In Review

22 November 2008 00:45 BST

Doomsday Men by PD Smith

Published by Penguin, out now, hardback, 553pp, £20.

In a nutshell…

Academic, entertaining, informing thought-provoking.

What's it all about?

Scientists striving to create the ultimate superweapon forms the backbone to Smith's Doomsday Men, but (fortunately) it isn't all just protons, atoms and complicated formulas.

In fact Smith's study is as much about popular perceptions toward's humanity's devastating potential as it is about the development of them. Interspersed with the physics of destruction and biographical details of the key figures - Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein and co – are revealing selections of contemporary films, fiction and other media.

These show popular attitudes towards 'the bomb', initially featuring optimism but then – after the second world war – becoming somewhat scared. The book ends with humanity in possession of a capability that terrifies it – self-extinction.

Who's it by?

Peter Smith is an honorary research fellow at University College London, but spends much of his time reviewing books and writing for newspapers. He has a pedigree of this sort of research, including a study of German science from 1780 to 1955, as well as the obligatory review of Einstein. He's interested in linking up the 'two cultures' of science and literature – which is exactly what he does in this book.

As an example…

"The dream of the superweapon… emerged at this time in popular culture, springing up alongside the visions of scientific utopia. For the superweapon was going to achieve what empires and religions had been unable to do since civilization began – to bring peace to the world… the reality turned out to be somewhat different."

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

As Smith shows throughout, the concept of a superweapon devastating life on Earth is a rich source of drama for film-makers. Their have been hundreds of movies made on the subject and are likely to be many more. The idea is film-worthy – but a documentary based on this title would be a box-office flop.

So is it any good?

Smith claims the worlds of science and popular culture are closer than we all think, but his attempts to intersperse the two in this book are questionable. The relationship between B-movies showing mad scientists and the real physicists working in their labs is never made clear, meaning the switches between the two are sometimes awkward.

Fortunately, the scope of the subject matter is so big – the extinction of the human race is at stake, after all – that this weakness becomes only a minor disadvantage. Smith forces the reader to confront the concept of nuclear destruction and in doing so provokes the inevitable, slightly dizzy, response of abstract fear. He shows that reaction has pretty much underlined cultural references to superweapons ever since the initial hope that they might provide eternal peace withered and died. Yet as cold war paranoia set in, so the march of technology continued.

That, really, is the point of the book. Despite the flappings of concerned anti-bomb protestors we now live in a world where whole cities can be wiped out "from a single bomb dropped from a single plane, high in the sky". We don't like it, but that's the way it is. After reading this book, we really don't like it at all.

8/10

Alex Stevenson