[.ca] Megawatts and Megatons: The Future of Nuclear Power and ... (ISBN 0226284271)

Hard to Recommend:
This is a strange book. Actually, it's two books in one, with a dopey chapter for children thrown in for good measure. The first half is about nuclear power, both in energy production and weapons. The second half is an editorial for nuclear disarmament. The authors make no attempt to divorce their politics from the discussion. Even the first, more substantive half of the book is liberally laced with disarmament talking points. Notwithstanding their views on disarmament, the authors support nuclear power and do a pretty good job explaining the scientific, financial and engineering aspects of the Peaceful Atom. If the portions on nuclear power were available separately as a pamphlet I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. On balance, however, those few chapters don't justify wading through the entire book.

Different subtitles, same book?:
You might think Megawatts and Megatons subtitled "The Future of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons" (paperback) would have different contents than the one subtitled "A Turning Point in the Nuclear Age" (hardback), like I did; however, with the exception of a new couple-page "Note to the Paperback Edition," I saw no differences. I'd suggest not falling for Amazon's Buy Both on these two, because you'll probably be disappointed to find out you got two editions of the same book.