Creating the New World: Stories & Images from the Dawn of the Atomic Age Review

Creating the New World: Stories and Images from the Dawn of the Atomic Age
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Man's ability to harness he boundless energy of the Atom has forever changed the world. Nuclear Pioneer Ted Rockwell recounts his role in "Creating the New World" in a series of thirteen essays describing the evolution of his 60 years in Nuclear Technology.
Rockwell is truly one of the American history's unsung heroes, having worked on the "Manhattan Project" supporting the development of the world's first Atomic Bomb, serving as Technical Director of Admiral Hyman Rickover's Nuclear Navy Program that founded America's Nuclear Navy and built the first commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport, PA, and co-founded a leading engineering firm specializing in high-reliability technologies. Rockwell is also the author or editor of several government publications, articles in trade magazines, as well as a book -- "The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made A Difference."
One of the most astonishing facets of Rockwell is that despite his incredible technical accomplishments, he is able to relate his experience in the nuclear industry in a way that non-technical people like myself understand and appreciate. Throughout the book he is able to relate political, social, and technical issues clearly and persuasively, to give an appreciation of the subject matter.
The first four chapters discuss his work in the Manhattan Project from the time he was recruited out of college into the program at Oak Ridge. He does a great job describing the life style during World War II, explaining how the people banded together to build a community dedicated and their optimism of ending the war through the secret weapon they were developing. The next three chapters mesh Rockwell's work in Rickover's nuclear navy program and explain how his work there defined the values and principles that ultimately made him who he is today. The remaining chapters discuss some of the defining moments later in his life, such as his work evaluating the Three Mile Island accident, discussing the fallacy of that being pro-environment means being anti-nuclear, and revealing the other 90% of nuclear uses that people rarely think of. His overall theme in this book is to show that nuclear technology is "understandable and beneficial" to society.
This book is a must read for anyone that works with nuclear technologies and particularly serves as a means of conveying the history of the industry to the next generation of nuclear workers. However, anyone seeking to learn more about the evolution of nuclear technologies from a historical perspective would also benefit.
The one flaw I found in this book is that it retells some of the same stories that were part of "The Rickover Effect," although at a different level. Then again, if the stories were not the same in both books, that would leave me scratching my head also.

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What They Say About The Book' Presents in vivid, human terms many of the young scientists and engineers who first harnessed this primal force, and the extraordinary times and environment in which they worked and lived...an enlightening and fascinating account. 'From the Foreword by the late Dr.GLENN T. SEABORG, Nobel Laureate, Co-discoverer of plutonium, Chairman, US Atomic Energy Commission, 1961-71' A unique contribution...I don't know of any other book that covers the same ground--which was ground zero for the evolution of this important and controversial technology... It doesn't hurt that you're an engaging storyteller and that you were present at the creation. 'RICHARD RHODES, Independent journalist and historian, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and a History of Science Society Award' His prose disproves the prevalent belief that no engineer can write. The sentences flow gracefully, with a feel for the rhythm of English that many who make a profession of writing would envy.'CONNIE BUCHANAN, Editor of Tom Clancy's 'Hunt for Red October.' 'Ted Rockwell takes countless disaggregated fragments of history and welds them together in a fascinating story that all Americans can read, understand, and enjoy. A gifted scientist, engineer, visionary, and author, Ted has been a front-line player throughout this Age - eminently qualified to tell us the true story and set the images straight.' Admiral James. Watkins, USN (ret), Chief of Naval Operations, 1982-86; Energy Sec, 1989-93. 'Ted Rockwell's engaging style and compelling first-hand account give an invaluable perspective on the Manhattan Project and its aftermath. Ted gives us a glimpse into the emotional and cultural realities of the Manhattan Project. His extraordinary gifts--as a scientist and raconteur--make this a uniquely insightful and entertaining

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