Thu, Feb 15
|Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse
Sarah Scoles, Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons
For fans of Oppenheimer, a riveting investigation into the modern nuclear weapons landscape. In Countdown, science journalist Sarah Scoles uncovers a different atomic reality: the nuclear age’s present. A co-presentation with Global Santa Fe.
Date, Time & Location
Feb 15, 2024, 6:00 PM
Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 202 Galisteo St, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
About the Event
This event is co-sponsored by Global Santa Fe. Sarah Scoles will be in conversation with Jim Falk, Global Santa Fe's Program Chair
This will be an in-store conversation and live streamed to Zoom, register here for Zoom.
Pre-order your copy of Countdown ($30, hardcover) from CW online here or call the store to order (505) 988-4226. Book publishes February 6.
About the Book
Nuclear weapons are, today, as important as they were during the Cold War, and some experts say we could be as close to a nuclear catastrophe now as we were at the height of that conflict. Despite that, conversations about these bombs generally often happen in past tense. Drawing from years of on-the-ground reporting at the nation's nuclear weapons labs, Scoles interrogates the idea that having nuclear weapons keeps us safe, deterring attacks and preventing radioactive warfare. She deftly assesses the existing nuclear apparatus in the United States, taking readers beyond the news headlines and policy-speak to reveal the state of nuclear-weapons technology, as well as how people currently working within the U.S. nuclear weapons complex have come to think about these bombs and the idea that someone, someday, might use them. Through a sharp, surprising, and undoubtedly urgent narrative, Scoles brings us out of the Cold War and into the twenty-first century, opening readers' eyes to the true nature of nuclear weapons and their caretakers while also giving us the context necessary to understand the consequences of their existence, for worse and for better, for now and for the future.
About the Author
Sarah Scoles is a Colorado-based science journalist, a contributing editor at Scientific American, and a senior contributor at Undark. Her work has appeared in publications like the New York Times, Wired, Popular Science, the Washington Post, and she writes about the effects science and technology have on society. Her previous books are Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers, and Astronomical Mindfulness. Previously, she was an associate editor at Astronomy and a public education officer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.
About Global Santa Fe
Global Santa Fe is an education-based non-profit that ignites dialogue around critical world issues. Their intellectual and cultural leadership empowers their members, educators, students and communities to be more informed and engaged through three interconnected program areas: Dialogue & Diplomacy, which includes the celebrated Under Fire series, Cultural/Professional Exchange with international visitors, and inspiring Student Education and Travel.