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A Field Guide to Radiation(Paperback) - 2012 Edition
A comprehensive and accessible guide to understanding how radiation affects our everyday livesNuclear energy, X-rays, radon, cell phones . . . radiation is part of the way we live on a daily basis, and yet the sources and repercussions of our exposure to it remain mysterious. Now Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Wayne Biddle offers a first-of-its-kind guide to understanding this fundamental aspect of the universe. From fallout to radiation poisoning, alpha particles to cosmic rays, Biddle illuminates the history, meaning, and health implications of one hundred scientific terms in succinct, witty essays. A Field Guide to Radiation is an essential, engaging handbook that offers wisdom and common sense for today's increasingly nuclear world.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
Paperback
First published July 31, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 19, 2018
Annoying.
I had a love-hate relationship with this book. I love the topic and kind of hated the book.
There is undoubtedly a lot of good information in this glib little alphabetical guide, and a few interesting factoids, however my trust in it was seriously undermined by a few things. Firstly, there are some obvious howlers, like that the Lenin reactor at Chernobyl was American-designed, and that the US officially adopted the metric system in 1964. Whoa there with the whoppers, Wayne. So this is enough to cast doubt on the rest of the book.
Secondly, the book is a basic polemic against nuclear power and all things nuclear. Although it’s presented as a somewhat technical, factual guide, it isn’t an unbiased reference book. There’s an undercurrent of political snideness towards what is arguably the ultimate example of human progress in the past 100 years that makes its basic agenda obvious. There’s something of a grudging nod toward the use of radioisotopes in medicine (a privilege that wouldn’t exist for us without the prior invention of the bombs and reactors), but the author is pushing the conclusion that no radiation is the only acceptable radiation. So only zero is OK, but there’s no zero, because of background radiation plus all the evil nuclear tests and bombs dropped on Japan and the triumvirate of blame: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Once an author is decided on a political standpoint, he will use any scientific argument he can get to make the case that a good idea is a bad one. This is the typical, predictable approach of someone whose decisions are based on emotion; it’s impossible to convince them otherwise or we risk heresy. When we run risks in cars, we wear seatbelts and punish drunk drivers. But the chance of dying or being seriously injured in a car accident is far greater than getting cancer from man-made radiation.
But here’s the thing: the author acknowledges that humans have been exposed to a certain degree of background radiation throughout our evolutionary history, both from the earth and outer space, that the effect is cumulative above this baseload, and then promptly dismisses that there’s a hormetic effect associated with small exposures to it. He doesn’t like hormesis, but unfortunately for the author, hormesis is exactly the reason why exercise works, and why people who work get fitter than people who sit. What doesn’t kill you does make you stronger and small exposures to stressors toughen up our immune systems. But he waves away these statements as merely convenient excuses provided by nefarious interests.
That’s a tidy assumption, but it just isn’t true. It fails to admit the fact that the most powerful and clean source of energy available to us is a gift that comes at a cost. It needs to be managed accordingly, by experts. It can’t be dumbed down for idiots to understand. Just because the average person can’t (or won’t) understand how it works is no reason to give up on it. You need to make an effort. The fact that nuclear power demands much from us and is intellectually challenging doesn’t make it worthless. The Cold War arose in part from a genuine interest and concern for protecting the free world from truly evil bastards like Stalin and Mao, both of whom tortured and killed millions of their own countrymen, far more than have ever been harmed by nuclear technology (including the bomb), while nuclear power has given clean light and energy and hope from medical treatment to many millions more. People in the past were doing their best. It is easy to judge the actions of frightened yesterday from the perspective of safe, lazy, comfortable today.
Some errors were made, and perhaps political overzealousness was the order of the day, but no worse than today’s leftist, anti-science, wealth-redistribution agenda that is simply totalitarianism sitting behind a false mask of correctness.
In the old days, we were all still learning about this technology and the incredible power it represented. We have learned so much. It’s time to get over it and get on with it. So read this book and learn about isotopes and try to ignore this guy who looks a gift horse in the mouth on every page.
I had a love-hate relationship with this book. I love the topic and kind of hated the book.
There is undoubtedly a lot of good information in this glib little alphabetical guide, and a few interesting factoids, however my trust in it was seriously undermined by a few things. Firstly, there are some obvious howlers, like that the Lenin reactor at Chernobyl was American-designed, and that the US officially adopted the metric system in 1964. Whoa there with the whoppers, Wayne. So this is enough to cast doubt on the rest of the book.
Secondly, the book is a basic polemic against nuclear power and all things nuclear. Although it’s presented as a somewhat technical, factual guide, it isn’t an unbiased reference book. There’s an undercurrent of political snideness towards what is arguably the ultimate example of human progress in the past 100 years that makes its basic agenda obvious. There’s something of a grudging nod toward the use of radioisotopes in medicine (a privilege that wouldn’t exist for us without the prior invention of the bombs and reactors), but the author is pushing the conclusion that no radiation is the only acceptable radiation. So only zero is OK, but there’s no zero, because of background radiation plus all the evil nuclear tests and bombs dropped on Japan and the triumvirate of blame: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Once an author is decided on a political standpoint, he will use any scientific argument he can get to make the case that a good idea is a bad one. This is the typical, predictable approach of someone whose decisions are based on emotion; it’s impossible to convince them otherwise or we risk heresy. When we run risks in cars, we wear seatbelts and punish drunk drivers. But the chance of dying or being seriously injured in a car accident is far greater than getting cancer from man-made radiation.
But here’s the thing: the author acknowledges that humans have been exposed to a certain degree of background radiation throughout our evolutionary history, both from the earth and outer space, that the effect is cumulative above this baseload, and then promptly dismisses that there’s a hormetic effect associated with small exposures to it. He doesn’t like hormesis, but unfortunately for the author, hormesis is exactly the reason why exercise works, and why people who work get fitter than people who sit. What doesn’t kill you does make you stronger and small exposures to stressors toughen up our immune systems. But he waves away these statements as merely convenient excuses provided by nefarious interests.
That’s a tidy assumption, but it just isn’t true. It fails to admit the fact that the most powerful and clean source of energy available to us is a gift that comes at a cost. It needs to be managed accordingly, by experts. It can’t be dumbed down for idiots to understand. Just because the average person can’t (or won’t) understand how it works is no reason to give up on it. You need to make an effort. The fact that nuclear power demands much from us and is intellectually challenging doesn’t make it worthless. The Cold War arose in part from a genuine interest and concern for protecting the free world from truly evil bastards like Stalin and Mao, both of whom tortured and killed millions of their own countrymen, far more than have ever been harmed by nuclear technology (including the bomb), while nuclear power has given clean light and energy and hope from medical treatment to many millions more. People in the past were doing their best. It is easy to judge the actions of frightened yesterday from the perspective of safe, lazy, comfortable today.
Some errors were made, and perhaps political overzealousness was the order of the day, but no worse than today’s leftist, anti-science, wealth-redistribution agenda that is simply totalitarianism sitting behind a false mask of correctness.
In the old days, we were all still learning about this technology and the incredible power it represented. We have learned so much. It’s time to get over it and get on with it. So read this book and learn about isotopes and try to ignore this guy who looks a gift horse in the mouth on every page.
December 12, 2014
Wayne Biddle begins this field guide to the realm of radioactivity with the fact that since the Manhattan Project made atomic energy available for use, there have been five incidents which have threatened human life on a large scale: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Recognizing the danger of substances we cannot see, smell, taste, touch or hear, he lays out a field guide to everything from general concepts (containment, fission, half life) to units of measurement (Becquerels, Curies, Grays) to specific isotopes (Chromium-51, Iridium-192).
Simply excellent field guide to the field.
Simply excellent field guide to the field.
February 21, 2013
Entertaining enough, but not great. Recapitulation of the same few anecdotes over and over in what seem to be semi-independent essays becomes tedious. It's a book, not an encyclopedia; the typical reader will, as I did, read it beginning to end. I wish it had been written more for later micro-essays to assume knowledge of the foregoing and to build upon one another.
Has a no-nuclear-industry-is-safe perspective throughout, which is fine as far as it goes, even a perspective I'm sympathetic to, but wish he hadn't led with purported lack of agenda.
Has a no-nuclear-industry-is-safe perspective throughout, which is fine as far as it goes, even a perspective I'm sympathetic to, but wish he hadn't led with purported lack of agenda.
December 21, 2013
This is absolutely one of those books I love because there is so much great information/writing and it is one of those books I hate because it reminds me of horrible the world is and the unsolved environmental catastrophe slowly unfolding with nuclear energy, weapons, and minerals. Biddle has a good wit, a solid writing style that breaks down scientific concepts, and is not verbose. Zipper through this one; will keep it around.
May 10, 2016
Very helpful. Scientific but easy to understand. I enjoyed that it was broken into chapters for each type of radiation.
Also enjoyed the fact he put science with history with wittiness. Nailed it.
Also enjoyed the fact he put science with history with wittiness. Nailed it.
April 22, 2013
Scary, interesting but a bit too text-bookish at times
December 25, 2013
It's a good quick guide to radiation, and what to be outraged about. There's a lot, unfortunately.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews