Customer Reviews

Nuclear Afternoon: True Stories of Atomic Disasters

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is not a good book.

Allow me to explain.

I bought this book hoping for some accurate histories, collected in a single volume, of some of the more interesting accidents in nuclear history. Rather, what I got was a barely coherent rant, railing against the supposed dangers of nuclear power. I wouldn't have minded so much- I'm not particularly enamoured with the horribly confused and schizophrenic nuclear industry myself- but the book is riddled with inaccuracies. It even goes so far as to confuse radioactivity (the property of a material that causes it to produce radiation) with radiation (the emanations of such a material). This is important in a volume that concerns itself with dosimetry and the safety ramifications of nuclear technology.

I can't recommend this book. It's hysterical and relentlessly unbalanced. It's also stunningly badly written. Just don't buy it.

Burleson's book seemed like a "cant-miss" proposition, but the author's poor writing and flawed research leaves much to be desired. On the one hand, the actual stories that he addresses have the potential to be very interesting. Sometime Burleson succeeds, and the reader can actually learn something. Most of the time, however, his writing is a mixture of spotty details and rambling explanations that vacillate between opposing viewpoints without any information to support his claims. In addition, by the time the reader reaches the half-way point of this book, it is painfully clear that Burleson is very much a pro-nuclear power thinker. While I don't begrudge him is point of view, I was incredibly disappointed with his lack of objectivity in "Nuclear Afternoon."

The only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one is that, in those few spots where the writing is well organized and objective, it is both entertaining and informations. Most of the time, however, "Nuclear Afternoon" is waste of time.