The twilight of the bombs : recent challenges, new dangers, and the prospects for a world without nuclear weapons

As this remarkable book shows, we live in a universe beset with chaos. Highly acclaimed popular science writer Barry Parker shows - for the first time in a popular work - the amazing impact chaos theory is having on our understanding of the cosmos. Through vivid metaphors and imagery, Parker indoctrinates the reader into the fantastic realm of chaos theory, from the exquisitely detailed structure of fractals to strange attractors to stretching and folding space. He interviews the world's premier astronomers to discuss firsthand the challenge of applying these powerful concepts to the most intriguing paradoxes in astronomy; the workings of chaos in the bizarre tumbling orbit of one of Saturn's moons, the swirling migration of the great red spot of Jupiter, the explosive mechanics of pulsating stars, and the intricate dance of stars orbiting black holes. He also explains the exciting cutting-edge technology scientists employ as they learn - via computer images - to model accurately the movements of planets, suns, and even superclusters of galaxies millions of years into the past and future to explore the role of chaos in the mysterious genesis and fate of the universe. This burgeoning new science, like all brilliant theories, raises nearly as many questions as it answers. Is the universe a puzzle we will one day be able to solve? Chaos theory reminds us that unpredictability goes part and parcel with our dynamic universe. It also offers testimony to the elegantly complex structure of the universe. As Parker eloquently shows, this remarkable science, though still in its infancy, is destined to rank among the most potent and compelling forces that will shape the future of astronomy This culminating volume in Richard Rhodes's monumental and prizewinning history of nuclear weapons offers the first comprehensive narrative of the challenges faced in a post-Cold War age from the second war in Iraq to the emerging threat of nuclear terrorism, from the changing roles of the five original nuclear powers to our complicated relationships with North Korea and South Asia. Finally, Rhodes imagines what a post-nuclear world might look like, suggesting what might make it possible.  Read more... Part 1. Following the Calutron Trail: "President Bush's Frankenstein" ; Cutting Saddam's sinews ; True courage ; Following the Calutron Trail -- Part 2. Breakdown and reformation: The little suitcase ; Many little monsters ; Waiting forty years -- Part 3. Coming in from the Cold: Preventive defense ; Leaving the Laager ; A million and a trillion ; Great leaders ; The cornerstone of peace and stability ; The dog ate my homework -- Part 4. An intolerable threat to all humanity: Regime change ; The hard stare into the abyss ; The twilight of the bombs