Recent Books -- Ghost Map, American War, Command and Control

02 September 2018

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson.
Great retelling of the cholera epidemic in 1854 London, and the detective workto find the source. We look back andthe infectious mechanism for cholera seems so obvious to us – and yet we are no smarter than the people of 1854 London, we just have some accumulated science at our disposal. What will people in 2178 think about us, what are we missing today?
American War by Omar El Akkad. A new American civil war b reaks out in 2075. Unthinkable! And yet it does feel like our society is getting more rancorous.
Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. Holy cripes, it is amazing that we have never had one of our nuclear armaments accidentally explode, and it is terrifying when you consider the spread of nuclear weapons to other nations. It is just a matter of time. Excellent history of US nuclear armaments and the many accidents and near-misses.