I just read two books that I thought would be unrelated, but ended up being very related in a way that was fascinating to read the two in tandem — The Swerve by

I just read two books that I thought would be unrelated, but ended up being very related in a way that was fascinating to read the two in tandem — The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt, and The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. The Swerve is about Epicurus and Lucretius — who both helped popularize atomism 2000+ years ago. I never thought much of the philosophical implications of the world being made of up small, somewhat interchangeable parts — but this idea was at the core of Epicureanism, and had many implications. If you're interested in learning more about the history of atomic theory, I'd highly recommend The Making of the Atomic Bomb. It goes through the general history of science from the 1890s to the 1950s. There are brief biographies of people who played an important role — Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, Niels Bohr, and Albert Einstein (to name a few). Those were exciting times to be a physicist. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13707734-the-swerve https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13707734-the-swerve https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16884.The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16884.The_Making_of_the_...