A NUCLEAR POINT OF VIEW

Listening to James Mahaffey’s "Atomic Accidents", the first thing that comes to mind is point-of-view, second is author’s qualification, and third is writing ability.

Doctor James Mahaffey’s professional career is founded on the nuclear industry. Educated at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Mahaffey holds a bachelor’s degree in physics, a master’s in science, and a doctoral in nuclear engineering. Mahaffey is well versed in the science, engineering, and mechanics of nuclear energy. Because of education, one presumes Mahaffey is a proponent of the nuclear power industry. After dissection of several atomic accidents, a listener becomes unsure of Mahaffey’s point of view. By the end, his point of view is clear. Mahaffey’s book is historically fascinating, and enlightening. Happily, Mahaffey writes well with erudite understanding and little obfuscating jargon.

Mahaffey explains that radiation is a naturally occurring phenomenon. He argues that shutting nuclear waste disposal facility like Yucca Mountain in Nevada is a mistake. Mahaffey’s point of view is that nuclear power generation accidents will happen but their consequences can be minimized with smaller plants and better planning for treatment of victims when accidents occur. He believes nuclear energy benefits far out way their risks.

44 people found this helpful

Interesting book

I'm enjoying this book. It's giving a lot of detail on accidents beyond the oft-explained "tickling the dragon." There's one glaring problem that's like fingernails on a blackboard. Blackstone Audio apparently can't be bothered with making sure their narrators know how to pronounce slightly technical terms. The narrator is good except he's said "trih shum" (instead of tritium) more times than I can count. He also says "regent" instead of reAgent. My recommendation is to grit your teeth through these because otherwise the book is quite good.

30 people found this helpful

Fantastic balance of scientific + storytelling

Where does Atomic Accidents rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very highly.

What other book might you compare Atomic Accidents to and why?

"Command and Control". More about nuclear weapons and specifically an incident at a missile silo in Arkansas.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed the several scenes describing the internal working of nuclear power plants and the details of accidents that occurred in them.

13 people found this helpful

Adventures in radioactivity

If you could sum up Atomic Accidents in three words, what would they be?

Man's nuclear follies

What did you like best about this story?

For history and science buffs, a good history not only of nuclear power but also the naïveté, creativity and hubris of man's relationship with all things nuclear. Underlying every accident is a system designed to avoid it, someone's attempt to circumvent the system, and the complex interaction between the two. Fascinating stuff, with enough technical details to interest the science buffs and a connect the dots narrative to keep the history buffs glued. I found it all very fascinating and it was a definite plus that the narrative is told with the odd bit of sarcastic humour in it. My only criticism was that the three most infamous accidents: Three mile island, Chernobyl, and Fukishima, are given a comparatively short treatment compared to the rest of the book.

What does Tom Weiner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Well read.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Probably not. There is a fair bit of technical detail that would leave most readers head's spinning to get through this all in one reading.

Any additional comments?

The author has a background working in the nuclear industry which is a definite plus.

10 people found this helpful

My favorite book....so far

Where does Atomic Accidents rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. I have listened to it twice in the past 3 months and I expect I will listen to it again soon. The subject matter was surprising, informative, technical enough to be interesting and yet completely understandable to a lay person. I think Mr. Mahaffey's writing style suits my tastes in that it was casual, humorous and still on point and relevant. A++

20 people found this helpful

Hard to put down; great insights and stories

Would you listen to Atomic Accidents again? Why?

Mahaffey has a remarkable talent for describing very complex situations without being boring or verbose. He's clearly a master of the subject matter with a wickedly droll sense of humor to boot. This is one of the best Audibles I've had in the last year. It's also extremely informative.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Atomic Accidents?

The mysterious "problem" in Russia in 1957 is a great story, very well told. It's almost hilarious at a distance of 50+ years and several thousand miles. A separate high point is the Three Mile Island description. Having lived through the TMI news coverage at the time, it was nice to finally get a coherent, concise depiction of what happened -- and what did not happen.

14 people found this helpful

Fascinating Stories, Easily Digested Numbers

What made the experience of listening to Atomic Accidents the most enjoyable?

Mahaffey does one of the best jobs of combining hard science, complete with numbers, with fascinating human stories I've ever heard.

This isn't a text book, it's a smart funny guy who happens to be a subject matter expert telling you history in a very human way.

The first accident in the book is literally a train wreck, and each subsequent story of nuclear errors, accidents, and disasters have a 'can't take your ears off of this train wreck' quality.

What other book might you compare Atomic Accidents to and why?

This is sort of like 'Cosmos' for nuclear power production history.

Or it least it would be if Carl Sagan or Niel Tyson had senses of humor and didn't talk down to the audience.

Which character – as performed by Tom Weiner – was your favorite?

The book is written in the first person, so there is only one character.

Weiner does a great job reading this book, with the glaring exception of pronouncing the word 'Tritium'. For some reason he pronounces 'trit-E-um' as 'trisham'! I actually had to stop the audio and go to the web to double check that there wasn't really an element called 'trisham'!

I don't blame Weiner for this, I blame Blackstone's producer for not catching this glaring error.

I've been listening to audio books since the late 70s, and I've alway found Blackstone readings to have inferior production values. I will say that the production quality in this book is much better than past Blackstone recordings, but they still have work to do match the quality of studios like Recorded Books LLC.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would have if I could have.

Any additional comments?

This is not a partisan rant, the history of nuclear power, good and bad, is related with emphasis on the 'bad'.

After telling you the 'bad' Mahaffey provides the hard facts and numbers to help readers keep a sense of perspective when thinking about future energy alternatives for the U.S. and the world.

Highly recommended.

27 people found this helpful

Great for any fan of science.

Impeccably researched and extremely informative.
The narration is clear and consistent, fitting the writing style perfectly.

A fantastic history lesson in 20th century science.
Atomic Accidents spans pre-nuclear steam explosions to dangerous X-ray exposures right up to Chernobyl and Fukushima.

After reading this book twice, I feel optimistic about the future of nuclear power.

4 people found this helpful

Great Book and Story Teller

What did you love best about Atomic Accidents?

The story Telling, the author manages to keep it understandable and funny at the sametime with his sarcastic undertones.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

Which character – as performed by Tom Weiner – was your favorite?

N/A

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It did make me laugh at times, but it really opens your eyes to nuclear power. I was amazed at all the experiments that have occurred since we discovered it.

Any additional comments?

This is a page turner, even the opening was great. There is a lot of good information in this book, especially the human performance aspect, there a lot of great examples of human errors that could be used in safety meetings, which I have done. I have even googled much of the reported disasters in this book to get more information. I am normally a fiction reader, who likes end of world types of books, but this non-fiction book gives you the same flavor and keeps you interested.

7 people found this helpful

Unclear Nuclear Made Clear.

Would you listen to Atomic Accidents again? Why?

Absolutely worth a few listens. The information density is well blended with an easygoing narrative style that engages the listener throughout the entire book.

What did you like best about this story?

Chapter eight: the Strategic Air Command years, with all the near misses that we somehow lived through.

What does Tom Weiner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Fluent vocal style, never distractive. This guy has it down cold.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No laughing matter this. More outcome information on the Fukushima disaster would be helpful.

Any additional comments?

It was an enlightening shift away from the mass media induced anti-nuclear coma we've all been stuck in for decades. I have always been hard pitched against nuclear energy and its uses against humanity, and I'm likely to stay that way.However, this book helps demystify some of the beliefs about the atomic age I've come to own as sort of a mindless religion. For me at least, this book has offered me a good start on basing my beliefs on evidence, not media hyperbole.

7 people found this helpful