Atomic Awakening: A New Look at the History and Future of Nuclear Power,   ISBN:9781605980409

Customer Rating: 

I was 15 years old when a news flash announced the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima. Even at that age I understood that history shattering event meant that the war would soon be over and that the men and science behind that development had changed the world . Fascinated by the technology and the geniuses that developed it, I've read several related books over the years including the Pulitzer Prize winning, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", by Richard Rhodes. James Mahaffey's, "Atomic Awakening", ranks right up there among the best of them. Written with a delightful wit, brief biographical sketches and anecdotes of the scientists responsible, he adds a human touch to a development that some might characterize as a very inhuman accomplishment. I truly enjoyed reading this book.

Aside from the subject matter, noteworthy is Mahaffey's appropriate use of footnotes which add much to the readability and understanding. Many authors use end notes for this purpose which I find very awkward to read, and therefore almost useless.

Customer Rating: 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book although the author's bias for nuclear power is clear. He more or less writes off the huge problem of waste storage as being caused more or less by overreacting environmentalists, ignoring the tremendous potential dangers of on-site storage of high level waste without a containment structure (for at least another decade), the risk of terrorism and accidents during the transportation of the waste to the federal repository and the siesmic and water migration issues at the repository. Likewise he glosses over the disasterous history of nuclear fuel reprocessing in the US and dismisses out of hand President Carter's rejection of fuel reprocessing because of concerns of terrorism as "odd".

Customer Rating: 

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.

Customer Rating: 

Mahaffey's book is a read that is both enjoyable and educational. An eminently readable look into the background and possible future of nuclear energy, with enough humor to keep things lighthearted. Informative and even-handed, with a delightful writing style, it can add much to one's education -- in an area that's important to anyone who uses energy and hopes to continue doing so. Strongly recommended.

Customer Rating: 

Having worked in commercial nuclear power in the early 70's and going to college in Nuclear Engineering in the 60's, I found many of the stories fascinating and more detailed than the whispers I had heard back in those years. I just wish he would put out a work that concentrates on stories about the commercial nuclear industry's early years of trial and tribulations.