Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich

By Norman Ohler.

 

The Nazi's used lots of drugs. What surprised me is that todays big German drug companies (Merek, Bayer) produced high many high demand drugs (Heroin, Methamphetamine, OxyContin, etc) at that time.

 

The book follows four paths…

 

1. The use of Pervitin (Methamphetamine in pill form) by soldiers and pilots. This drug would allow the military to stay awake for days and was important part of how the Blitz over France succeeded. Of course there were the long term problems—addiction, psychosis, cardiac problems.
2. Hitler's use of drugs, starting with injections of vitamins and glucose and working his way up to many other drugs to help manage his illnesses. Hitler wanted to be strong and healthy at all times. This meant his personal doctor had to give him the right drugs to help him power through life's ups and downs. Eventually and unknowingly he became and addict. He experienced severe withdrawal symptoms when his supply ran out as Germany was collapsing.   
3. Experimenting with next generation super drugs on prisoners of war. The Nazi's would give Jews various combinations of cocaine, meth, OxyContin and other drugs then observe them over a 60 mile 2 day march.
4. The last desperate attempts to attack England using many two person mini subs. The plan required the soldiers to stay awake for four days using the best combinations of stimulants that the Germans knew of. Many of the soldiers got so disoriented from the drugs that they became disoriented, drown, or surrendered.

 

 

 

Reality Is Not What It Seams & Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Both by Carlo Rovelli

In many ways these are the same books, with content rearranged and reworded for different audiences. Not that this is bad. The content is very deep, and at times, technical. To even start to understand it I must go through it multiple times from different perspectives.

Rovelli weaves the points he wants to make in with the stories of their discoveries. Giving the history of each lesson helps inform the reader on the problem the lesson solved, and the thinking that lead up to the solution.

1. The Gravitational field is not diffused through space. The gravitational field is space itself.
2. The fundamental quanta of space doesn't always exist. It only exists when it interacts with something else.
3. The sun, earth, moon & stars are not unique. There are billions of them. Trillions?
4. There is no such thing as empty space. Even in a void particles wink into, and out of, existence.
5. Space has grains. There is a smallest quanta of space.
6. Heat and chaos give us a hint as to what time is. Time doesn't exist on the quantum level. It may be the product of entropy.

Rovelli has a bit of a frustration with quantum theory. Relativity is a theory with great simplicity and beauty. On the other hand, Quantum Theory appears to be an adhoc patchwork. Yet it can make extremely accurate predictions. And so it stands. He believes that the ultimate theory of everything will be a combination of Relativity, Quantum Theory and Thermal Dynamics. 

I love the audio book version of "Seven Brief Lessons On Physics" Rovelli reads it himself in a voice with a beautiful Italian accent.