DD 171-175.999 (Tony) A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World by Stephen R. Bown (174.95 BOW)

I waited a really long time to read this book. In case you forgot, I recently had to skip another sectio of this project due to the absence of any books to be found at several libraries. So when it came time to go on to the next section, I forgot that 170 was part of 166-170.999 and not part of this section. Well, I really wanted to read this book, and I didn't want to wait either for it to come free in case by the time I got to read this book it was already checked out.

Late Victorian era to post World War II history is getting to be my favorite time period. I just read a book an awesome book about a Serial Killer at the 1893 World's Fair and I just adore Chrichton's "The Great Train Robbery"- so this really fit the bill. The books main focus in the Life of Alfred Nobel up to the nomination of Fritz Haber to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry- in the focus of Explosives! There also back history in the area of explosive warfare and the nitrate and guano trades- and those areas seem to be Bown's weak spot.

In the first day, I read 93 pages, so I was very engrossed, but the first chapter did take a little "elbow grease" to get through. But, once the author starts to narrow down his focus to Nobel and later Haber, he really thrives. So please give this book a couple of chapters- it really gets good! You might even say it's dynamite!