Atomic Awakening

A New Look at the History and Future of Nuclear Power

By: James Mahaffey

Narrated by: John McLain

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

"Persuasive and based on deep research. Atomic Awakening taught me a great deal." (Nature)

The American public's introduction to nuclear technology was manifested in destruction and death. With Hiroshima and the Cold War still ringing in our ears, our perception of all things nuclear is seen through the lens of weapons development. Nuclear power is full of mind-bending theories, deep secrets, and the misdirection of public consciousness - some deliberate, some accidental. The result of this fixation on bombs and fallout is that the development of a non-polluting, renewable energy source stands frozen in time.

Outlining nuclear energy's discovery and applications throughout history, Mahaffey's brilliant and accessible book is essential to understanding the astounding phenomenon of nuclear power in an age where renewable energy and climate change have become the defining concerns of the twenty-first century.

©2009 James Mahaffey (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Narrator not as bad as in the intro snippet.

Detailed, informative, and entertaining. Not at all technical, but enough meat to keep technically-minded listeners happy. Complements his newest book, Atomic Adventures, which is also great.

Narrator was dry and took away significantly from the author's personality. Otherwise the narration was fine. Audible needs to choose better audio snippets; for the longest time I avoided buying this book for fear of having to listen to that obnoxious, overly-inflected narration for 12 hours.

Perfect for any science nerd

Any additional comments?

Loved it. Five stars, all that. Thorough history of nuclear radiation and nukes. Can be a bit "text-booky" at times, but overall it's a great read on the subject. My biggest gripe is that the narrator sounds like he is reading a movie-trailer, but this is a minor annoyance. I highly recommend it anyone who wants to learn more about the subject. I would also recommend Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, by Eric Schlosser. It read more like a novel and is also full of great info.

The blessings and bombs of nuclear technology

Atomic awakening by James Mahaffey is one of the better books I've ever gone through! From blessed Marie Curie to the genius buffoon Richard Feynman and many more amazing people the thrilling and fascinating story is told of the discovery and development of nuclear technology. Alas the story also tells of how regretful it is that destruction and death was our first real public introduction to this potential second coming of Promethean fire to mankind. Good heavens, this book was interesting and John McLain does a great job narrating it.

little more please

This was a surprise to get thru, was way better than I thought. The details were not too dry and would have liked just a bit more recent info included at the end.

Audio error?

Voice on X1 is painstakingly slow. Voice on X1.25 speed is ridiculously fast. Voice tone of speaker was not meant for this book/material. I would not purchase the audiobook if I had listened to the sample of the audio first.

wonderful book!

great narrator, gifted writer. very highly recommended. I laughed my butt off over the helmet story in chapter 15. I learned a lot, laughed a little and cringed 100 times over some of these stories. amazing book..

the history is a bit too much

the story was good overall but I would have liked to hear more about contemporary reactor designs and public opinion rather than a closer look at the theory leading up to the discovery of the nuclear reactor.

Great Read

This was a good listen for anyone interested in the topic. Optimistic, yet doesn't shy away from problems with Nuclear power. A must for anyone interested in combating climate change.

great over all view of all things nuclear

great book packed with information of ionizing radiation from the lab, to the field. the author puts everything into context that someone in the industry can understand and relate to even down to the instruments

An enthusiast's history of nuclear science

Up front, I'm generally a fan of nuclear energy, and it's evident that the author (a former nuclear scientist himself) is too. That said, I think the book does a decent job of telling an unbiased factual history of the atomic age. Mahaffey does a great job breaking down the important advances along the way so that a layman can understand, weaving in humor and interesting life tidbits into a compelling narrative that kept me interested throughout. I particularly enjoyed the section on the immediate post-war era, which tells a string of crazy (brilliant and/or terrifying) experiments and ideas born out of a palpable excitement about the possibilities of this new invention! Despite being a bit out-of-date with current nuclear progress, the ending was also satisfyingly motivational.

Mahaffey doesn't necessarily have any grand predictions or particular prescriptions. He has a view, but it doesn't feel preachy. Mostly, it's a well-paced historical narrative tinged with the optimism and excitement he clearly has.