I had about two hours in the library yesterday, since it was raining and my wife had no projects for me, was busy herself, and my sons were visiting friends.
I found the Glasstone book and was very surprised at how wonderful it was.
My kid recently insisted on buying Pauling's General Chemistry even though I have a copy here of my own. He wanted a copy that was his, because even though the book is decades old, it still is written in a way that's clear and inspiring, and gives a feel for bonding that one just doesn't see elsewhere, coming from a pioneer.
It's timeless.
Another book that's timeless, that will still be worth reading after decades have passed is McQuarrie's Quantum Chemistry.
The Nuclear Energy Sourcebook has that quality.
My life might well have been different if my parents, back in 1967 - neither of whom finished high school and one of whom never went to high school - had known that such a book existed. As it was, the only academic book we owned in 1967 was a Bible Commentary from a Theology School, although I recall that year my parents really struggled to find the money to buy the Encyclopedia Britannica; certainly a worthwhile purchase for students before the internet.
The Nuclear Energy Sourcebook, from what I gathered as I peeked at the text while scanning it, surveys the development of atomic theory right from ancient times through Dalton, Boltzman, Einstein, Bohr and is written clearly and certainly at a level that a precocious high school student could easily read with not too much strain, while covering the topic without compromise. After more than half a century the book still gives, from what I can see, an excellent feel. (The brief preface is written with a reproduced signature of Glenn Seaborg, then serving as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.)
Very, very, very beautifully done.
I really can't thank you enough for pointing it out. If I ever have grandchildren, and live long enough to see them, I'm going to point it out, and if their dad turns out to be my youngest son, he can also give the Pauling's book to read, because again, they are timeless and still true.
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