A Piece of the Sun

The Quest for Fusion Energy

By: Daniel Clery

Narrated by: Don Hagen

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Our rapidly industrializing world has an insatiable hunger for energy and conventional sources are struggling to meet demand. Oil is running out, coal is damaging our climate, many nations are abandoning nuclear, yet solar, wind, and water will never be a complete replacement. The solution, says Daniel Clery in this deeply researched and revelatory book, is to be found in the original energy source: the Sun itself. There, at its center, the fusion of 620 million tons of hydrogen every second generates an unfathomable amount of energy. By replicating even a tiny piece of the Sun’s power on Earth, we can secure all the heat and energy we would ever need.

Nuclear fusion scientists have pursued this simple yet extraordinary ambition for decades. Skeptics say it will never work but, as A Piece of the Sun makes clear, large-scale nuclear fusion is scientifically possible - and has many advantages over other options. Fusion is clean, green and virtually limitless and Clery argues passionately and eloquently that the only thing keeping us from proving its worth is our politicians’ shortsightedness. The world energy industry is worth trillions of dollars, divert just a tiny fraction of that into researching fusion and we would soon know if it is workable.

Timely and authoritative, A Piece of the Sun is a rousing call-to-arms to seize this chance of avoiding the looming energy crisis.

Daniel Clery studied theoretical physics at York University, U.K. For more than two decades, he has edited and written for some of the world’s top science magazines, including Physics World, New Scientist and Science. As a news editor for Science magazine since 1993, Clery has covered many of the biggest science news stories of our time.

©2013 Daniel Clery (P)2013 Gildan Media LLC

Very informative and well structured.

The book had great pacing when it came to explanations, history and speculation. The reader was very fitting for this book.

Good but way too much name recognition

I would have liked more technical geewiz information that explained more of the science and thinking done by these exceptional team efforts to move the plasma ball down the field.

Excellent summary

A must listen to understand today’s developments in the fusion energy sector. Very well written

Lot of detail and repetition

This is third book on nuclear energy and weapons I’ve listened to in past 3 months. This one was hardest to get thru. In parts, too much detail for layman. Took a long time to get through some sections.