Reviews, Views, and News from an Award-Winning Author
On the 46th of 64 pages of my 2012 book for middle grade readers, Meltdown! The Nuclear Disaster in Japan and Our Energy Future, I finally ask the question that the earlier chapters are designed to lead up to: “Is nuclear power worth the risk?” The remainder of the book provides a definite response, but … Read more
Since completing my recent middle grade book, Meltdown! The Nuclear Disaster in Japan and Our Energy Future, which is about the implications for our energy future of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns that followed the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, I have been following developments in Japan’s nuclear industry closely. In July of … Read more
My prediction yesterday that today’s Nobel Prize in Physics would be for the discovery of the Higgs Boson was premature. But it may not be too soon to predict that the Higgs will win a Nobel for a few people next year. This Slate article from last Wednesday included numerous predictions about this year’s Nobel … Read more
The Physics Nobel Prize will be awarded tomorrow. I would be surprised if it is not for the Higgs Boson discovery. Here’s a ScienceBlog review of a book that names the key figures who are in the running for the award. Too bad it can only go to three of them. I blogged about the … Read more
Readers of this blog might be interested in the backstory of my book for young readers Meltdown! The Nuclear Disaster in Japan and Our Energy Future. A great advocate for nonfiction who writes under the online persona Book Kvetch published this very nice Q&A, which I hope you will enjoy.
As the 2012 political campaign heats up, statistical data is being massaged, distorted, and misapplied–unfortunately as has become the norm. Thus it seems like the right time to reprise an earlier blog entry in which I reviewed Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception by Charles Seife (Viking, 2010, $25.95, 304 pages) Reviewed by Dr. … Read more
The Violinist’s Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean (Little, Brown, 416 pages, $25.99, July, 2012) Reviewed by Dr. Fred Bortz See other reviews archived at the Science Shelf Note: This review is the copyrighted property of Alfred B. Bortz. Individuals may print … Read more
As I type this, the physics world is anticipating a great announcement from the Large Hadron Collider that the data analysis is at least very suggestive that the elusive Higgs Boson has been seen. Perhaps the researchers will even declare a discovery. If you want to understand the reason for the excitement, I recommend reading … Read more
About six weeks ago, I posted a blog entry called Subtle and not so subtle biases shape assessment of Fukushima. It led to some interesting and intelligent discussion about whether nuclear energy should be part of the future worldwide energy mix. I wrote that entry as a reaction to critical reviews that described my new … Read more
As readers of this blog may have figured out, I like to discuss political issues related to science and technology. Although I am personally a bit to the left of the American center, my ideology, if I have one, is that evidence trumps ideology every time. Perhaps the best description, given my willingness to state … Read more