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85 Seconds to Midnight

A Physicist's Argument Against Rearmament

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85 Seconds to Midnight

By: Carlo Rovelli
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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A warning to humankind from one of the world’s greatest physicists
'What drives these pages is the guilty conscience of my profession, theoretical physics. My sole aim is to help avert what seems to me to be the unintended, yet scarcely avoidable, end point of the current politics of the governments we have elected: nuclear war.'
The world is rearming and embroiled in endless conflict. The Doomsday Clock has now been set to 85 seconds to midnight, with the risk of nuclear war the highest it has ever been. Why do we always fail to learn from the past?
In this urgent book, acclaimed physicist Carlo Rovelli reframes the history of nuclear weapons: from how the atomic bomb was born to why Germany didn't build it and why the US used it, to the narrowly averted disasters of the Cold War and the political brinkmanship careering out of control today.
As he grapples with the legacy of his scientific forebears, Rovelli spotlights the true nature of the decisions being made by leaders around the world today. A timely and ardent warning, this searing reckoning with short-sighted politics is essential reading for anyone seeking sanity at our moment of greatest peril.

© Carlo Rovelli 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Military Science Weapons & Warfare
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I often think that Carlo Rovelli's mind would be a wonderful place to experience. Of course, this is an experience I will never have, but his books give us a glimpse of what's going on there. If only our leaders could take their minds away from their obsessions with money and power, nationalism and righteousness, and become humble in the realisation of how little we really understand of the universe of which we are inseparately a part, then humanity might stand a chance of living in peace and of not destroying the environment upon which its multitude of lives depend.

An Invaluable Message for All Humanity

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