Welcome along to another in my series of occasional book reports. These are currently lifted from my heavily-laden atomic bookshelf but I may also turn my attention to some titles around autism and neurodivergence next year to coincide with the new themed season in my movie club The Film Thread, we shall see.

Till then, please do settle in to enjoy my overview and thoughts on what proved to be a smart charity shop purchase of mine some years back - not just for the illuminating contents, but because it seems this book is rather a rare beast.

The only copy I could find available to purchase online is currently going for an eye-watering £180 on Oxfam Books! Abebooks, Amazon & Ebay all drew a blank (though you can buy a hoodie with the cover printed on if that appeals!)

I found this an incredibly interesting read and enjoyed learning more about the woman who wrote it and the Penguin series it’s a part of, as well as brushing up on the basics of atoms, ions and radioactivity and getting a first hand look at atomic issues from the distinct perspective of the mid-1960s, when both nuclear fallout and casual sexism were rife!

Here are a few links I mention in the video:

* Penguin Specials – because we’ve been here before on so many contemporary issues - this blog post highlights a host of other titles in the Penguin Specials series (and their eye-catching covers) and gives a great sense of the depth, breadth and serious-minded approach that underlay it

* Margot Bennett (writer) - her Wikipedia entry if you’d like to find out more about her eventful & varied career (this footnote in particular is well worth a click - it takes you straight to the Google Books upload of a 1993 cultural history book on 18th to 20th century images of gender in science & medicine whose Afterword discusses The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Atomic Radiation)

* The Long Way Back (1954) - Bennett’s sci-fi novel about African colonisation of Britain in a far future after a nuclear holocaust wiped out most of humanity

* Ninki by Margaret - a highly recommended Substack with art, culture and memoir written by Bennett’s namesake. By chance her latest post is (partly) about one of my all time favourite documentary series)

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