The Ordinary Stuff Behind Technological Breakthroughs

Published in 1968, 'The Population Bomb' by Paul and Anne Ehrlich predicts catastrophic consequences, including mass starvation and environmental ruin, due to unchecked population growth. The book argues that immediate action is necessary to control population growth to prevent these dire outcomes. Although many of the Ehrlichs' predictions did not come to pass, the book significantly raised awareness about population and environmental issues and influenced public policy in the 1960s and 1970s. The authors emphasize the need for conscious regulation of human numbers and highlight the strain that growing populations place on the natural world.

This book provides a detailed and panoramic account of the development of the atomic bomb, starting from the early 19th-century discoveries in physics to the culmination of the Manhattan Project during World War II. It includes the contributions of key scientists such as Niels Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and others, and explores the scientific, political, and human aspects that led to the creation and use of the atomic bomb. The book won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for its rigorous scholarship and compelling narrative.