Weapons Grade; How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World

New York: Carroll & Graff Publishers, 2005. First Carroll & Graff Edition [Stated]. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Paul Thomas. xiv, 402 pages. Illustrations. List of Acronyms. Notes and References. Select Bibliography. Index. Black mark on bottom edge. David Hambling is a freelance journalist and author based in South London, specializing mainly in science, technology and strange phenomena. He has also made some forays into fiction: his latest book, Shadows from Norwood, is a collection of HP Lovecraft-inspired horror stories set in and around SE19. David Hambling tells the fascinating story of human ingenuity and the complex world it has created--a world at once safer and yet more perilous than ever. Throughout history, war and the threat of war have driven innovation and accelerated the uptake of new technology. Since 1945 the relationship between military needs and modern business has grown ever closer. With the skills of a master storyteller, Hambling traces the history of this relationship in the modern era and shows how precision eye surgery emerged out of the military quest for a "death ray," how transistors and silicon chips initially helped build better bombs, and exactly why the 747 has such a distinctive shape. Hambling explores the cutting edge of modern military research as he seeks to identify the technologies that will transform our lives in the decades to come. If history does repeat itself, Weapons Grade is much more than the story of how we got to where we are; it is the story of where we are going, for better or worse.