Simultaneously riveting and chilling， Atoms and Ashes is a retelling of six major nuclear disasters， beginning with atomic bombs and then transitioning to reactors， developed both for peaceful purposes and for building bombs。 It is both startling and bleak how much risk we took with so little understanding of the physics behind nuclear energy。 This is an essential read for anyone who cares about the future of energy on the planet （which should be all of us）。 One thing that could have improved th Simultaneously riveting and chilling， Atoms and Ashes is a retelling of six major nuclear disasters， beginning with atomic bombs and then transitioning to reactors， developed both for peaceful purposes and for building bombs。 It is both startling and bleak how much risk we took with so little understanding of the physics behind nuclear energy。 This is an essential read for anyone who cares about the future of energy on the planet （which should be all of us）。 One thing that could have improved the presentation would have been to standardize the units used for describing radiation dose and radioactivity。 This would have also allowed a brief description of the biological effects of radiation as a function of dose， which is now well-known， but of course was not when most of these disasters occurred。 This would help the reader understand the biological impact of each event and see better how they relate in scale to each other。 Thank you to Serhii Plokhy， W。 W。 Norton Company， and Edelweiss for access to this free e-arc in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more