Red mercury rising

I tend to start a lot of books in parallel and then misplace them for a few months before remembering to go back and finish them. Not many books can keep my full attention from cover-to-cover. “Shame” by Sam Cohen is among the rare exceptions where I simply can’t set a book down until completed. Cohen was part of the Manhattan Project and the first proponent of the neutron bomb. His work with and for such luminaries as Oppenheimer, Teller, von Neumann, and the notorious Jess Marcum gave him a front-row seat to military science and policy in the 20th century. While the view of the theater was good the script was almost tragic; his dealings with the US Congress, black comedy.

What if nuclear weapons development and military policy was in the hands of naive and unqualified men? What if RAND didn’t give good advice? What if the scientists bickered and argued like teenagers? What if the math behind nuclear weapons was half wrong? What if leading Congressional officials didn’t know what a neutron was? And what if all your allies go into early retirement at the hands of politicians?

While that might sound like a bad movie the reality Cohen paints is that we really were (are!) dangerously ignorant and military policy makers are severely uninformed (especially) when it comes to nuclear weapons. Regardless of the ‘best and the brightest’ they were all just human at Los Alamos and that is where it all started to go horribly wrong. Not to say Cohen doesn’t give credit where it’s due, he certainly does, but he also points out the more primal side of genius. Stomping and hollering at Los Alamos to celebrate Hiroshima? Not Army cadets but the Ph.D.s behind Little Boy.

Cohen’s writing style is somewhere between blogger and documentary director. While that might not make for a publisher’s dream it sure made it an easier read on me. His mind moved between topics much like mine does so the flow, however chaotic, actually worked to keep me attentive and intrigued. Scatter in a few expletives and heaping amounts of bluntness and you have the makings of an under-published gem.

At times the book reads like one long apology to those Cohen feels he has wronged. At other times you want to shake Cohen’s hand and buy him a beer for being such a good guy. Most of the time you just sit perplexed at the chaos that surrounds our nuclear weapons policy (and try not to think how far reaching that chaos is). Along the way you’ll get plenty of tidbits on Eisenhower, Nixon, McNamara, LeMay, Reagan, Bush 41, France, China, and red mercury, .. come to think of it, it’s remarkable the book wasn’t a few hundred pages longer. I would have enjoyed that immensely I suspect.

I have difficultly writing book reviews without sounding like a ranting lunatic. And more so in the case of this book because to piece together what Cohen presents would take far too many hours (trust me, I tried). As a disclaimer you should know I read the first edition (2000) and have since found a PDF for the third edition (2006). I have just started reading through the update for differences documented and undocumented. Wait a second… I am a ranting lunatic. *phew*

UPDATE 02082007: A few other notes of interest regarding this book. Cohen tells a few stories about security (and insecurity) at the national labs. It’s most interesting to see how people respond to those in authority regardless of security regulations. As a security professional I certainly related and took notes. Another recurring theme in Cohen’s writing is the cost ineffectiveness of numerous military programs of fame (e.g. B-2 stealth bomber). And in the third edition I’m happy to see some discussion of the current Iraq debacle and a new epilogue. Beside the new title, everything about the latest edition (local mirror) is superior to the first print edition.

I suddenly have the urge to watch “The Day After Trinity” and “The Fog of War” again. Cheers, -Ali