Williams Books

Will really lets you know how he feels (which I personally echo) about the treatment of the Vets by the general media and the leftist protesters during the opening pages of the book. The novel itself is a great tale that is very well told and hard to put down. The story is written in the language of the military, I really enjoyed reading it and could readily relate to (myself, also a retired E-8 but not a Viet Nam vet). There's an excellent glossary for non-vet types that makes clear reference of all the military terms in the book.

Just finished "Of Silent Parades" by Will Graley. Great book that brings back memories for us that were in Vietnam in one role or another. Great first book. I'm eagerly awating his next.

I am 34 years old and have never heard of the "Paris Peace Accords" until I read this book! I'm glad I read it! I learned and appreciate the truth!

I was born and raised in Columbus, Ga. and familiar with Ft. Benning, Ga. and reading this book brought back fond memories! This book was about the end of Vietnam and a soldiers story of a group of people who stuck together through thick and thin! No matter what! The idea of people like that fighting for me and my country...yes I'm very proud to be an American! Would make a great movie! Thank you Mr. Graley

"OF SILENT PARADES" published by Trafford Publishing, a publisher who has the fortitude to bring forth truth, has educated me and my generation that Vietnam Veterans never retreated to the beaches in shame as some quote "historians" unquote would have history to record.
Christine Castillo
Colorado Springs, CO

spent a pleasant afternoon reading , about 5 hrs from start to finish. time just flew by as I got caught up in the characters and decriptions of war. would recommend it to all of my friends.

This book is impressively well written with a dry, concise and insightful tone. This book is not against perfectionism, but against the idea that mistakes should be always avoided, even during practice. The author suggests that music should be performed with a strong body awareness, and that this should be cultivated during practice in a way that is a sort of dialogue between ourselves and our bodies; in this dialogue, errors are a way for our bodies to communicate with us, so we should be able to make them boldly and then recover from them as much information as we can. This, in the end, makes the correction of the error deeper, and our performances more confident.

The book is not a step-by-step guide to practicing using this method; it's more a pedagogic book detailing the philosophy behind this approach. Still, it's very though provoking even for non teachers and for amateurs musicians, especially adults returning to music after previous bitter experiences.

This book is absolutely enjoyable to read. I just couldn't stop reading it...I did not want to continue practicing without hearing all that William Westney had to say about practicing techniques (for any instrument, though mainly piano) and musicality. He uses great resources if you want to learn more about what he writes. His focus is getting in touch with the innate musician within you...a very positive and motivating book...highly recommended.

This is my favorite book about music-making (classical piano, in my case). Westney very convincingly makes the case for an overhaul of the way we approach music practice and performance. The 'juicy wrong note' idea promotes a wholistic, passionate attitude. It is NOT the idea of treating mistakes lightly...more, it's the attitude of making the mistake whole-heartedly and then learning what it has to tell you about your level of preparedness,an unsuspected weak point, etc. Westney does not cover specific how-to's (the best book on that for piano in my opinion is Berman's) but more the philosophy to bring to the practice room and to the performance. I'd give more stars if it were possible

Not really being part of the culture to which the author is reacting, I found this book to be captivating, if a bit strident. The unfortunate tendency towards perfectionism taints a great deal more than music instruction. The expectations of deference and respect on the basis of position weaken bishops and U.S. presidents as well as maestros and music teachers. Still, the control freak element runs deep. As an adult beginner taking piano lessons, I just see it from a different perspective. Take humor in the strutting of the popinjay, no need to be alarmed by it.

Also, the man either knows nothing about golf, or else cheats on his scorecard. I suspect the former rather than the latter. But, a recorded lousy golf swing is just a lousy golf swing, while one left off the scorecard is, well, a reflection of character.

However, on his home ground, the practice room and the recital stage, the author is very strong. Texas Tech is lucky to have him. Go, Red Raiders!

If you want to truly refresh your thinking about teaching music, this is the book. Explore with the author ways to bring enthusiasm and joy into the learning process... how to use 'honest mistakes" as tools. Be prepared to learn why traditional methods can sometimes harness creativity. This book described for me a way to help my students relax and welcome the journey into music. Whether teaching by traditional methods or not, this book is a must. Thanks, Mr. Westney, for the great read and the inspiring words.

I was living in Cambodia when I came across this book, following the recommendation of one of my English friends. I bought the book, opened it... and could no longer put it down! This book came as a complete eye-opener to me, on both how America had conducted its war across Indochina, but also on how Cambodia's history had/has been so intimately intermixed with Sihanouk's.

If you are into learning the backside of what we could all dub "official history", then this book's for you. You will no longer look at Kissinger, Nixon or Westmoreland with the same candid, obedient and servile eyes after reading it. Packed with previously unheard-of accounts, reports, testimonies, following a clean, highly intelligent argumentation methodology, Sideshow acts as a real bulldozer on the reader, repeatedly confronting him/her with loads of devastating illustrations of unsound decisions, hidden political actions, secret wars of influences etc. It is certainly one of the punchiest, journalism-based historical account I have ever read, whatever the subject.

It shed a completely new and intense light onto the poor -though touching- little country I was living in then, and forever changed the way I looked at politics, diplomacy and intelligence.

Shawcross gets into the minds of Kissinger and Nixon so well. His is a book to be read over and over again to see the working of the U.S. Government and how it can destroy a country. He talks about the 25 pound shark at the bottom of a swimming pool full of children -- and we understand how the USA's leaders destroyed a country. It is a lesson to be learned over and over again as we go about destroying other countries. This is one great read - worthy of the time it takes to understand it. A victory for the author over Mr. Kissinger.

This book has managed to live on, which is perhaps unfortunate - historically speaking, it's far more relevant to contemporary geopolitics than it should be.

In any case, SIDESHOW has managed to stand as one of the better books on Cambodia, and America's involvement in Cambodia (Elizabeth Becker's WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER is a must-read as well). One could debate Shawcross' perspectives, but his research is meticulous and has withstood many attacks, and his depiction of the machiavellian darkness that can creep into foreign policy is chilling and ruthless, and - for better of worse - makes for hypnotic reading, all the more frightening as it's drawn straight from history, research, the Freedom of Information act.

Now more than ever, this is essential reading.

-David Alston

On Junior Day, 2006, I would recommend SIDESHOW by William Shawcross. It contains information about the twentieth century that could be applied to situations that America faces in the world in 2006. The global superpower naturally thinks that everything will be resolved by the application of hyperpower, as Japan suffered a humiliating defeat at the end of World War II when it discovered that the United States was not just fighting a war against Japan, it would nuke their cities to bring about whatever result it wanted. When American troops openly invaded parts of Cambodia, Congress responded by imposing limits which were still in place on April 30, 1973:

"The justification for bombing Cambodia had been to protect Americans in Vietnam. Since October 1970 the Congress had included in every military appropriation bill a proviso expressly forbidding bombing in Cambodia except for that purpose. By the end of March 1973 there were no American troops left in Indochina. Still the bombing of Cambodia increased. The administration now based its case on Article 20 of the Paris Agreement. Rogers now claimed that American withdrawal from Vietnam did not affect the situation in Cambodia, and that Article 20 legalized the bombing `until such time as a ceasefire could be brought into effect.' " (p. 277).

One of the strange things about the invasion of Cambodia was that Nixon made an announcement on April 30, 1970 which attempted to keep all previous secret activities secret:

Ignoring Menu, Nixon began with the lie that the United States had "scrupulously respected" Cambodia's neutrality for the last five years and had not "moved against" the sanctuaries. This falsehood was repeated by Kissinger in his background briefings to the press. That same evening he told reporters that the Communists had been using Cambodia for five years but, "As long as Sihanouk was in power in Cambodia we had to weigh the benefits in long-range historical terms of Cambodian neutrality as against any temporary military advantages and we made no efforts during the first fifteen months of this administration to move against the sanctuary." The next day he said of Sihanouk's rule, "We had no incentive to change it. We made no effort to change it. We were surprised by the development. One reason why we showed such great restraint against the base areas was in order not to change this situation." (p. 146).
In his announcement of the invasion, Nixon stated that his action was taken "not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam"; he would give aid to Cambodia, but only to enable it "to defend its neutrality and not for the purpose of making it an active belligerent on one side or the other." (p. 146).

Currently Iran has a militia of five million, and if Iran were to officially enter a war in Iraq as a result of bombings by Israel, as urged by Vice President Cheney, to remove Iran's nuclear capabilities, even if a bomb based on plans provided by the CIA wouldn't work, Iran has other ways it could strike back. Being subatomic is very much like Cambodia was in 1970, but we shall soon see what issues are about to be submitted to the UN security council, and if it helps or hurts. A blockade created by Iran so American supplies might have more trouble reaching Kuwait and Iraq; oil exports from the region could end; American dollars could fall; the interest on bonds could rise so high that the U.S. government couldn't balance a budget; and some of the world's banks might then be alarmed.

SIDESHOW by William Shawcross is the only book I have in which I can look up Lon Nil in the index. Lon Nil might well be Cambodia's forgotten man. His brother, Lon Nol, declared himself Chief of State as well as Prime Minister and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces when he dissolved the Assembly in October 1971 and assumed emergency rule. (p. 229). In December 1971, an American psychiatrist in the U.S. Army found "his close associates indicate his mental faculties have deteriorated markedly as a result of his February 1971 stroke" (p. 208). On April 1, 1975, at the urging of his brother Lon Non, Lon Nol took half a million dollars and moved to Hawaii. (pp. 357-358). But for me, the best picture of events in Cambodia is the final page of Chapter 8, The Coup, in March 1970, when Lon Nol overthrew Sihanouk, using the hostility of the urban elite and military officers to Sihanouk to justify a power grab by a former Minister of Defense who "had been the principal scourge of the Vietnamese Communists while privately profiting from the thriving covert business that they brought through Sihanoukville." (p. 113). Sihanouk responded by forming a government recognized by Peking on May 5, 1970, shortly after the American invasion announced by Nixon. Sihanouk had flown from Moscow to China on March 18, 1970, but Lon Nil was still in Cambodia:

Rioting broke out in several provinces; opposition was strongest in the market town of Kompong Cham, Cambodia's second city, fifty miles northeast of Phnom Penh. After Sihanouk's radio broadcast, the town filled with peasants, fishermen and rice farmers from the neighborhood. The townspeople refused the government's orders to remove the Prince's portrait, and they burned down the house of the new governor whom Lon Nol had appointed. Demonstrators gathered in buses and trucks to march on Phnom Penh. They were halted by an army roadblock, and after that . . . About ninety people were killed or wounded. (pp. 126-127).

The most vivid display of anger against Lon Nol occurred, again in Kompong Cham, when peasants seized his brother Lon Nil, killed him and tore his liver from his stomach. The trophy was taken into a Chinese restaurant, where the owner was ordered to cook and slice it. Morsels were handed to everyone in the streets around. (p. 127).

Really bad decisions made by the Nixon administration toward Indochina and the Vietnam War are now fairly obvious. However, we must remember how difficult this type of investigation would have been back when Shawcross did his intensive research back in the late 70s. Here Shawcross builds a very hard-to-dismiss case against Nixon and Henry Kissinger, in terms of how their problematic military and diplomatic strategies at least indirectly led to the hideous destruction of Cambodia (in fact, one of Nixon's documented strategies was to make the Communists think he was a madman, assuming they'd get scared and give up).

During the earlier years of the war, Cambodia was a relatively tranquil nation that was trying to remain neutral. But the country was being used as a hideout by North Vietnamese soldiers, leading to bombing by the Americans. Here Shawcross shows how Nixon and Kissinger made use of political trickery and overhyped threats to keep the bombing going to an extent that was far more destructive than necessary. As a bonus, this book also documents the wire-tapping paranoia and unconstitutional shenanigans in the Nixon White House. Shawcross is especially tough on Kissinger, finding that he disregarded the integrity and safety of Cambodia (which he had only ever visited for four hours), in favor of short-term political advantages and unyielding ideology. The relentless bombing destabilized Cambodian society, leading indirectly to the hideous genocide and societal destruction enacted by the Khmer Rouge a few years later. It is difficult to argue with Shawcross' heavily researched conclusions, and the hellish wholesale collapse of Cambodia (of a type never before seen in modern history) becomes all the more poignant as a result.

Be sure to get an edition of this book from 1986 or after, in which Shawcross adds materials from the political firefight that the book ignited. Kissinger was obviously upset and went to great lengths, through articles written by his lackey Peter Rodman, to try and disprove Shawcross' assertions. If your copy of this book contains these articles, you'll be quite bemused by Rodman's evasive, dissembling, and downright condescending rebuttal attempts, which are easily shot down by Shawcross. This war of words in itself proves that Kissinger had, and always will have, a lot to answer for. [~doomsdayer520~]

Well written, easy and clear to read. If you are interested in military special operations, this is a classic. I couldn't put it down.

Mcraven's research into the missions detailed in the book is incredible. I read and reread the introduction and first chapters over and over again. It was such an incredible, point by point analysis of what it takes to make a successful special operations mission. I appreciated the writing style, but it is not light reading. Very thorough, very interesting. Great book.

McRaven's breakdown of special operations theory (or "direct action theory," for those applying these principles for light infantry purposes) is succinct, honest, and practical. Whereas others in the craft often feel the need to mythologize spec ops practices, Mcraven's account is completely candid and methodical. Drawing on case studies from WW2 onward, he makes a good, round examination of how and why spec ops missions succeed or fail.

Simplicity in planning, security in preparing, repetition in training, and surprise, speed, and purpose in execution make for relative superiority: the strength in small numbers. The author's rational formula for examining these factors is crucial, making a science of what many would have you believe is simply "shooting from the hip."

Given the challenges facing the average infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan, often forced to enter citadels of rubble in small units, this book could be equally well-applied to light infantry action. If you're an NCO on your way to Tikrit, you may want to grab yourself a copy for the plane ride over. (Couple it with a copy of Poole's "The Tiger's Way" while you're at it.)

Admiral McRaven USN enjoys the credibility not shared by many to comment on the secretive world of special operations (SPCOPS).

SPEC OPS illustrates with well-researched and analyzed case scenarios the incredible dedication of various commando operations. It is immediately obvious that the author has "been there and done that." Additionally, and possibly more importantly, he achieves a synergistic effect by combining the traditionally polar disciplines of academics and practical applications into a total work that is truly greater than the sum of its individual parts.

This is a book that I've read more than once and learn something new each time.

For those involved in or studying military affairs read it ...pay attention.

I studied Spec Ops for quite a while.
But all the information I gather was not complete.
Especially those Ops for 20-30 years.

But this book really makes a difference.
Every detail of the Op that you want to know was in it.
Location. situation and planning...results

I think this is a wonderful book for those
who want to study Spec Op Cases!!!

I can't really add anything the other reviews haven't already covered. I just wanted to add my praise of this classic. This book is very relevant in a lab setting. I would recommend it to everyone to start with, but especially those with experimental problems to solve in an objective way.

I used the Montgomery DOE book as an undergrad...but chatting with a Stat prof freind of mine..she recommened Box Hunter & Hunter over this. I had never covered the entire book..& was reading up on Factorial designs...I went ahead and bought Box Hunter & Hunter...(do wait & buy the 2nd edition due out in May-I think Amazon trys to sell you the old inventory if you are not careful)...nonetheless, the old edition I bought actually is much more intuitive and easy to follow that the "Design and Analysis of Experiments" book by Montgomery....I think its b/c the latter is written by an engineer..no offense to you out there...just that engineers cover so much material that there texts seem more "cookbook" like..here's how...w/ no too much intuition as to why ...probably catering to the engineer who has not the time to care about the why...I am thoutoughly enjoying the read...some of the quotes in hte book are pretty funny yet all the while relevant...

All of the reviews on this book are generally consistent in their praise for the book and the authors. I do not have any points to add to the discussion other than this:

It is a credit to this version of Statistics for Experimenters that it has remained relevant throughout the years as a classic introductory text that has kept selling consistently since it was released in the 1970's. Nevertheless, unless you have a particular reason for purchasing this version, you should purchase the updated version(also available through Amazon).

The full title of the newer edition is:

Statistics for Experimenters: Design, Innovation, and Discovery, 2nd Edition

The 2nd edition, written in the same engaging and readable style as the 1st, contains virtually all of the content of the 1st edition plus advances in design of experiments that have happened since the 1st edition was published.

George E.P. Box, the senior author of this magnificent example of great teaching for adults, is one of the great statisticians of modern times. He is a master at teaching those with experience, especially industrial experience, but not necessarily the most advanced mathematical training. My own background in econometrics and decades of work experience left me in a position of having too little knowledge to apply sophisitcated statistical methods to experiments and too much knowledge to settle for the exposition of statistics in many experimental design texts, especially those for behavioral scientists. I had read some of Mr. Box's "Evolutionary Operation" [with Norman Draper] ("EvOp") (also outstanding, practical, and unusual) and looked at "Bayesian Inference in Statistical Analysis" [with George Tiao] ("BISA") and hoped the book was as practical as EvOp rather than as mathematical as BISA. It has turned out to be so without being unsophisticated.

Once you have mastered this, I am sure you will be prepared for many of the challenges of applying statistics to practical industrial and experimental situations and for more advanced and modern methods that have emerged since 1978 with the ubiquity of very cheap computing power.

What it may lack in the most contemporary methods it more than makes up for by helping the reader develop a good intuition for applying statistical methods and judgment.

This book was published in 1978 but as other reviewers have noted its practical methods and advice are timeless. George Box and Stu Hunter are both very famous statisticians who are also great teachers and lecturers. Bill Hunter is now deceased. All three authors have made major contributions to the design of experiments. The book is written for practitioners and in the simplest language possible. Emphasis is placed on practical designs and not optimal designs because optimal designs are very sensitive to model specification.
It does not include the robust designs of Taguchi which came later and could easily be included if the authors choose to revise it.

I find it easy to see why Sue Henry has consistently earned five star ratings for Termination Dust. As a mystery writer I loved the interweaving of two stories a century apart and the parallels between some of the characters then and now. I also appreciated the maps at the beginning of the book. Not having been in that part of the world, I found them helpful anchoring the action to the place.

I particularly liked Henry's thorough character development, not only of Alex Jensen and Jim Hampton, but also of the less central characters. I fell in love with Jessie Arnold, Jensen's significant other and even felt a little sympathy for Charlie, the grubby city kid who couldn't seem to do anything right.

To sum up, while I found myself sad to have finished Termination Dust, as I always am finishing a good book, I was also glad to discover Sue Henry has ten more books out to explore. Highly recommended.

i began my sue henry travels with another mystery line and then bought the jesse arnold series. this is the second one in the series and is well written, entertaining and also been an education about a part of the world i am unfamiliar with - alaska and canada.
these books should appeal to anyone who enjoys a good mystery, or a cozy mystery or learning about new enviroments and places. I am hooked!

I particularly enjoyed this book, I think because of the interesting contrast between the present and the past. The author skillfully switches between the two stories, and she is adept at conveying both a sense of time and place. I've already finished Death Takes Passage, another one containing lots of interesting historical information, and I'm looking forward to more by Sue Henry. Thanks for taking me away!

I couldnt put this book down. 2nd in Sue Henry's series set in Alaska. A canoeist finds a journal set 100 years in the past of a journey to find gold. He is set upon by the bad guys and the book takes off from there. Alex Jensen and a Canadian Mountie are called in to investigate and work hand in hand to solve this intricate but fascinating plot.

Sue Henry writes one good mystery with a little romance thrown in to the mix. I read this thru a New England snow storm and enjoyed it immensely.(The book; now the snow storm :))

Sue Henry writes another winner in "Termination Dust", the second book of her Alex Jensen Mystery Series. Canoeist Jim Hampton is on a trip down the Yukon River when he discovers the bones and the journal of a prospecter, Addison Riser from the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. While pondering the question of what may have caused Riser's death, Hampton is attacked and left for dead himself. He escapes and is discovered by Detective Alex Jensen and Inspector Charles Delafosse who are investigating a stolen car ring and the murder of a prominent man. There is evidence to suggest that Hampton committed the murder and the two lawmen investigate that possibility. The story continues with the constant weaving of Riser's story from the 1800's with that of modern-day Hampton. The story includes lost treasure and a further murder. Henry makes the story rich and complex, yet manages to convincingly tie up all of the loose ends at the end. The reader is also treated to the rich background of the Yukon and a history lesson about the Gold Rush.

An interesting and well-researched report on the options Americans face in the production of energy. Tucker examines one by one all the energy sources we hear about in the daily paper, discusses their pros and cons, and makes a convincing case that nuclear generation of electricity is the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to produce the energy we're going to need as we move into a new world of diminishing oil production.
He deals exhaustively with nuclear accidents and nuclear waste and presents convincing arguments that these threats can be moderated with technology and careful human engineering. He takes us to France and shows how that country, uses nuclear energy to produce %80 of its electricity, and reprocesses the the whole nation's nuclear waste so effectively that it all fits into one room.
This book is a fascinating compendium of up-to-date information on nuclear energy and the American attitudes toward it . You find yourself reading about the Fugitive Poet's agrarian manifesto, the meaning of Albert Einstein's famous equation E equals MC squared, and a fuel assembly that resembles a "sinister benthic organism" behind a foot of leaded glass.
At the end of the book is a 41 page section of footnotes, bibliography, and index, plenty of material for the scholar who wishes to dive deeper into this controversial and existentially important subject.

Award-winning journalist Bill Tucker begins this important book with a fair-minded review of the evidence that human activity is contributing to the greenhouse effect implicated in accelerating the warming of the earth. He concludes that, while the science remains provisional and somewhat equivocal, annually dumping three billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere is likely to have some impact on climate--enough for reasonable people to be sufficiently alarmed about the practice to want it stopped, or substantially reduced. How to achieve this goal effectively while enhancing, even extending, the technology that preserves the energy requirements of modernity is the subject of the book.

Energy enables modern society by heating our homes and businesses, providing for vast transportation systems, and producing electricity. Transportation, mostly in the form of automobiles, produces over 40% of our nation's CO2 emissions. Consumption of electricity accounts for 39 % of all energy use in the United States, which includes nearly a third of the energy produced for heating and a tiny fraction now involved in transportation. However, because more than 70% of the power for electricity comes from the burning of fossil fuels, with 50% from coal alone (20% from natural gas, 2.5% from petroleum), electricity production emits 36% of all the greenhouse gasses humans dump into the atmosphere, with coal-fired plants contributing 30% of the total.

Only two of the five conventional power sources, hydro and nuclear, produce "clean" power, emitting no CO2. As Tucker documents, though, hydro, perhaps the most effective of all power sources and still generating 7% of the nation's electricity power, has already developed most of the best hydro sites while fomenting significant environmental damage, with each dam typically degrading hundreds of miles of sensitive watershed habitat. The Sierra Club has opposed hydro for most of its existence because of this reason, with its founder, John Muir, fulminating about the aesthetic loss to his valley when the redoubtable Hetch Hetchy Dam was built nearly a hundred years ago. Nuclear plants, which provide 20% of the nation's electricity, also produce at high levels without polluting the environment, but fears about radioactivity and the storage of waste material, not to mention the possibility that nuclear materials may be diverted for terrorist purposes, have given the industry such a problematic reputation that no new nuclear facilities have been built in the country for nearly thirty years.

The ten electricity grids that produce and transmit electricity in the continental US are mandated to provide reliability at affordable cost with high security. Electricity demand is today very predictable, always existing at some basic level, atop of which, as human activity ebbs and flows, mid and peak demand levels occur; each demand cycle also contains continuous demand fluctuations, as people and businesses turn their appliances on and off. Grid operators match power with demand at a better than 99% accuracy, dispatching heavy duty generators like nuclear, large coal, and, where it is abundant, hydro, to engage basic demand (which consists of about 40%-50% of a day's electricity consumption), then deploying highly reliable but smaller units to meet mid and peak demand periods, as well as rapidly-responsive generators to balance demand flux.

Terrestrial Energy is a marvelously told tale presenting the ineluctable case for expanding the role of electricity to more than 50% of our total energy use, with nuclear as the primary supplier for basic demand, replacing coal--in the process substantially reducing our production of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants. Tucker shows this is no fantasy, since France (and Sweden) has for years harnessed nuclear for this purpose, giving France the second-lowest level of CO2 emissions in Europe (Sweden is first). With clean burning nuclear providing much of our electricity, battery-powered automobiles and other transport can simply be recharged by plugging into the grid, thus also avoiding the CO2 from our present fleet of internal combustion engines.

Tucker not only demonstrates how nuclear facilities achieve stunning performance, given that nuclear energy is two million times more potent than the energy contained in fossil fuels, which are in turn exponentially more powerful than renewable fuels; he also demythologizes the nattering, well-intentioned concerns about their safety. He summons the ghost of Carl Sagan: we're all "star stuff," with radioactive heat forged in supernova explosions, then settling over everything, including our own sinew, providing Earth's internal heat that makes life on earth possible. He shows that radioactivity is as natural as air, and that radiation is merely energy in motion--it's all around, and coursing through us every second. The issue of concern is one of dosage. To determine "safe" levels, Tucker examines the effects of the accidents at Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl, and looks at epidemiological studies in the wake of the nuclear bombing of Japan, providing sober context for understanding, from a scientific perspective, what the health risks for nuclear really are. Even more intriguing, he cites several studies focusing upon hormesis--the idea that chronic low doses of radiation are beneficial, stimulating the immune system. As for "waste" material, Tucker proves the concern is a bagatelle, for nuclear fuel can be almost wholly reprocessed, as France does it.

For those seeking a preview about what the next several years may bring in terms of energy policy, go directly to Chapter 15, "The California Electrical Crisis." California's penchant for "renewables" mirrors the interest in those technologies today. Despite over 13,000 huge wind turbines and massive investments in solar technology, "the state found itself in the midst of electricity shortage in 2000--something no other advanced nation has ever experienced." The consequence of more than 25 years of emphasizing renewables and conservation, following that coquettish pied piper of "soft energy," Amory Lovins, is that Californians now pay the highest prices for electricity in the nation, getting 41% of their electricity from expensive natural gas, while continuing to increase their carbon emissions. Tucker's account ought to be the basis of a screenplay for a Monty Python full-length feature, with enough incompetence, venality, and wishful thinking to make even Tom Wolfe happy. Even in the United States of Amnesia, it should be enough to provide a lesson in precisely what not to do in the quest for an effective energy policy that drastically reduces CO2.

Tucker could have been clearer about the limitations of today's mainline "renewables:" wind and solar. Wind especially. For it's incompatible with demand cycles, typically producing most when demand is least; its relentless skittering destabilizes the grid, making conventional generators work harder to balance it, with thermal consequences that largely subvert any CO2 emissions offsets induced by wind energy; and it produces no effective capacity--prescribed levels of energy on demand--with the consequence that it can never take the place of any reliable conventional generators that do produce effective capacity, including coal. All conventional generators produce their rated capacities, or a desired fraction thereof, when dispatched to do so. However, no one can be sure of how much wind (or solar) will be available at any future time. Neither wind nor solar can satisfy base or peaking demand, since they're not dispatchable or dependable.

Any journalist who these days can gracefully weave together an accurate account of the reciprocal nature of the speed of energy (radiation), matter, time, and distance with Huber and Mills' laws of efficiency deserves the greatest respect. He also makes use of such cultural treasures as Blondie at Tudbury's and Jubilation T. Cornpone. Terrestrial Energy is an honest, even wise, undertaking in the best tradition of journalism in a democracy, for successful democracy insists upon an informed citizenry. It's at risk when leaders base policy on errant nonsense, as the recent California energy history suggests. Those concerned about a better energy future should recommend this book to all in their circle, presenting it as well to politicians, policy wonks, environmental leaders, and media representatives. Three cheers for Bill Tucker.

I believe this is the most important book written this year, and perhaps in many years. Why? Because nothing is more critical to our economy and way of life than how we respond to the energy crisis and global warming. So far, we are not off to a good start.

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully written book, Mr. Tucker first acknowledges that global warming is PROBABLY real and PROBABLY at least partly anthropogenic, even though such conclusions are not provable by ordinary scientific hypothesis testing. He then rightly concludes that even if global warming is only very slightly caused by human activity, we cannot continue to pour billions of tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere without suffering consequences.

Mr. Tucker then proceeds to methodically and objectively examine every known source of energy, with respect to the advantages and problems inherent to each. He then concludes that there is only one source that even comes close to satisfying the criteria of no GG emissions, reasonable cost, and minimal environmental impact - nuclear energy.

I would take issue with Mr. Tucker's far too charitable treatment of wind energy. He does correctly point out that because electricity produced by wind is intermittent and effectively can't be stored, it cannot provide base load or peak load. He also mentions that modern grids must have reliable dispatch control over the amount of electricity going into the grid to balance load and avoid brownouts and blackouts, which wind can't provide. However, he inexplicably fails to mention the need for "backup" generation from conventional power plants to cover periods of low or no wind. He concludes, unconvincingly, that wind can provide "spinning reserves" to cover grid demand fluctuations. He does not explain how an unpredictable, constantly fluctuating source can provide reserves which must be instantly available when needed. These criticisms are mere quibbles, however, as Mr. Tucker makes it abundantly clear that wind, solar and other renewables are simply not going to solve our energy problems.

Mr Tucker then gets to his main point, that nuclear energy is the answer. He convincingly deconstructs all of of the popular arguments against nuclear energy, such as the terrorist problem, the nuclear accident problem and the waste disposal problem. He makes it clear that these problems are either non-existent urban myths or a product of bad political decisions made during the last thirty years. He does this by taking us on a tour of the French nuclear industry, which provides 80% of France's electricity needs.

It is painful to listen to the comments of French nuclear industry officials as they describe how cheap, clean, reliable and safe their nuclear industry is, and how grateful they are to us for inventing the nuclear reactor. If only we had done what France did 30 years ago, we wouldn't be having an energy crisis and our GG emissions would be a fraction of what they now are. How frustrating!

This book should be required reading for every public official having anything to do with energy policy, from President-elect Obama to members of congress and governors. The stakes here are huge. We are about to commit over a TRILLION dollars on "renewable" and "alternative" energy that simply does not work and cannot be made to work. We are doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing, and will pay dearly for this fundamental policy mistake. Mr. Tucker makes it clear that the task of replacing coal with nuclear energy can be accomplished, but is not going to happen unless the public becomes educated and the myths and misinformation fed to us during the last 30 years are refuted. This book is a great start. I intend to give copies to my environmentalist friends who "believe in wind" but have no idea what they are talking about.

This is an excellent book; clear, concise, factual, and educational. Let's start with the present energy situation. Many people want to stop global warming and severe air polution. A big contributor is electrity production, burning coal or natural gas to generate steam to power turbines. These fuels are plentiful, cheap, safe to handle. They also are very dirty, producing tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Therefore, environmists want alternatives, including solar, wind, biomass, etc. All of these have negatives; sunshine is inconsistent, especialy at night. Solar panels cover acres of land better put to other uses. Wind is also inconsistent. Wind turbines are big, ugly, and dangerous to the people they fall on or the birds they chop to pieces. Biomass still has to be burned. Nuclear is the best answer.
Now, nuclear power has one big disadvantage as well. The waste is highly toxic, and some bozos in the past have screwed up at Chernobel and Three Mile Island. Lesson learned. After 40+ years, I certainly think we can safely handle this technology. The French definitely do; I cannot recall their power plants ever having a problem. Next, if you look at the amount of extractable energy contained in a uranium atom versus a coal or natural gas atom, the difference is a factor of a million or two. Less fuel equals less emmisions. We should push to replace all of our coal and natural gas power plants with nuclear plants.
The main obsticle to building nuclear power plants is political. People have been cowed for decades into thinking that nuclear is dangerous. People also don't understand how nuclear power works. Finally, a lot of politicians depend on coal miners and natural gas for their elections. No one wants to lose his or her job because technology advances. Fortunately, coal and natural gas can both be converted to gasoline to power cars and trucks, so no one has to lose money or their jobs. The strongest part of William Tucker's book is educational. This book is intended to define nuclear power to engineering students, but is so clear and logical anyone can understand it. Being a professor of Electrical Engineering, I have held these views since the '70s. Tucker goes a lot further, reducing to plain facts and solid logic the arguments supporting nuclear power. As for the politicians, I don't think any of them are Engineers. My hat is off for William Tucker; he has done this country a great service. Now if only the people will listen to him.

For openers an excellent history of the key technologies of the Industrial Revolution that have brought us to complete dependence on fossil fuels. Mr.Tucker explains that oil, natural gas and coal are solar, or extraterrestrial in origin. Sun, wind, tides, biofuels and hydroelectric power, are also extraterrestrial in origin. This century will mark the end of the short-lived fossil fuel era. They will already be severely depleted by mid century. Mr.Tucker describes the Global Warming crowd's rush to sun and wind and bio technology to replace fossils. He brilliantly explains how these intermittent and land intensive sources can't provide the reliable, large volumes of power modern economies need. They will remain supplemental sources. The only ready alternatives are the truly terrestrial nuclear fuels, exclusively uranium at this point. Think about it....if fossil fuels are gone and the so called 'renewables' can't come close to powering modern economies, what is left? Mr. Tucker explains how safe, modern nuclear technology is ready to produce high volume, low cost electricity. And it does not emit 'green house gases'. It will long outlive fossil fuels. Mr. Tucker's book will help educate the public about this sole option that is ignored and blocked at every opportunity by environmentalists.

I read this book many times as a child and loved in. I am so pleased to see it's return! I hope that they also reprint the sequel that followed it. I read that one also!!

I have a hardcover of this book - first edition - and where my kids have long since destroyed the dust jacket, the book sits amongst other treasured stories of my youth. I loved this book so much, I 'borrowed' this copy from a friend and never returned it -- another story in and of itself. But the book haunted me, as did the transgression, and when I finally offered to return the book to her some 30 years later, she told me to enjoy the book and give it to my children! Few books today capture a child's love of time travel like this one. Read and enjoy Susan's journey.

I read and re-read this book as a kid. Recently a student of mine ased abotu books on time traveling and I thought of this one and another book, "The Root Cellar" that could be of interest.
I loved Time At The Top, Susan was a great character and I truly loved to read about her comprehension of her situation and her strong decisisons to help the family she comes to know...

I never thought I'd find it again! Lovely plot, great characterization, a heroine you feel strongly for, and an unforgettable ending. By mere chance I found this title on a recommendation list and knew it was the book I'd half-forgotten. Now I get to recommend it to my nieces, nephews and someday my daughter!

I purchased this book to pre-read for my 8 1/2 year old advanced reader. I couldn't put the book down! The book was very well written with several fun twists and turns. Books with age appropriate content that are challenging to read are often hard to find for her age group. I can't wait for her to read this one.

A must read for every American. Find out why our founders fought for our country and why the current state of our country is very un-American.

William James Murray hits the nail on the head when it comes to the American System and what has happened. To know and understand how and why our country was founded is the first step to discovering how it is we save our country from falling into the trap that so many before us have become ensnared. Murray teaches you what it truly means to be a real-American in easy to understand language, and easy to understand concepts. Though he can be repetetive in his writing, it is clearly methodically repetitive. There are concepts in this book that must be understood. I am going to teach American History and Government at the High School Level and I will fight to have this book be required reading in my classes.

If I was a rich person (which I'm not), I would buy a copy for every elected official in this country and make them read it. (Ahhh... wishful thinking)

Fantastic book - fantastic and easy to read. It has quite literally changed my life. Opened my eyes and made me rethink our form of "government" we know today.

There is still a knot in my throat from reading it and being so angry - even though I finished it last month!

Every taxpayer, every school kid, every parent, every voter should have a copy of this book.

Simply put... the best book I have ever read. It will fill you with pride, anger and activism. You will read in awe of the courage of our founding fathers. You will read in horror about the beast that our government has become.

It's hard to disagree with the principles expressed in this book. I've bought 4 copies already to share with family and friends!

This is one of the single greatest books that I have ever had the privelage of reading. The writer describes in clear and concise terms the price of liberty, how we won it, and how we are losing it. You wont find this information in any government school or college.
Delightfully this book is an easy read. The author wrote this book with the common man in mind. Splendidly I tore through this book in no time at all without having to read a single sentence twice.
Patriots, students, and anybody dedicated to preseving liberty and economic freedom should definately read this masterpiece. Its amazing that the information in this book is surpressed from our schools. Everybody should read this book twice and buy copies for all your family and friends.

Who would believe that a book on the Theory of Relativity could be written for the masses? Well it was, and this is it. The concepts that the book conveys are mind boggling, yet quite understandable at the same time. You'll never view space, time and the world around you the same again. It's a quick read, but as you'll learn, time is relative.

Suppose all matter in the universe is expanding at a uniform rate and that "gravity" doesn't exist. Also imagine standing atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa and releasing two cannon balls. One weighs one ounce and the other ten pounds. Because the earth is rushing up to meet the balls, both seem to fall to the ground at the same rate. A cannon ball fired into the air seems to follow a curved trajectory back to the earth as the ground rushes up to meet it. A comet passing close to the earth seems to be "attracted" to the earth as we are pushed upwards towards it. Einstein says "gravity" is the effect on the path of a moving object caused by distortions in the geometric structure of the space-time continuum caused by mass. But space is "nothing," so how can "nothing" be distorted? Could the earth and all matter be expanding uniformly and unnoticed by us? Could this expansion be the real cause of what we call "gravity" and not the distortion of "nothing"?

This problem, somewhat simplified here, has been bothering me since I first read this book some forty years ago; if anybody can help enlighten me on this, I'd be glad to hear from you!

Mr. Barnett, a journalist, crossed over into the arena of science, a subject that he had not studied in college. And to the world's amazement, he captured on paper a clear and easy to read explanation of the genius and elegance of Dr. Einstein's theories concerning the very small (quanta) and the very large (space and time).

I feel that this book is a must for any home library. If you are experienced in physics, this book is extremely interesting because it delves deaply into the philosophy that brought Dr. Einstein to his great accomplishments. For those that have little knowledge of relativity, the universe, and quantum matters it offers a great introduction with a minimum of complex math. A simple way to understand how Dr. Einstein changed the entire universe. I have studied Albert for years. This is the first time I have read anything that gave me such an insight to his personality and thought processes. HONESTLY, the best book I have ever read.

This is absolutely the best book on any scientific topic intended for the general reader that I have ever read. It is one of very few books about science I have ever read that I could seriously call a "page turner". Einstein's theories are presented in such a manner that anyone reading the book can understand the concepts without trying. I have read other books that discussed Einstein's theories, but none of them presented the ideas with such lucidity and simplicity, while at the same time not losing the depth and profundity of the concepts.