So damnably readable. It drives the vision of a world trembling on the edge of a fatal precipice deep into your mind ... a piece of work of the deepest import, with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel

Do you really want to read about the thermonuclear warheads that are still aimed at the city where you live? Do you really need to know about the appalling security issues that have dogged nuclear weapons in the 70 years since their invention? Yes, you do. In Schlosser's hands it is a reading treat ... he's a natural genius

Part techno-thriller, part careful historical investigation ... beautifully written and impressively researched

Brilliant, gripping, chilling

The author of Fast Food Nation does for the American nuclear industry what he did for industrial food production

Eric Schlosser detonates a truth bomb in Command and Control

Deeply reported, deeply frightening . . . a techno-thriller of the first order

An excellent journalistic investigation of the efforts made since the first atomic bomb was exploded, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, to put some kind of harness on nuclear weaponry. By a miracle of information management, Schlosser has synthesized a huge archive of material, including government reports, scientific papers, and a substantial historical and polemical literature on nukes, and transformed it into a crisp narrative covering more than fifty years of scientific and political change. And he has interwoven that narrative with a hair-raising, minute-by-minute account of an accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas, in 1980, which he renders in the manner of a techno-thriller . . . Command and Control is how nonfiction should be written

A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. . . . fascinating

Command and Control ranks among the most nightmarish books written in recent years; and in that crowded company it bids fair to stand at the summit. It is the more horrific for being so incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable. Page after relentless page, it drives the vision of a world trembling on the edge of a fatal precipice deep into your reluctant mind . . . a work with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel . . . Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best when at full stretch: he has spent time - years - researching, interviewing, understanding and reflecting to give us a piece of work of the deepest import

Perilous and gripping . . . Schlosser skillfully weaves together an engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear weapons safety . . . The story of the missile silo accident unfolds with the pacing, thrill and techno details of an episode of 24

Disquieting but riveting . . . fascinating . . . Schlosser's readers (and he deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the people he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and nuclear war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to human wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly need many more of it in the years to come

Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I've ever read, Schlosser's six-year investigation of America's 'broken arrows' (nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical-this stuff is top secret, after all-but the book is beyond relevant. It's critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on hair-trigger alert . . . Command and Control reads like a character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting, extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches, dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous occasions

A powerful mix of history, politics, and technology, told with impressive authority

Eric Schlosser brings the investigative rigour of his big hit Fast Food Nation to this overview of our global nuclear arsenal

Local history raised by water power to the status of allegorical memoir... In searching for the Wye, the author is also looking for something that is 'far more deeply interfused'

The author has a fine eye for the telling detail, and an even finer ear; the human noise which drowns out the gentler sounds of nature has seldom been anatomised better

This is an intimate exploration of the interaction between humans and landscape down the ages

A compelling read

A fascinating and fun read

The Knowledge impresses as a condensed history of scientific progress, and will pique curiosity among readers who regret daydreaming throughout school chemistry lessons. Like this reviewer, some will be troubled by their ignorance of the basics, and how useless that could render them if the lights do go out

A hymn to human ingenuity… Essential reading

If the world ends with a bang or a whimper make sure you have a copy of this book to hand, or you won’t have a clue how to survive or kick-start the new civilisation

An engaging and wide-ranging discussion of the scientific discoveries and technological innovations that underpin our lives… Littered with fascinating facts and an infectious enthusiasm for science and technology shines through in the accessible and lively writing… An absorbing thought experiment which celebrates the insight and ingenuity which has made this habitable planet into a civilized world

There is no better guide to the basic science and engineering that underlies our everyday life than this clear and fascinating book

A great idea for a book… Excellent and intriguing

The conceit that this is a handbook for rebooting modern civilization is really just a cute way of framing what turns out to be a terrifically engrossing history of science and technology

There is great depth and insight in The Knowledge, which is brilliantly imaginative and thorough in its study of science and technology

This book should be on everyone’s bookshelf, just in case the worst happens… The one guide you need to rebuild civilisation

an eye-opening dose of fantastical reality