I'd wanted to read this book for a long time, and while interesting, I was a bit disappointed by the degradation of my understanding chemistry and physics, and  by the simultaneous depth and shallowness of the material addressed. The focus of the book is split between the mechanical and chemical aspects of nuclear science and industry, and the human side of atomic accidents. It's length and the information density makes it hard to recall what occurred at the beginning of the book, by the end. That being said, this was a very interesting read!