David DeKok became interested in environmental disasters in his native Michigan in 1974, when PBB, a fire-retardant chemical, was accidentally mixed with animal feed, entered the food chain, and then most people in the state, probably including himself. As a journalist in Pennsylvania, he wrote extensively about the Centralia mine fire and the aftermath of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, and is the author of four books. He tends to write about small towns and small-town people in crisis.
We Almost Lost Detroit was published in the mid-1970s at a time of growing concern over nuclear power in America that would reach a boiling point with the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. There was no love lost between the two sides. Utility executives were believed to be liars trying to save their investment in a costly, difficult technology. Nuclear critics were portrayed by the industry as deluded tree-huggers. It was a real debate with real consequences, and this book shows why. The cover of the Ballantine paperback edition shows the terrified face of a man inside a radiation protective suit.
A valuable contribution to the debate over nuclear power, this book documents the Fermi accident that so frightened the AEC and nuclear industry that they did not want the details and significance leaked to the public. At the time of the publication of this book, many critics of nuclear power were demanding to know all the pertinent information regarding the safety of nuclear reactors.
I’ve spent decades showing people the beauty of space in my telescope, and volunteering for a college/park observatory, and NASA’s JPL Solar System Ambassador program here in Kentucky. My question – was it a waste of time? I should have been selling humanity on love and setting aside hatred. What is the point of dreaming of going to the stars if we are only going to take the same hatred with us. I write to cry my thoughts into words and attempt in some small part to bring hope that we can leave hatred behind, embrace diversity, and use the wonders of science to colonize our solar system and beyond.
My father and I were both speechless after reading this book. We were unable to put into words our rage at this nuclear energy cover-up. Instead of developing clean nuclear energy that could fuel the world, the world pursued nuclear energy that could destroy humanity. There is enough thorium to fuel the world and beyond for centuries. However, it cannot be used to make bombs. With the world in an energy crisis, we hoped writing letters to the Senator of Kentucky would give life to the idea of using thorium once again. Sadly, some only care about destroying cities. Everyone should read this book and learn about the alternative to uranium.
At the dawn of the atomic age, uranium and thorium were equally important as the elements of choice in researching nuclear energy - either one could have powered the world's reactors. But it was uranium that won out, and thorium, which is far cleaner, safer, and more abundant than uranium, was relegated to the dustbin of science. With it went the possibility of creating a low-risk nuclear energy source to power our planet. Now, as the world searches for cheap, non-carbon-emitting energy sources, thorium is reemerging as an overlooked solution. As one of the first energy experts to promote the…
I have always had a passion to engage with the deepest questions of existence, from the interpretation of quantum mechanics to string theory and cosmology. My desire to understand is driven purely by curiosity, and my aim in writing about these topics is to make the wonders of the universe as widely accessible as possible. But scientific knowledge and the advance of technology also has a potentially darker side. It is vital for the future of humanity that science is widely understood so that democratic informed decisions can be made to safeguard against its misuse, and this was the motivation for recommending my list of books.
James Mahaffey is an American physicist who worked in the nuclear industry for many years.
Atomic Accidents is his engaging account of what happens when something goes badly wrong. What I particularly like is that it is written from the perspective of someone who completely understands the science and who is also well informed by his first-hand experience of working with nuclear technology.
Although Mahaffey is clearly a supporter of nuclear research and the nuclear industry, the book presents an objective balanced picture, acknowledging the risks of nuclear technology, but placing the scale of those risks into context. The book is full of interesting stories and offers some reassurance that the nuclear industry is able to learn from the mistakes of the past.
I think that the atomic bomb project can only be compared in complexity to putting a man on the Moon, and this Pulitzer Prize winning book by Richard Rhodes describes all the process, from the discovery of fission in the 19th century to the Manhattan Project and the dropping of two bombs to end the Second World War.
The book covers so many famous names (Einstein, Curie, Fermi, Teller, Heisenberg, Dirac, von Neumann, Feynman, and obviously Oppenheimer, among many more) and also discusses sidelines, such as the secret missions planned to impede the Nazis from developing their own weapon.
I’m neither a physicist nor a historian, but the book grabbed me, and I finished it in a very few short days.
With a brand new introduction from the author, this is the complete story of how the bomb was developed. It is told in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly -- or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity there was a span of hardly more than twenty-five years. What began as merely an interesting speculative problem in physics grew into the Manhattan…
From the age of 11, and an encounter with an illustrated anthology entitled The World of Zen, I have been drawn to and fascinated by the spiritual, philosophical, and folkloric aspects of East Asian Culture. I studied the subject at Cambridge University and subsequently trained in Zen Shiatsu therapy. Most of my books draw from my passion for East Asian culture, and Japan in particular. I have travelled widely in Japan over the last two decades, and for Tsunami Girl spent four years researching, interviewing survivors, and visiting Fukushima. I am now working on a new book on Japanese yōkai and ghosts…
This collection of Katsumata’s manga for legendary gekiga magazine Garo and others is a powerful graphic bridge between the politics and reality of this world, and the creatures and legends of the other. Katsumata takes us from the transitory and dangerous lives of nuclear workers at Fukushima Daiichi (decades before the 2011 disaster) to the tough and haunted lands of Tohoku (North East Japan) in the early twentieth century. Lonely kappa monsters, tanuki, and fox spirits feature as sympathetic lead characters, shapeshifting and conjuring a version of Fukushima and Tohoku that dazzled and inspired me.
A collection of manga examining Japan's fascination with nuclear power and its dangers and possibilities. FUKUSHIMA DEVIL FISH: ANTI-NUCLEAR MANGA, the fifth volume in the Breakdown Press manga line, collects Katsumata Susumu's nuclear energy related work from the '80s and '90s, produced in the wake of investigative news reports about unreported accidents and dangerous working conditions at Japan's nuclear power plants. Two outstanding works in the collection, "Deep Sea Fish" (1984) and "Devil Fish" (1989), are poetic stories treating the daily trials of maintenance and janitorial workers at Japan's nuclear plants. Due to poor pay, hazardous working conditions, and migrant…
Plus, Tai's
7, 11, and 13-year-old's favorite books.
Why did Tai love this book?
Theodore Rockwell was a nuclear pioneer, and one of Admiral Rickover’s right-hand men during a dynamic period of America’s nuclear coming-of-age.
Although Creating the New World is largely about the early dawn of radiological science as we know it today, Rockwell’s lifetime of experiences lend to some ridiculously amazing stories. I absolutely love the humor and warmth in his writing; who knew a book about scientific history and principles could be laugh-out-loud funny?
But this book also challenged some of my long-held beliefs and understanding about radiation; while being entertaining, Creating the New World is also deeply provocative.
What They Say About The Book' Presents in vivid, human terms many of the young scientists and engineers who first harnessed this primal force, and the extraordinary times and environment in which they worked and lived...an enlightening and fascinating account. 'From the Foreword by the late Dr.GLENN T. SEABORG, Nobel Laureate, Co-discoverer of plutonium, Chairman, US Atomic Energy Commission, 1961-71' A unique contribution...I don't know of any other book that covers the same ground--which was ground zero for the evolution of this important and controversial technology... It doesn't hurt that you're an engaging storyteller and that you were present at…
I love nuclear terrorism plots, but most don’t really hold together. The minute details and timing in the countdown to the attack are the glue that holds this book together.
It takes a nuclear reactor expert even to know that some of these security measures exist. I like the way the bad guys get tripped up on little details as well as the way that the good guys use knowledge of the details to detect anomalies in the system and what could be causing them.
This is a strong, straightforward, manly writing style that keeps the temperature up and the pages turning.
Terrorists have infiltrated the staff of the Desert Canyons nuclear power station. They want to melt it down and spread radioactive waste all over Southern California. Think it can't happen today? Think again. At two in the morning in 2013, an unknown hooded person infiltrated a nuclear power plant in Tennessee. Shots were fired. It never made national news. None of what you read here ever happened, the cover-up was too complete. This story is based on actual events.
For me, writing fiction is a way of tackling issues of fate and identity through storytelling. I believe we’re each the result of an intersection between personality and history and I’m interested in the way our time and place impacts us and creates a backdrop for our lives. My first novel, The Wayward Moon, is historical fiction set in the 9th-century Middle East. My second novel follows a Jewish family back six generations to Belarus. But no matter what period I’m writing about, the most important thing is always to tell a good story.
I’m always impressed by writers who are able to dream up an original plot, and then make that plot come alive on the page.
The book tells the story of three generations of Russian women in the second half of the twentieth century. It’s a very unusual blend of Sci-fi, geopolitical history, time travel, and moral dilemmas. A tall order, but the book succeeds in weaving together these narrative strands in a way that feels natural and effortless, while evoking questions about our complex relationship with the notion of scientific progress.
"The novel is masterfully plotted.”—New York Times Book Review
“Atomic Anna is a dazzling work of ingenuity and imagination.”―Téa Obreht,National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Inland
From the author of A Bend in the Stars, an epic adventure as three generations of women work together and travel through time to prevent the Chernobyl disaster and right the wrongs of their past.
Three brilliant women. Two life-changing mistakes. One chance to reset the future.
