interested in the premise of this book, as it seemed like a good next step after reading Nuclear War: A Scenario. Rather than focusing on its main thesis of how to avoid war, the author spends most of the book at least describing what a nuclear winter could look like based on previous mass extinctions and their catalysts: volcanoes, meteors, etc. While the review of the natural history of mass extinctions was really interesting, most readers will probably tap out here. It's just too much explaining and not enough tying the examples back to the main topic. On several occasions I forgot the book I was reading was about nuclear war at all.
Next we move on to the history of above-ground nuclear testing and their subsequent banning. Again, interesting, but I don't need convincing on the science of nuclear winter. Lynas only turns to avoiding this outcome in this last chapter, and his advice is a little ironic. He says the nuclear abolition movement can't be overly academic or intellectual, but to me that's what this text is. Not in the writing style, but in the insistence that a reader stick with it through a wide, detailed amount of evidence for a conclusion that doesn't do anything new.
Ultimately, though, I would like to read more of Lynas' work, because his narrative sections were very well written and enjoyable.
July 16, 2025
In this urgent and detailed new book, Mark Lynas explores the threat of nuclear war and the circumstances which have pushed the nuclear powers of the twenty-first century to the brink of World War III. Focusing on the threat that nuclear war poses to humanity and the immediate environmental consequence of nuclear war, Lynas offers insights and solutions to this precarious peace that could allow humanity to avoid and survive nuclear warfare. Both alarmist and optimistic, the book balances the best and worst case scenarios in addition to the most likely outcomes given the current international political climate and arms crises. The book is an excellent mix of problem and solution, and Lynas draws on science, history, politics, and international studies to explore how nuclear weapons developed over the last eighty years. By drawing attention to this issue, Lynas offers hope for humanity in this primer for non-politician readers of all abilities and familiarities with nuclear war. A timely release, well-informed readers will learn a lot from this book and particularly appreciate the depth of Lynas’s research and his well-structured prose. Powerful, intense, and complex, this is a fascinating, occasionally challenging, and definitely worthwhile new book for a vast audience.
Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury USA, and Bloomsbury Sigma for the advance copy.
Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury USA, and Bloomsbury Sigma for the advance copy.
September 14, 2025
The points Lynas makes about nuclear war are clear and very important but I felt like much of the book was filler- discussing other types of existential risk, many previous cases of volcano-induced global winters, and narrative. I wish the book were more focused on nuclear war, especially with a more flushed out section on what can be done to make progress in mitigating nuclear risk.
The solution he does offer- a single-minded global movement to pressure governments to ban The Bomb- is, I suppose, the only thing that an average citizen can do. I wish he'd gone into more depth about what that should look like and how to catalyze such a movement.
The 2/3rds probability of nuclear war happening in a one hundred year time span is really chilling- as someone who has focused a lot on other issues, I feel I need to turn a good chunk of my time and effort towards the nuclear issue. For all our flaws as a species, there could be a lot of good in our future and it would be really tragic if that were snuffed out from nuclear war.
The solution he does offer- a single-minded global movement to pressure governments to ban The Bomb- is, I suppose, the only thing that an average citizen can do. I wish he'd gone into more depth about what that should look like and how to catalyze such a movement.
The 2/3rds probability of nuclear war happening in a one hundred year time span is really chilling- as someone who has focused a lot on other issues, I feel I need to turn a good chunk of my time and effort towards the nuclear issue. For all our flaws as a species, there could be a lot of good in our future and it would be really tragic if that were snuffed out from nuclear war.
June 4, 2025
A gripping and urgent call to action, Six Minutes to Winter delivers a chilling yet essential wake-up call about the overlooked threat of nuclear war and the imperative to confront it head-on.
July 9, 2025
Depressing - see his point though - let’s get rid of all the nuclear weapons!
August 6, 2025
My god get to the point!!! 2⭐️
November 1, 2025
Annie Jacobsen done it better
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews