The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine


SCIENCE SALON # 107

Michael Shermer with Fred Kaplan — The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War

From the author of the classic The Wizards of Armageddon and Pulitzer Prize finalist comes the definitive history of American policy on nuclear war — and Presidents’ actions in nuclear crises — from Truman to Trump. Fred Kaplan takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories — based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents — of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today. Kaplan’s historical research and deep reporting will stand as the permanent record of politics. Discussing theories that have dominated nightmare scenarios from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kaplan presents the unthinkable in terms of mass destruction and demonstrates how the nuclear war reality will not go away, regardless of the dire consequences. Shermer and Kaplan also discuss:

  • Dr. Strangelove
  • The Doomsday Machine
  • Mutual Assured Destruction
  • game theory and the logic of deterrence
  • proliferation, non-proliferation, and the evolution of nuclear weapons and strategy
  • North Korea and why Kim Jong Un is not a madman
  • President Trump and how he has reminded us that The Bomb is here to stay
  • Israel and Iran
  • Reagan and Gorbachev
  • how conventional wars can escalate to nuclear war…but haven’t…yet, and
  • why we will never get to Nuclear Zero.

Fred Kaplan is the national-security columnist for Slate and the author of five previous books, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War (a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller), 1959: The Year Everything Changed, Daydream Believers, and The Wizards of Armageddon. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Brooke Gladstone.

Listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn.

Watch or listen now

You play a vital part in our commitment to promote science and reason. If you enjoy the Science Salon Podcast, please show your support by making a donation.


THE GREAT COURSES PLUS

Get unlimited access free for an entire month!

They say knowledge is power. Thanks to The Great Courses Plus we get to tap into this power with just a click. With this streaming service, unlock unlimited access to objective, reliable, fascinating information on virtually any subject. Learn from the brightest minds around the world, benefit from their years of experience and unique insight to help formulate our own knowledge and perspectives, so we can transform from a student into a master! With over 40 thousand 5-Star Reviews on The Great Courses Plus, you’re guaranteed to find compelling content.

Tap into this power of knowledge! Join me — and thousands of other learners — and sign up for The Great Courses Plus. For a limited time only, my listeners will get unlimited access completely free for an entire month! So don’t wait, sign up to start your Free Month Trial today. Simply use my special URL: thegreatcoursesplus.com/salon.

Get unlimited access completely free for an entire month

SKEPTIC 25.1

Order the print edition, or download the digital edition today!

Columns

The SkepDoc: Anti-Aging Myths, by Harriet Hall, M.D. • The Gadfly: The Gadfly How Would You Design a “Code of Conduct”? by Carol Tavris

Articles

Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories, by Michael Shermer • Apples and Oranges: The Misunderstood Art of Making Comparisons • Drone Sightings in the Midwest — But Rule Out the Mass Hysteria Explanation • What Board Games Teach Us About Capitalism and How to Modify It • Meditation as Ideology and Meditations on Meditation: A Scientific and Clinical Perspective • Biological Beauty • Integrative Cancer Care Below the Bar of Science • Can We Ever Explain It All? Eight Key Points from World History • Countless Counterfeits: A New Logically Fallacy?

Debate

Why We Are Living in a Post-Truth Era, by Lee McIntyre • The Truth About Post-Truth Truthiness, by Michael Shermer

Reviews

Reviews of: The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry; Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans; The Secret History of Magic: The True Story of the Deceptive Art; The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini; and Houdini: The Life and Times of the World’s Greatest Magician

Buy digital edition

Buy print edition

Subscribe digitally

Subscribe print

DIGITAL EDITION

On what devices can I read it?

Read the digital edition of Skeptic magazine on your Apple iPads and iPhones, Android tablets and phones, Amazon Kindle, Windows Surface and phones, or on your PC or Mac via PocketMags.com. Your magazine purchase(s) can easily be synchronized across multiple devices. Find out how to read Skeptic magazine on your favorite device(s).

30-DAY FREE TRIAL : We offer a 30-day free trial to new digital subscribers on annual subscriptions within the Skeptic Magazine App for iOS and Android devices.

JUNIOR SKEPTIC # 74

Are You Eating Fake Food?

Everybody eats food. Along with air, water, and shelter, food is a basic human need. Food is the most important thing we buy, and we can’t choose not to. We can’t survive without food! Almost no one in our culture is able to grow or forage for all of their own food. Even people who live on farms still buy ingredients for cooking and baking. Foods such as flour, sugar, and cheese need to be processed. Other foods come from far away places, such as tropical fruit, seafood, salt, spices, coffee, or tea. That means we have to rely on products sold in stores. But what happens when people sell food that isn’t what it’s supposed to be? Let’s find out!

Read more about
Junior Skeptic # 74

Order Skeptic Magazine 25.1
to get Junior Skeptic # 74

Junior Skeptic — an engagingly illustrated science and critical thinking publication for younger readers (and the young at heart) — is physically bound within each and every issue of Skeptic magazine. About 30 Junior Skeptic back issues are also available as single downloadable PDFs at an amazing price!

Skeptic Magazine App on iPhone

SKEPTIC App

Whether at home or on the go, the SKEPTIC App is the easiest way to read your favorite articles. Within the app, users can purchase the current issue and back issues. Download the app today and get a 30-day free trial subscription.

Download the Skeptic Magazine App for iOS, available on the App Store
Download the Skeptic Magazine App for Android, available on Google Play
SKEPTIC • 3938 State St., Suite 101, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105-3114 • 1-805-576-9396 • Copyright © 1992–2024. All rights reserved • Privacy Policy