PD Smith

Herr Einstein, that’s nonsense!

30 June 2007 | Doomsday Men, Einstein, H-bomb, SF, Szilard | 4 comments

Nov­el­ist Tibor Fis­ch­er has writ­ten a great review of my book, Dooms­day Men in today’s Dai­ly Tele­graph. I just thought I’d share a few quotes with you:

“Dooms­day Men does­n’t just deal with ther­monu­clear destruc­tion. It’s a metic­u­lous account of weapons of mass destruc­tion and the sci­ence and sci­en­tists behind them. Indeed, it is two books for the price of one, because it is also a cul­tur­al dis­qui­si­tion. Smith scours fic­tion for visions of death rays and lurid imag­in­ings of Armaged­don to show how writ­ers often pre­ced­ed or influ­enced sci­en­tists.”

As well as describ­ing Dooms­day Men as “read­able and enter­tain­ing”, Fis­ch­er thinks I deserve “some sort of award for val­ue for mon­ey”. Well at least you know that if you buy my book, you’re not being short-changed!

You can read the whole review, “But, Herr Ein­stein, that’s non­sense!”, here.

4 comments so far:

  1. Paul Halpern | 30 June 2007

    A won­der­ful review indeed! Many con­grat­u­la­tions on the well-deserved recog­ni­tion.

  2. PD Smith | 30 June 2007

    Thanks Paul!

  3. shannon | 30 June 2007

    Great Review! Here’s hop­ing for many more to come. I won­der what Ein­stein was talk­ing about when Szilárd said it was non­sense? Do you say in your book? I know, I’ll just have to read it, right? Well, I intend to soon.
    Sci­ence is such a dou­ble edged sword. It tru­ly can bring out the best or worst in human­i­ty.

  4. PD Smith | 30 June 2007

    cheers Shan­non! Just in case you can’t wait to read it in the book, Ein­stein was telling his Berlin col­leagues how to con­duct an exper­i­ment with X‑rays. Must have been a great moment…