Science
The title "science" is perhaps misleading. Rather than a scientist-in-training, I am a historian-in-training. However, my budding niche, as I have found in the past couple years, includes weapons, nuclear history, and specifically, the military-industrial complex. So, I study a bit of science—nonetheless, this notepage focuses on science through the lenses of humanities such as history, philosophy, and political science. Many (but not all!) of my readings are American-centric.
Reading List (Eternally in Progress)
Some of these items I have read, others are yet-to-be.
/ Books (Secondary)
Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986)
Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (1995) — Beyond what the title suggests, also explores the extent and ramifications of Soviet nuclear espionage in the U.S.
Jessica Wang, American Science in an Age of Anxiety: Scientists, Anticommunism, and the Cold War (2000)
Alex Wellerstein, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States (2021) — Wellerstein also has an excellent blog of the same name, Restricted Data.
Istvan Hargittai, Judging Edward Teller: A Closer Look at One of the Most Influential Scientists of the Twentieth Century (2010)
Seymour Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy (1991)
Dorothy Nelkin and Michael Pollak, The Atom Besieged: Extraparliamentary Dissent in France and Germany (1981)
Daniel Ford, The Cult of the Atom: The Secret Papers of the Atomic Energy Commission (1982)
Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner (2017)
Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2005)
Michael Hiltzik, Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex (2016)
Sarah Bridger, Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research (2015)
Philip Ball, Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler (2013)
Jonathan Tucker, War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (2006)
Nils Roll-Hansen, The Lysenko Effect: The Politics Of Science (2005)
/ Books (Primary)
James B. Conant, Science and Common Sense (1981) — "A world-famous scientist and educator explains the methods of science through a historical approach." Essentially, useful to me in its descriptions of the relationship between science, industry, and military.
Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics (2001)
Emilio Segre, Enrico Fermi: Physicist (1970)
Stanislaw Ulam, Adventures of a Mathematician (1976)
Hans Bethe, The Road from Los Alamos: Collected Essays of Hans A. Bethe (1991)
Richard Garwin and Georges Chapak, Megawatts and Megatons (2001)
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)