A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race

by Carl Sagan, Richard Turco Narrated by JD Jackson

Overview

The spread of nuclear weapons to unstable third world countries means that despite the dramatic improvement in US/Soviet relations, we are living in a time of unprecedented danger of nuclear war.

In 1982, Professors Sagan and Turco made known their discovery of the concept 'nuclear winter', a widespread cold and dark, resulting in agricultural collapse and world famine, that would be generated in even a 'small' nuclear war. It was a landmark discovery that revealed in the starkest terms how vulnerable our civilization is to the long-term environmental effects of nuclear war.

Carl Sagan, Pulitzer prize-winning science writer, and Richard Turco, tell the personal story of their findings, and how, despite the much-heralded thawing of the Cold War, there are dangerous inadequacies in nuclear policy and doctrine that need to be addressed.

Introductory music from the original score for COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey composed by Alan Silvestri, used with permission from Cosmos Studios, Inc. and Chappers Music. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Fuzzy Planets, Inc.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

High-altitude dust particles and smoke generated by even a ``limited'' nuclear war could plunge the Earth into cold and darkness. The ensuing ``nuclear winter,'' as Sagan and Turco first predicted in the early 1980s, would bring famine, radioactive fallout, depletion of stratospheric ozone and an influx of lethal solar ultraviolet radiation. In an important, hope-giving report, the eminent astronomer and atmospheric scientist team up to refute critics of the nuclear winter hypothesis, and to spell out in greater detail what the environmental and social consequences of such an apocalypse might be. Nuclear winter makes it likely that ``nearly all Americans will die'' in a central exchange of missiles between the two superpowers, the authors stress. Their detailed proposals for reducing arsenals to achieve a ``minimum sufficient deterrance'' make this a book that neither concerned citizens nor policymakers can ignore. Photos. (Oct.)

Library Journal

This comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of nuclear winter serves as a sequel of sorts to Paul Ehrlich and others' The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War ( LJ 9/1/84) and the source book Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear War (Wiley, 1986). The authors provide updated information about the global climate and nuclear war's likely impact on it. They debunk the contention that strategic policies should not be decided on the basis of a mere theory, pointing out that policy is always made on the basis of incomplete information, and that the levels of knowledge about the environmental effects of nuclear war are at least comparable to that in many other policy areas. Though not likely to attract the attention of the media at a time when concerns about nuclear war are now treated as ``old hat,'' the book is nevertheless an important reminder that nuclear war is an issue of supreme ecological importance. After all, as the authors remind us, the superpowers have yet to eliminate more than a tiny fraction of their nuclear stockpiles.-- Jennifer Scarlott, World Policy Inst., New York

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173493286
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	07/25/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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