Six Minutes to Winter: Nuclear War and How to Avoid It
May 2025 · Bloomsbury Publishing
Ebook
304
Pages
About this ebook
'Terrifying and timely, this is a book everyone should read and heed' - George Monbiot
'Urgent, gripping and sobering, Six Minutes to Winter is a hair-raising wake-up call' - David Wallace-Wells
'Powerful and insightful. Although many have forgotten about nuclear weapons, we shouldn't'
- Charles Oppenheimer
The world is currently closer to superpower conflict than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. World War III is a real possibility, and with 12,000 warheads in the arsenals of more than half a dozen countries, we are standing on a nuclear knife edge.
Despite receiving very little attention, nuclear war is a far greater threat to humanity's immediate survival than climate change. While climate heating threatens humanity over many decades, nuclear war could destroy civilisation in just a few hours. A major missile exchange would mean months of near-total darkness, followed by a decade-long global nuclear winter that would destroy most life on Earth. Virtually everyone would starve in the resulting worldwide famine, and there would be no reliable refuge.
We are sleepwalking to Armageddon. There are no mass marches, no COPs, no nuclear Greta. But the climate experience teaches us that ignoring a problem is no solution, and that a worldwide mobilisation can work. Six Minutes to Winter presents an unflinching view of the nuclear nightmare, but also describes how weapons can be taken off hair-trigger alert and ultimately abolished altogether. If human civilisation is to survive long term, we have no alternative.
'Urgent, gripping and sobering, Six Minutes to Winter is a hair-raising wake-up call' - David Wallace-Wells
'Powerful and insightful. Although many have forgotten about nuclear weapons, we shouldn't'
- Charles Oppenheimer
The world is currently closer to superpower conflict than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. World War III is a real possibility, and with 12,000 warheads in the arsenals of more than half a dozen countries, we are standing on a nuclear knife edge.
Despite receiving very little attention, nuclear war is a far greater threat to humanity's immediate survival than climate change. While climate heating threatens humanity over many decades, nuclear war could destroy civilisation in just a few hours. A major missile exchange would mean months of near-total darkness, followed by a decade-long global nuclear winter that would destroy most life on Earth. Virtually everyone would starve in the resulting worldwide famine, and there would be no reliable refuge.
We are sleepwalking to Armageddon. There are no mass marches, no COPs, no nuclear Greta. But the climate experience teaches us that ignoring a problem is no solution, and that a worldwide mobilisation can work. Six Minutes to Winter presents an unflinching view of the nuclear nightmare, but also describes how weapons can be taken off hair-trigger alert and ultimately abolished altogether. If human civilisation is to survive long term, we have no alternative.
'Terrifying and timely, this is a book everyone should read and heed' - George Monbiot
'Urgent, gripping and sobering, Six Minutes to Winter is a hair-raising wake-up call' - David Wallace-Wells
'Powerful and insightful. Although many have forgotten about nuclear weapons, we shouldn't'
- Charles ...
Discover more
About the author
Mark Lynas is the author of five major works of popular science; his climate book Six Degrees won the 2008 Royal Society prize and was translated into 22 languages. He has written for the Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post, and appeared in the films Pandora's Promise and The Island President. He has co-authored peer-reviewed scientific papers on climate change, misinformation, GMOs and vaccines, and is policy lead at the worldwide pro-science environmental campaign network WePlanet.
Mark Lynas is the author of five major works of popular science; his climate book Six Degrees won the 2008 Royal Society prize and was translated into 22 languages. He has written for the Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post, and appeared in the films Pandora's Promise and The Island Pres...
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
