The Curve of Binding Energy
By John McPhee

I had tried for years to comprehend nuclear power, and finally McPhee, by his magical ability to make the complex understandable, taught it to me. Still, I have to learn it over and over again. The knowledge is too terrible to carry in the front of my brain. People are in denial about the radioactive materials we've created and can't get rid of. If you read only one of the books on this list, let it be this one.