Atomic Adventures

Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science

By: James Mahaffey

Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright

Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Whether you are a scientist or a poet, pro-nuclear energy or staunch opponent, conspiracy theorist or pragmatist, James Mahaffey's books have served to open up the world of nuclear science like never before. With clear explanations of some of the most complex scientific endeavors in history, Mahaffey's new book looks back at the atom's wild, secretive past and then toward its potentially bright future.

Mahaffey unearths lost reactors on far-flung Pacific islands and trees that were exposed to active fission that changed gender or bloomed in the dead of winter. He explains why we have nuclear submarines but not nuclear aircraft and why cold fusion doesn't exist. And who knew that radiation counting was once a fashionable trend?

Though parts of the nuclear history might seem like a fiction mash-up where cowboys somehow got a hold of a reactor, Mahaffey's vivid prose holds the listener in thrall of the infectious energy of scientific curiosity and ingenuity that may one day hold the key to solving our energy crisis or sending us to Mars.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2017 James Mahaffey (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Fascinating but mixed story

I’m glad I listened to this book, and I might represent the perfect listener for it. This book has a bunch of different sections that cater to two audiences, one interested in the human and political/defense stories, and the other tolerant (even eager) for sections of dense technical detail. They were both well done, with a casual style one wouldn’t expect in a discussion of quantum mechanics, for instance.
The wild and crazy stories of the people involved with the technology and the politics are fascinating., if unsettling.
A reader sufficiently interested in the political and defense aspects (all too human stories) just has to be patient with the geeky parts and wait until the humans reappear. It Is worth the wait.

An engrossing scientific journey.

I loved this book. A serious subject packed with a ton of information for the layman non scientist. All the tales of the nuclear age adventures are extremely interesting. The narration is first rate and fits the authors tongue in check and times ironic prose.

Great stories and facts

excellent book if your curious to know what nuclear evolution has gone through and some of its background.

science

You got to love this stuff every inch of it every single molecule of it!!

Didn’t want it to end

This is a fascinating book and well done audiobook. There are so many interesting stories and mind-stretching concepts.

Wow. I expected to hear a lot of re-hash. Got new.

The reading/narration is quite good. A lot of new-to-me material and (finally) a decent explanation of the cold fusion mess AND the Roswell Incident, as well as many others. The dirty bomb chapter by itself might well be worth the rice of the work.

Worthwhile interesting listen

I learned many things in this listen I had never heard of before such as the Japanese WW II efforts to create their own nuclear bomb which seems they might have succeeded at doing. From the rumor mill, it seems they exploded a test bomb just days before the first bomb was dropped on them. Clearly if this was the case, there becomes more justification for the use of such a weapon against them.

I put this book on the should listen for any tech history type of interest person. Well worth the time to listen to.

great book, great narration

this a very well written book. first and foremost, the author turns complicated subject matter in to easily understood, digestible material. his selected stories are well chosen from the history of nuclear science and always have an obvious relevance. thankfully, the author has an excellent sense of humor and that comes through in his writing. I have always been passionate about chemistry and this book is great for anyone with any level of understanding of chemistry. however, the accompanying pdf files contain errors(pg. 11) In the graphics that will make it harder to understand. excellent narration.

Not my cup of tea.

Any additional comments?

This seemed to me way over the top for extraneous detail. Its one of these promising titles that really have little to say about anything but contained lots personal details. I could not finish it because for every one little tittle of technical info, I had to endure 100 details as mundane as the color of some scientists eyeglass frames. What he liked to eat, how long a plane flight was, where he vacationed, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Nope.. Not my cup of tea. The interesting stuff was soooo far apart, I would forget the topic of the chapter by the time something relevant was stated. One has to wonder where some authors get all this trivial hearsay from people they never knew from so long ago? And... well, lets just say no more.

Interesting - but there's better NF out there

While I started the book wanting very much to like it, I was repeatedly disappointed by its inability to rise to the level of other nonfiction titles I've listened to recently. I'm not sure if it was due to the lack of forward momentum or diversity of voices or personal disinterest in the topic. Granted, there are some wonderful nuggets within the text - but they are too few and far between for me to highly recomment this text to other listeners.