false 3024263 2 <B>The author of <I>Zero</I> looks at the messy history of the struggle to harness fusion energy </B>.<BR><BR> When weapons builders detonated the first hydrogen bomb in 1952, they tapped into the vastest source of energy in our solar system--the very same phenomenon that makes the sun shine. Nuclear fusion was a virtually unlimited source of power that became the center of a tragic and comic quest that has left scores of scientists battered and disgraced. For the past half-century, governments and research teams have tried to bottle the sun with lasers, magnets, sound waves, particle beams, and chunks of meta. (The latest venture, a giant, multi-billion-dollar, international fusion project called ITER, is just now getting underway.) Again and again, they have failed, disgracing generations of scientists. Throughout this fascinating journey Charles Seife introduces us to the daring geniuses, villains, and victims of fusion science: the brilliant and tortured Andrei Sakharov; the monomaniacal and Strangelovean Edward Teller; Ronald Richter, the secretive physicist whose lies embarrassed an entire country; and Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, the two chemists behind the greatest scientific fiasco of the past hundred years. <I>Sun in a Bottle</I> is the first major book to trace the story of fusion from its beginnings into the 21st century, of how scientists have gotten burned by trying to harness the power of the sun. 3054837 30 10 2008 Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking total:29|5:6|4:11|3:10|2:2|1:0| 29 108 62 14 4 0 false false Sun Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 12:30:26 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 12:55:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 13:08:55 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 13:08:55 -0700 2009
The book starts off talking about the politics and development of nuclear weapons. This section, like most parts of the book, doesn't go very deep into the subje...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 15:09:25 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 09:57:45 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 01 13:10:02 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 20 11:43:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 31 09:19:08 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 09:49:45 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Nov 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 16 21:41:01 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 10:28:48 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 20:06:04 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 20:20:27 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Nov 18 09:11:59 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 15:37:08 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jun 18 12:57:02 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 13:03:24 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Dec 16 07:46:21 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 07:46:21 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 08:44:51 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 08:05:40 -0700 2009 Legacy of Ashes, how do we end up throwing billions of dollars at unbalanced zealous crackpots who happen to also be educated? The literary style was a little dry, but certainly not clunky and amateurish that you find in a lot of the genre. I'd definitely recommend...more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jul 03 09:55:42 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 09:56:30 -0700 2009 ]]> 3 0 false false Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 18:19:55 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 18:20:58 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jan 10 10:04:56 -0800 2009 Sun Sep 06 15:37:27 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 20 15:33:08 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 15:33:08 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 03 19:47:05 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 19:47:05 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 06:50:08 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 06:50:20 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 26 19:06:42 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 26 19:06:42 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 11 13:00:58 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 13:00:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 01 09:11:20 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 09:11:20 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3024263