Product Description

Nuclear power is a paradox of danger and salvation—how is it that the renewable energy source our society so desperately needs is the one we are most afraid to use? The American public's introduction to nuclear technology was manifested in destruction and death. With Hiroshima and the Cold War still ringing in our ears, our perception of all things nuclear is seen through the lens of weapons development. Nuclear power is full of mind-bending theories, deep secrets, and the misdirection of public consciousness, some deliberate, some accidental. The result of this fixation on bombs and fallout is that the development of a non-polluting, renewable energy source stands frozen in time.

It has been said that if gasoline were first used to make napalm bombs, we would all be driving electric cars. Our skewed perception of nuclear power is what makes James Mahaffey's new look at the extraordinary paradox of nuclear power so compelling. From medieval alchemy to Marie curie, Albert Einstein, and the Manhattan Project, atomic science is far from the spawn of a wicked weapons program. The discovery that the atom can be split brought forth the ultimate puzzle of the modern age: Now that the energy of the universe is available to us, how do we use it? For death and destruction? Or as a fuel for our society that has minimal impact on the environment and future generations?

Outlining nuclear energy's discovery and applications throughout history, Mahaffey's brilliant and accessible book is essential to understanding the astounding phenomenon of nuclear power in an age where renewable energy and climate change have become the defining concerns of the twenty-first century.
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #288668 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781605980409
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
For many people, the idea of nuclear power died with the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown, but for the curious and open-minded, this book offers a timely look at nuclear technology that, the author argues, could provide plenty of cheap, renewable energy, if only we can get past our oversized dread of it. Mahaffey's history lesson begins along a familiar path, from 17th-century chemist Robert Boyle to the great 20th-century physicists. Nazism and WWII sent hundreds of scientists—and their cutting-edge work—to the U.S. But the war also sent that research underground in the ultra-secret Manhattan Project. Researchers also dreamed of peaceful atoms to generate electricity and run submarines, planes and rockets. The specters of Hiroshima and a few horrifying nuclear accidents displaced that peaceful vision. With a wealth of anecdotes, Mahaffey, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, offers hope leavened with pragmatism that, while nuclear technology may be experimental forever, it can still be useful and safe. (Aug.)
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Review
Mahaffey writes with delightful witty prose. A surprisingly entertaining history of nuclear power. (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

About the Author
Jim Mahaffey worked as a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute for 25 years, where he also taught electronics. He has worked at the Defense Nuclear Agency, the National Ground Intelligence Center, and the Air Force Air Logistics Center on a wide variety of projects, from nuclear power to nano-technology and cold fusion. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Reader Praise for Atomic Awakening
This book is fascinating. The material is beautifully organized and surprisingly entertaining. It tracks atomic/nuclear research from earliest days to the present, when many countries already generate sizable percentages of their electrical power from nuclear reactors. As a liberal arts major, I wasn't sure I would understand much of this, but the writing is aimed at anyone interested in the subject. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned a great deal. Anyone interested in nuclear energy as clean, safe power - pro or con - would be glad they read this book.

Thoroughly fascinating -- serious subject
A thoroughly fascinating book about a serious subject. The author provides a very interesting history of the birth and development of the atomic age and sprinkles it with numerous, little known facts and stories to personalize the adventure. The book makes a strong case for the pursuit of nuclear energy in the U.S. at a time when that industry is resurging around the world, and may be awaking in the U.S. Through factual presentation, understatement, and a dry wit, the author presents the case for nuclear power to the reader and allows the reader to reach his own conclusons. I had difficulty putting it down until I had finished it.

Theory and Practice - a balanced approach
The Holy Trinity of science best sellers like Brian Green's "The Elegant Universe or Walter" Issacson's "Einstein: His Life and Universe" has been people, history and science. James Mahaffey's Atomic Awakening breaks this mold with addition of application, interrelation and a point of view.

Mahaffey, a nuclear engineer as well as physicist, gives an extremely readable, no entertaining, history of nuclear physics. He also explains the science better than any other book I've read on physics. Because he shows the interrelation of theory and practice I finally understand Heisenberg's theory of uncertainty and why the key to a nuclear reactor is to slow down, not speed up, the neutrons. That is, if you cannot know with certainty where the Uranium atoms are you have a better chance of hitting one if the added neutrons spend more time in the target area by going slow!

Mahaffey brings the theory to practice without editorializing by comparing the devil we know with the devil we don't know. His well quoted example that if the first use of gasoline was napalm we would all be driving electric cars is dead on. Mahaffey describes the dangers of a nuclear accident, balances that with the cost of non-nuclear alternatives, then leaves the conclusion to the reader.