A well-written extension of the reach of reason in an area fraught with phobia and hysteria.
A leading expert in nuclear medicine and in dealing with the aftermath of nuclear disasters offers a basis for assessing the risks associated with radiation.
With science writer Lax (Faith, Interrupted, 2011, etc.), renowned oncologist and hematologist Gale presents a primer on nuclear radiation. Writing for general readers, the author first establishes what nuclear radiation is, distinguishing the part that is man-made from that of natural origins and then what is harmful from what is not. He explains how radiation is measured and what normal background absorption rates are (per year, per person) in different parts of the world. He shows how man-made radiation has increased since nuclear weapons were developed. Surprisingly, the major component of this increase has not been weapons testing, but rather medical and nuclear diagnostics. Gale augments this discussion with a summary of what has been learned medically and scientifically from the nuclear bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as from atmospheric testing programs. Examining the half-lives of nuclear particles, the author shows how thyroid cancer and leukemia arise and how they can be treated. This background enables him to transition to the dangers of radiation in all its forms. He also discusses coal burning versus nuclear electric generation. Another surprise is just how unlikely it is for cancer-producing mutations to arise from atmospheric radiation. Gale ends with a helpful summary of his points.
A well-written extension of the reach of reason in an area fraught with phobia and hysteria.Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-307-95969-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
A lively work on a somewhat arcane topic, and an important prehistory of our environmentally conscious, biologically...
An engrossing, unusual social narrative, documenting the close ties between chemical weapons development and “peaceful” applications in insect warfare.
Russell’s debut views the predominantly military history of the world wars and the Cold War as a metaphor for similarly volatile technological developments in the private sector. He explores how, despite the horror of indiscriminate gas warfare promulgated by all sides in WWI (here termed “The Chemists’ War”), a clique of ambitious scientists and soldiers in the Chemical Warfare Service created an advocacy culture that portrayed the frightening new technology as safer and more humane than the era’s gruesome trench-war stalemates. Such “gas boosterism” was checked by Depression-era public hostility towards the “merchants of death,” and by FDR’s horror of chemical warfare, evident in his “no-first-use” policy. This altered the service’s priorities, towards development of incendiary devices such as napalm, flame throwers, and cluster bombs; ironically, this shift made Allied bombing of German and Japanese cities especially devastating, much more so than gas warfare would have been. The most ingenious element of Russell’s approach may be seen in his even-handed exploration of how chemical warfare science influenced the civilian pest-eradication industry. He unearths startling cultural histories, such as how the military need to combat typhus and malaria fed the American enthusiasm for DDT, how the imagery and language of insect extermination fused with conceptions of “total war” to inure soldiers to massive killing (particularly regarding the Japanese), and how postwar science exploited Nazi development of organophosphates (powerful insecticides related to nerve gasses) for great profits and terrifying new weapons. He concludes by addressing the Cold War–era unease epitomized by Eisenhower’s warnings about the “military-industrial complex” and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), seeing both as warnings that an “elite class [had] lost sight of what they were ostensibly trying to protect” through endorsement of chemical warfare’s many forms.
A lively work on a somewhat arcane topic, and an important prehistory of our environmentally conscious, biologically threatened era.Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-521-79003-4
Page Count: 303
Publisher: Cambridge Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
A fascinating study of how Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and James Madison applied science to their political thinking. In terms of scientific competence, Cohen (History of Science/Harvard Univ.) finds much to praise in Jefferson and Franklin. Jefferson the polymath persuaded George Washington to adopt his method of apportioning members to the House of Representatives rather than one proposed by Alexander Hamilton. The Declaration of Independence pays homage to Isaac Newton with its ``self-evident truths'' (i.e., axioms) and its opening lines concerning the ``Laws of Nature and Nature's God.'' Franklin's contributions to the field of electricity go well beyond flying a kite in a thunderstorm, Cohen shows. The French idolized him as a scientist and a self-made man, making him extraordinarily effective in ensuring French aid in 1776. Franklin also anticipated Malthus with statements about population growth in relation to sustenance, and he provided powerful demographic arguments as to why England should annex Canada after the French and Indian War. Adams, while well taught and an aficionado of science, got his physics wrong; he thought he was referencing Newton's laws of motion in speaking of the ``balance of powers'' or ``checks and balances'' in the Constitution, but the correct analogy is to laws of statics and equilibrium. Still, he foresaw a future for America in which his sons should master mathematics and practical sciences so that their children in turn could study painting, poetry, and music. In brief comments on The Federalist, Cohen notes that Madison's science metaphors were largely medical—a ``nerveless empire,'' an ``ailing government,'' etc. At times the text is repetitious; at times, Cohen wields a heavy hand in attacking earlier commentators (including Woodrow Wilson). Nevertheless, the founding fathers appear in an interesting new light, thanks to Cohen's fresh, not to say iconoclastic, vision.
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-393-03501-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995
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