I’ve been absent here for over a month. I’m sure you’ll forgive me when you hear that, after all these years, I spent that time reaching the point of a working book manuscript. I’ve had drafts of all fifteen chapters for a couple of years but those drafts retained pockets of narrative and stylistic weakness. What I had was not quite a “manuscript,” a document I could legitimately hand to others to peruse.
Now I do have a manuscript. It’s not ready for prime time yet. I need to spend some weeks sharpening the prose and reexamining the overall story. Then it will need to crawl through all the rigors of modern publication before it reaches “publication date.” But I do have a manuscript and I am over the moon.
What I also now possess is a book title. You can see it above. The image in no way reflects what the final book cover will present, it’s just a formal statement of the book’s name. Let’s dissect this baby’s moniker. It is part of a series, three books that will relate an 85-year tale of scientific miracle, energy technology, and societal controversy. The series title is…
Reactor: A Global History of Nuclear Power
Dwell on that, please. The series won’t tackle nuclear weapons or many important but arguably less important aspects of what nuclear fission can do, such as medical isotopes. What the series is about is peaceful (I know, I know, there can be some controversy here, but stay with me) power reactors that form nuclear-fission-powered plants generating electricity. It’s about those reactors we call “power reactors,” the energy we call “nuclear energy.”
Note also that the series is “global.” I’ve tried to give due weight to the nuclear plants of every nation, from America to Argentina, Ukraine to the United Kingdom, India to Italy. I don’t think anyone else has attempted such a kaleidoscopic history.
The manuscript I’m so proud of (while fretting over its ongoing shortcomings, shortcomings I’m going to eliminate before publication) is Volume I of the three-volume series. Its title is…
Visions: Volume I, 1942-1957
Think on that title. Visions? What does that mean? Well, wait and see. Read the book, right?
And the span of years, 1942 to 1957? Only fifteen years? It turns out the 85-year history, from the first reactor in 1942 to 2027 (when I’ll finish Volume III), builds on a mammoth technical, geopolitical, and societal foundation that was erected during the first decade and a half. Only by putting in place that foundation can I progress more rapidly through two volumes traversing the remaining 70 years. Does that make sense? Maybe, maybe not? Stick with me.
And what about this newsletter? Over the past eight years, I’ve been doling out offcuts and remnants from all my research and writing on the topic of nuclear power. None of them have been earth shattering but I’ve loved musing about them, and surely one is allowed to indulge ones musings?
I’ll continue to look for snippets to share. But increasingly, I’ll also share the ongoing preparation of the actual book. When will that hit the bookstores and the online stores? It’s a little early to be accurate about that but let me say I’m hoping for the first quarter of 2026.
Need I say this is one of the most thrilling times of my life? I hope you’ll continue to find this newsletter, as it evolves, both intriguing and inspiring.