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58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Focussed on the Lone Wolves, November 9, 2008
This review is from: Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking (Hardcover)
This book is mostly about the early history of fusion research, and about the more recent fiascos where lone-wolf researchers have claimed breakthroughs without adequate scientific basis. If you are interested in cold and bubble fusion, and how the press has dealt with them, this is a good book for you. On the other hand, Seife devotes relatively little ink to the scientists and engineers worldwide who are working to develop fusion, on the basis of peer-reviewed, replicable research. He also doesn't systematically review the literature on progress in fusion, on the remaining challenges, and on why it is attractive as an energy source. When I started in this field as a graduate student we made 1/10 of a Watt of fusion heat in a pulse of 1/100 of second. Now the record is in the range of 10 million Watts for a second. That is an improvement by an overall factor of 10 billion. The international ITER project will produce 500 million Watts of fusion heat for periods of at least 300 - 500 seconds. We have further to go, and lots of challenges, but fusion has large advantages in safety, waste and nuclear proliferation. There are relatively few options for large-scale, long-term, steady electric power production, and they all need to be explored.
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69 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Using deception to sell books does a disservice to science and to science journalism, November 26, 2008
This review is from: Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking (Hardcover)
Seife's book, "Sun In A Bottle", is an illogical attack against scientists working in the modern fields of magnetic fusion energy research or inertial confinement fusion research. Seife uses a deceptive style to argue against government funding for fusion research in his book, "Sun In A Bottle". Seife employs "Fusion research", as an umbrella term to encompass research that spans decades, and yes, has involved some rather nasty characters who have indeed conducted themselves poorly1. But these men to whom Seife devotes much of his book do not represent the community of researchers who work today in magnetic fusion energy research2, which is the relevant category of physics to consider if discussing the ITER project3. If you doubt that "Sun in a Bottle" is an attack on magnetic fusion research and on ITER, I point out that on the last two pages of the book "Sun in a Bottle", Seife concludes his argument that all of fusion research is a failure and will never work due to the "intemperate self-deception" of fusion researchers (page 227) as he concludes with a suggestion to the reader: fission research should be pursued instead of fusion research (page 226). Seife's arguments against pursuing fusion as an energy source are identical to making arguments against cancer research by making a list of attempts to cure cancer that have not worked, by finding a few examples of liars who have worked in the field sometime during the past 60 years, and then generalizing to make a final statement that cancer research funding should be halted. Here is how that argument goes: "Some scientists claim to be able to cure cancer with alternative medicine, herbs, and crystals. These scientists lie and deceive as they push their research forward, they are blinded by their own hubris as they seek the fame and the power that discovering the cure for cancer would bring them. The methods these scientists employ will never be useful to curing cancer. Some other scientists are researching ways to cure cancer in national laboratories and universities around the world, and they receive many millions of dollars from governments to support their research, and they also have failed to cure cancer. Because all cancer researchers lie and deceive, governments should not waste time and money trying to cure cancer." If you find this argument compelling and after reading it you feel we should halt all cancer research, then Charles Seife's "Sun In A Bottle" is the book for you. I believe this book does a disservice to the field of popular science writing. Seife's book should read by all scientists as a warning of the machinations that "popular science" writing may produce. Scientists as a community must find a way to tell their stories to the public clearly, without sacrificing accuracy, and in an exciting manner. No easy task, to be sure. But scientists must take up this challenge. For if they do not, their stories could be told by more books like "Sun in a Bottle". Anyone who believes in critical thinking, honesty and accuracy should be repulsed that that possibility.
1 Physics Today, Volume 61, Number 11, November 2008, pp. 28, "Bubble fusion scientist disciplined"
2 There are many articles about fusion research published in peer-reviewed journals that one can access on-line through library subscriptions: Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics and Fusion Research (PPCF), and Physical Review Letters are three example. A volume of PPCF that includes papers about modern fusion research will be available for free online through June 2009 at the site [...]
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25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Scientific Journalism, January 3, 2009
This review is from: Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking (Hardcover)
"Sun in a Bottle" is more of a history lesson than a book of science. The first 75 pages describes the development of the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb, which here is more a story of the rivalry between Oppenheimer and Teller that is ultimately won by Teller. My own view is that this portion of the book is unnecessary since the story of bomb development has been told many times before and in much greater detail.
The rest of the book is about the development of fusion as a power source. The author chooses to focus on the missteps and blind alleys of research rather than the progress that has been made. The stories are entertaining, but clearly one sided. He avoids technical information, except for general concepts, perhaps feeling that the reading audience is unable to understand or that the technical information does not have enough pizzazz to make a best seller.
The main problem I have with this book is that the author is ready to give up on a power source that has great promise but great problems to overcome. Development of a commercial fusion reactor is complex and expensive, but so have been other projects that ultimately have been successful. An example is the space program. I am old enough to remember the early days of the US space program with rocket after rocket blowing up on the launch pad. Considering the failures and costs, the author would have likely concluded that successful space travel was the wishful thinking of "scientists, drunk with the promise of personal glory."
If you are looking for entertaining stories, then you might enjoy this book. If you are looking for a balanced evaluation of fusion with accompanying technical information, this is not the book for you.
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