History, War Strategies and Physics Combined
By Barry Parker
Prometheus Books, $25.95, 340 pages
Here is a wonderful, very well-written, most entertaining book even the most pacifist liberals will enjoy reading. The Physics of War is mostly about how physics was used starting with the primitive bow and arrow through numerous development of equally numerous wars to satellites and drones of today. Those readers who love to read the history of wars and how they were won by brilliant tactics, strategies and new weaponry will thoroughly enjoy this volume. And those who love science and physics will also be captivated. Luckily author Barry Parker is an excellent writer and both his writing skill and the many stories will keep you turning pages for hours. The sixty-nine excellent black-and-white sketches help you visualize such things as what a chariot looks like, the groves in the riffle barrel and how the neutron chain reaction works. Many sketches of people who made such developments possible are scattered throughout the book.
“Physics, and science in general, has, indeed, been of tremendous value to military leaders.”
This is both a popular and an academic text with superscript numbers referring to Notes at the end of the book. There is no index but the list of content is so extensive that it’s not needed.
Reviewed by George Erdosh
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