The Doomsday Machine by Daniel Ellsberg

Ellsberg was one of the folks who worked with the RAND Corporation and the Department of Defense to plan for the possibility of an all-out nuclear war. This book is an autobiographical account of that work.

The book walks through some of the more harrowing incidents in human history in minute detail, and it has sent chills down my spine for some time. Even if you’re not a pacifist, the work will have you second-guessing whether or not any government should have nuclear weapons in the first place.