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Atomic Accidents
- A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
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Publisher's summary
From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters.
Mahaffey, a long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy, looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns.
Every incident has lead to new facets in understanding about the mighty atom—and Mahaffey puts forth what the future should be for this final frontier of science that still holds so much promise.
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Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford.
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No more accents, please!
- By Ned Gulley on 08-30-18
By: Richard Rhodes
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Midnight in Chernobyl
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
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April 25, 1986 in Chernobyl was a turning point in world history. The disaster not only changed the world’s perception of nuclear power and the science that spawned it, but also our understanding of the planet’s delicate ecology. With the images of the abandoned homes and playgrounds beyond the barbed wire of the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, the rusting graveyards of contaminated trucks and helicopters, the farmland lashed with black rain, the event fixed for all time the notion of radiation as an invisible killer.
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Midnight in Chernobyl is the book to listen to.
- By NH on 03-21-19
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What to Do When the Shit Hits the Fan
- By: David Black
- Narrated by: Steve Coulter
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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With real-world considerations in mind, disaster preparedness consultant David Black shows us how to stay alive when tragedy strikes. His step-by-step actions can help us make it safely through a variety of crises, from catastrophic weather to terrorism to civil unrest. Black presents tailor-made plans for individuals, businesses, organizations, small groups, and communities to follow, in all regions of the country and broken down by type of emergency and environment.
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Ok Prepper book.
- By Jason on 08-27-21
By: David Black
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The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
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The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
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Somewhat less than perfect
- By enya keshet on 06-19-18
By: Simon Winchester
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Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
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A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
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The Case for Mars
- The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must
- By: Robert Zubrin, Richard Wagner, Arthur C. Clarke - Foreword
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
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Since the beginning of human history Mars has been an alluring dream - the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it has still been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit. Now with the advent of a revolutionary new plan, all this has changed. Leading space exploration authority Robert Zubrin has crafted a daring new blueprint, Mars Direct, presented here with engaging anecdotes. The Case for Mars is not a vision for the far future or one that will cost us impossible billions.
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Compelling
- By Michael D. Busch on 04-16-18
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Apollo
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Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
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Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, and others
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The Radioactive Boy Scout
- The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor
- By: Ken Silverstein
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
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Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science. While he was working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David's obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a model nuclear reactor in his backyard garden shed. Posing as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the US government and from industry experts. Following blueprints he found in an outdated physics textbook, David cobbled together a crude device that threw off toxic levels of radiation.
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Interesting story
- By Kevin Gunter on 07-16-19
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Apollo 11
- The Inside Story
- By: David Whitehouse
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
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In the most authoritative book ever written about Apollo, David Whitehouse reveals the true drama behind the mission, telling the story in the words of those who took part - based around exclusive interviews with the key players. This enthralling book takes us from the early rocket pioneers to the shock America received from the Soviets' launch of the first satellite, Sputnik; from the race to put the first person into space, through President Kennedy's enthusiasm and later doubts, to the astronauts' intense competition to leave the first footprint.
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Space Race Revivalism
- By Doug on 06-14-19
By: David Whitehouse
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Merlin
- The Power Behind the Spitfire, Mosquito and Lancaster: The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WWII
- By: Graham Hoyland
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- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
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The most iconic planes of WWII, the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, DeHavilland Mosquito and the Avro Lancaster, were all powered by one engine, the Rolls-Royce Merlin. The story of the Merlin is one of British ingenuity at its height, of artistry and problem-solving that resulted in a war-winning design.
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Mostly a history of Rolls Royce
- By Rafael on 09-07-21
By: Graham Hoyland
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What Einstein Didn't Know
- Scientific Answers to Everyday Questions
- By: Robert L. Wolke
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
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How does soap know what's dirt? How do magnets work? Why do ice cubes crackle in your glass? And how can you keep them quiet? These are questions that torment us all. Now Robert L. Wolke, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, provides definitive - and amazingly simple - explanations for the mysteries of everyday life.
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A funny thing happened on the way to a great book
- By Joseph on 10-01-12
By: Robert L. Wolke
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It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable explosive power. In a matter of months, the Hanford nuclear facility was built to produce and weaponize the enigmatic and deadly new material that would fuel atomic bombs.
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Uranium
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Uranium is a common element in the earth's crust and the only naturally occurring mineral with the power to end all life on the planet. After World War II, it reshaped the global order---whoever could master uranium could master the world. Marie Curie gave us hope that uranium would be a miracle panacea, but the Manhattan Project gave us reason to believe that civilization would end with apocalypse.
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GREAT book, awful narration
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Richard Rhodes' landmark history of the atomic bomb won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Now, in this majestic new masterpiece of history, science, and politics, he tells for the first time the secret story of how and why the hydrogen bomb was made, and traces the path by which this supreme artifact of 20th-century technology became the defining issue of the Cold War.
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Abridged??
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What listeners say about Atomic Accidents
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 01-05-15
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.
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- Barbara
- 04-27-14
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.
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36 people found this helpful
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- Jim In Texas!
- 06-27-14
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.
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29 people found this helpful
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- Glen
- 06-17-14
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++
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21 people found this helpful
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- Charles T.
- 08-21-14
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.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Matt
- 03-19-14
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.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Scott
- 04-18-14
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.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Jason
- 06-06-14
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.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Richard
- 05-21-14
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.
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- James
- 10-20-15
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.
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4 people found this helpful