Reads like a no-holds-barred recounting of every nuclear mishap the author ...
353739
Reads like a no-holds-barred recounting of every nuclear mishap the author could find information on.  Yes, it points out the dangers when things go wrong, but it _also_ shows just how infrequent things go wrong and describes steps the nuclear industry has taken to make nuclear energy even safer.  I applaud the author for his even-handed approach to a book about "disasters".
3494177
Includes a lot of the known details surrounding the Fukushima triple meltdowns caused by the March 2011 earthquake & tsunami of the Northeastern coast of Japan. Still, there remain many questions regarding the condition of the 3 reactor cores that cannot be answered due to the high levels of radioactivity that prevent detailed forensic investigation. The accident response of the Japanese Gov't and Tepco were disappointing, to say the least, is well documented in the book. This book usefully describes how the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission's pro-nuke industry bias (regulatory-capture) and slow-rolling implementation of new safety regulations based on lessons-learned from Fukushima should worry Americans who complacently believe the NRC is looking after the public safety. The NRC has steadfastly maintained over the years that the type of accident that occurred in Japan was just so improbable, it would never happen. After finishing the book, one has the feeling that a Fukushima class accident (Level-7) could happen here in the U.S. too, notwithstanding the NRC' s pseudo-authoritative risk assessments.  We've just been lucky ... so far.
1189068
This page-turning read is truly a refreshing and much-needed recent history lesson for our Twitter-based age.

1983 is, without a doubt, one of the most compelling and sobering books I have read in quite some time.
Little did any of us know, on November 8, 1983, the world came dangerously and stupidly close to a full-scale nuclear conflagration...all because of misinformation, paranoia and a tangible tension borne of 40 years of mistrust and secrecy.

I was quite surprised that the book also paints Ronald Reagan in a fairly positive light. Although he remained decidedly and committedly anti-Communist for his entire presidency, he did come to the realization that his harsh, anti-Soviet rhetoric was creating very serious and potentially dangerous side effects in a very paranoid, crumbling and frightened Russia.
He discovered that his words had consequences.

(Prior to his first meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan even sought out advice from both Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, regarding their past meetings with the Russians, and what he, too, might expect.)

This is simply put, a great book.
Read it.
3187631
The great rewards of reading this book are finding out precisely why Blair & Downing Street felt safe from the moment they saw their choice of Lord Brian Hutton approved as the man to head the Iraq dossier investigation.  The late Phillip Gould, one of the Prime Minister's most trusted advisors, was overheard telling a colleague, we appointed the right judge." p. 198.

I myself remember reading in a London newspaper after the release of the Blair-friendly Hutton report a remark by a Blair ally,  "When the word got out that Hutton was the one appointed to lead the Gilligan panel, we knew we were safe."  In Chapter 8, pages 197-220, "How Hutton Failed" we get a full account of Hutton's prior record of  pro-establishment findings and his antipathy to whistle blowers of all kinds.  This record of Hutton bias is augmented by the final chapter "Postscript" pages 303-318.  To find this material collected in one place is worth the price of the book.

The bulk of the book (330 pages) is devoted to this BBC insider's hour-by-hour account of what transpired from Andrew Gilligan's 6:07AM bombshell and Alexander Campbell's subsequent hellish and indefatigable counterattack + distortions.  It's slow going because the text is fortifying itself against possible legal reprisals and potential charges of libel and slander.  This explains the over meticulous parsings of events and mincings of words throughout.  This is contested terrain and the author, under BBC imprimatur, has to act with utmost meticulous care of presentation.

There was a big shakeup of the BBC as a result of Lord Hutton's blinkered and inadequate setting out of his remit and lines of questioning.  A subsequent panel chaired by Lord Butler chased many of the shadows away, but Blair got the period of respite he needed after leading the nation into Bush's war.
1765950
Not only does Posner chronicle the way that Islamism has been building for decades, ignored by Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Dubya--he chronicles all the obvious warning signs that were completely ignored.
Sure, Clinton completely dropped the ball on Al Qaeda (and you'll get a maddening look at how in this book), but so did the presidents before and after him, including Bush II.  And my God: the FBI is absolutely inept when it comes to fighting terror!
Also infuriating is the yet-again Saudi connection, which has still resulted in NO appreciable action by us towards them, although Al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia have been in bed together since AQ's birth.
Most fascinating is the inside info he got on the capture and interrogation of Zubaydah (sp?)--not only for what they learned from him, but for his naming all the people in the Saudi Arabian gov't and royal family with whom he had a relationship--a relationship he thought would save him from our custody.
4842497
Reading this exhaustively-researched book is an experience that is enjoyable, disgusting and infuriating all at once. Some of the stuff described in Schlosser's book seems so farfetched (can corporations really be that nasty?) that you'll initially dismiss it as being highly improbable. However, one glance at the unbelievably lengthy reference and note appendix and you realize with great sadness that none of it is fiction. To this extent, Schlosser stuffs an incredible amount of information in this book and, throughout, his writing style is easy and flowing. If only the shocking information he gives us was as smooth and easy to digest. Many reviewers dismiss him as being avidly anti-Republican. All of Schlosser's comments are factual (refer again to the note section in which you will find ample documentation). Though the subject matter would lend itself to such abuse, Schlosser doesn't push his personal opinion on the reader: he's there to give us the facts and allows us to make the decisions. You've probably read in other reviews some hints of the horrors described in the book: worker abuse, dangerous working conditions, tainted food supply, etc. The chapters on the meatpacking industry and the slaughterhouses are truly frightening. And these corporations' ability to evade the law and to control governmental agencies are even worse! Poop-filled meat and school lunches tainted with e.coli are only the beginning... This book will make you think twice about what you put into your body. Was it written to scare you off fast food? Not specifically, but its main purpose is to have you THINK. And this it does with excellence. A must-read for everyone.
4547216
Theodore B. Taylor, the physicist who was the subject of this book died in 2004, but not before he had completed his spiritual journey from nuclear bomb maker to nuclear protester.  Even though the text of this book originally appeared in "The New Yorker" in 1973, Taylor was still driven to publish his own works on the dangers of nuclear proliferation.  McPhee has a very understated style ("just the facts, ma'am"), but this book is still the most frightening I've ever read.  I can't decide whether I would want him to write a sequel, because the threat of a nuclear bomb explosion is even greater today than it was in 1973.  Just ask yourself the following questions:

Is there more plutonium available to terrorists in 2006 than there was in 1973?  Yes.

Do more nations have nuclear capability?  Yes.

Can a nuclear bomb be built that is even smaller and more efficient than its 1973 counterpart?  Yes.

Are the instructions for building a nuclear device more readily available than they were in 1973?  Yes.

Do some people hate America even more than they did in 1973?  Decide this one for yourself.

John McPhee, staff writer for the "New Yorker" and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of twenty-seven books on subjects as various as oranges and the merchant marine, has written a nuclear explosion of a book in "The Curve of Binding Energy."  It's one of those books that is even more relevant now than when it was written.  Essentially, it's a blueprint of how to build a nuclear device using materials at hand, along with a chunk of rather easily stolen U-235 or plutonium.  Theodore B. Taylor, himself the creator of smaller, more efficient nuclear bombs, tells us where to steal the plutonium, how to assemble a bomb, even gives hints on where to plant it--one of the eeriest parts of this book has Taylor and McPhee exploring the now-vanished towers of the World Trade Center, trying to pick the spot where a nuclear device could do the most damage.

"The Curve of Binding Energy" is a must read for every man, jack, and paper-pusher in the Department of Homeland Security, not to mention both houses of Congress.  I imagine the first reaction of many Congresspersons would be to ban this book, but it's way too late for that, my friend.
1170034
In his latest book David Griffin has added even more nails to the coffin of the official account of what happened on that day of infamy, September 11th 2001. In this superb book, Dr Griffin eviscerates the NIST report on the collapse of Building 7 with meticulous thoroughness, proving it to be a tissue of omissions, distortions, and fabrications. There is much new material here, presented in a clear and logical style, and I only wish I could give it more than 5 stars.

Why should scientists produce a report that is such an affront to science?

There is only one possible answer: the Bush-Cheney Administration desperately wanted to conceal the truth about the events of that day in 2001. The implications are so staggering that many people cannot bring themselves to confront them. David Griffin's book will do much to overcome this psychological barrier.
3496705
I guess I've read this three or four times (NOTE:  online-- you can find it in its entirety).  It's an absolutely riveting look at one of the most compellingly INSANE religious leaders ever-- and the competition is pretty stiff, so that's saying a lot.  Miller has done his homework, and knows his subject intimately.  That he wrote this masterpiece of popular biography in the face of incredible hostility from the Church of Scientology is a real achievement, and you owe it to yourself to look into this almost unbelievable (but true!) tale of megalomania, paranoia, confabulation, and utterly NUTSOID behavior.
2812234
take notes while reading, I'm just 100 pages in (have skimmed through for research years earlier) and I'm already utterly blown away by the seemingly impenetrable morass of confusion, misinformation, paranoia, anti-Semitism, Russo-phobia, political gambling, and a truly inexplicable belief in a cabal of "Gipsy-Jews" and "Jewish and Latin [Free]Masonry" (pg 42) somehow controlling the Young Turks, unfolding just between August and December 1914 that David Fromkin pries apart and lays out with a narrative ease so concise and informative that I had to re-read entire passages just to be clear that what I was reading was actually unfolding as plainly described, being used to general history texts and documentaries casually skimming over causes and events with a few sentences of "entity secretly engaged entity, failed, war were declared".

from earlier readings I also got a sense of just how amazingly tenuous the communications between British Cairo and Emir Hussein were that a single man, Muhammad al-Faruqi, could perfectly damage and disorient negotiations by meeting with the British and the Arabs and claiming to represent the opposite side.  al-Faruqi "...drew and redrew the frontiers of countries and empires, in the course of exchanges among the British Residency, the Emir of Mecca, and Arab nationalist leaders, each of whom took al-Faruqi to be the emissary of one of the other parties" (pg 178).

even that is not even half-way through this book it's in no way shocking to see this book is rated #1 in Middle Eastern history.

also recommended is the documentary&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Blood-and-Oil-The-Middle-East-in-World-War-I/dp/B000HEWH3C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Blood and Oil: The Middle East in World War I</a>&nbsp;which also features the author of this book David Fromkin in it.
112153
This book could very well be the bible of liberalism for the early 21st century. Sidney has written an 800-page masterpiece about the Clinton presidency that made me outraged all over again about the GOP's wanton abuse of power during the Clinton years - specifically during Clinton's second term, when Blumenthal served as the president's chief political advisor.
To say that the president was morally bankrupt regarding his affairs is to state the obvious, and Blumenthal doesn't try to defend the president. What he does do is point out the blatant hypocrisy of the GOP leadership and Kenneth W. Starr, chief Clinton hater and possibly the most inept special prosecutor this country has ever seen (one can't help come to this conclusion after reading of Starr's abuses outlined in the book).
Blumenthal also details: Matt Drudge's libel about Blumenthal's relationship with his wife that resulted in a lawsuit, Paula Jones's right wing backers who encouraged her to move forward with her baseless lawsuit (that was later thrown out of court), the myth of the birthmark on the president's genitals, the press's distortions of Al Gore during the stolen campaign in 2000, the right wing scourge named Richard Mellon Scaife, the outright lies cooked up by GOP hacks to discredit William Jefferson Clinton that started before he ever took the oath of office, and the myth of Clinton ignoring the threats of terrorism in the 1990s.
The latter point is a pretty stark one in the wake of 9-11, since President Bush has suffered no political price for the disasters happening on his watch. Clinton ordered the bombing of Osama Bin Laden and just missed him by hours in August of 1998 following the attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa, all while Starr was busy subpoenaing the president to testify before a grand jury about his sex life (these 2 events happened within one week of each other). There is plenty of blame to go around for 9-11, but to blame it all on President Clinton is a line fit for Comedy Central. If the president was too busy to combat terrorism, as is often the accusation, then Congress and the FBI were pretty busy with less important things as well, since Starr's investigation WAS USING UP TO 78 FBI AGENTS. That's a whole lot of manpower not looking into terrorism, but this comes as no surprise since FBI Director Louis Freeh is an unabashed Clinton hater, as is Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The latter hating Clinton so much probably didn't have anything to do with the 5-4 vote deciding the 2000 election, did it?
Blumenthal also lays waste to the myth that is Rush Limbaugh, where Rush gets all of his information (directly from the RNC), and his incredible intolerance, myopia and attacks on the Clintons, including Chelsea, whom he once referred to as "the White House dog." It took him nearly a decade to apologize.
This is just a smattering of what will endure as probably the best book on the Clinton presidency by someone not named Clinton.
509605
This is the most powerful account of life in HIROSHIMA, as the bomb fell, through the lives of all affected, from those creating "the bomb", the flight crew, a history of those on the ground, in every life changed in the flash of a moment! Overwhelming emotions as the reader is drawn into every step taken by those not immediately killed and the affect of the bomb on every cell of their bodies. I cannot explain every aspect of this understanding of every possible aspect of life and death in a flash!  EVERY LEADER OF EVERY COUNTRY WITH ACCESS TO MASS MURDER WEAPONS SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO READ THIS BOOK WITHIN THEIR FIRST MONTH IN OFFICE!
2486202
Mr. Vyborny's chronicle of the building and early missions of the submarine NR-1 is a must-read for both sub vets and anyone interested in the subject matter.  The author explains the trials and adventures encountered in not only constructing but operating a nuclear submarine in great detail, without bogging down in minutiae.  He successfully translates complicated subjects into comprehensible terms while maintaining the sharp wit that's required to remain sane while at sea.  As a fellow submariner, I greatly enjoyed this book and enthusiastically recommend it to both sailors and civilians alike.
2583136
Mo Rocca's groundbreaking investigative reporting is a tour de force in this memoir/thriller/oh-so-juicy political potboiler. The former Daily Show guru plows through years of lies and half-truths to uncover the deadly secret that will rock Washington to its core: Presidential pets play more of a role in the affairs of state than previously believed....

Okay, Mo Rocca may have fudged some of the facts, and he may not be telling the full story of his scandelous May-December romance with White House Chief Correspondent Helen Thomas. And sure, Laurie Dhue may not be a killer cyborg and...oops, I've said too much.

This book, Rocca's first, is a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of Presidential pets, a world that used to be regarded merely as a "photo op" to make various Presidents look human. In fact, once you finish this tome you will realize that maybe, just maybe, presidential pets have more to do with the wise decisions our commanders-in-chief make.

Rocca's journey takes him to a hidden lair underneath the White House Press Room, where veteran reporter Helen Thomas (actually a 200+ year old turkey eagle) keeps a secret archive relating the unknown history of just how important presidential pets have been. In the corridors of power, he encounters resistance from the Bush Cabinent to acknowledge information gleaned from those archives. Betrayed by someone who knew about the archives, Rocca and Thomas see their precious documents destroyed. Finally, in a showdown only Jerry Bruckheimer can bring to the screen, Rocca confronts the evil conspiracy that threatens to neuter the presidential pets' power forever. Several of his collegues and political contacts meet a bloody end in a scene so ambitious and so exhilerating that you'll just have to wait for the Hollywood adaptaion.

The book works if you suspend your disbelief...really, really suspend it. I have to say overall, this is an impressive, if slightly muddled and occasionally frustrating, debut from Rocca. Those of you familiar with "Mike Nelson's Death Rat!" by Michael J. Nelson (MST3K) will find that this is a similar style of humorous fiction. In this case, Rocca includes real people, with their real names, and proceeds to run full tilt with a story that has to be read to be appreciated.

Overall, I think the book is winning enough to merit further readings, and I hope Mr. Rocca can continue his groundbreaking studies into just how presidential pets have shaped our nation's history. The world needs to know the real role of Millie, Socks the cat, and all the other pets who have called the White House home. It might shock you, it might embarass you, but it will never fail to entertain you.
2239987
Fascinating account based on insider information of a good idea gone bad. Bob Woodward's "State of Denial" is a must read. It is a comprehensive review of America's fumbles in Iraq.

Showing the President surrounded in the White House coccoon by a pack of egocentric, know-it-all, resume builders that President Bush has relied upon to forge a coalition for victory in Iraq, Woodward has exposed the lack of a coherent strategy for the Iraq solution. Blame lies everywhere; Rumsfield is too concerned with turf battles with the State Department and acts like a bully; Rice bungles the job of NSA chief by failing to advise the President; Bremer lands in Iraq thinking he is MacArthur and proceeds to botch-up post war planning; Cheney still believes in the WMD farce; Tenet's advice magnifies the lack of CIA information gathering skills; three and four star generals run around the Pentagon, worrying about the Vietnam legacy and preparing to-do lists that no one reads.

This book is an amazing account of how even the best and brightest can get it wrong. Someone forgot to plan for what do we do when the shooting stops.

Draw your own conclusions about what needs to be done, but "State of Denial" should be mandatory reading for every American who votes.
3792391
Mr. Irving has played on misinformation to form a seemingly interesting book that unfortunately continues a tradition of propaganda dating back over 50 years.  His deliberately flawed research relies on known propaganda, both from Nazis still active in the war and later Soviet sources, both with obvious reasons to twist the truth against the Allies.  And he "embellishes" details from the National Archives in Washington, twisting the facts to supply histrionic twists designed to paint Allied (especially American) forces as being the servants of Satan himself!  Irving is a discredit to authors of truth everywhere.

If you want an accurately and painstakingly researched book about the destruction of Dresden that is a fantastic read and depicts the actual truth (including the horrors) with countless interviews of survivors, read "Dresden, Tuesday, February 13, 1945" by Frederick Taylor.  Irving's book should be sent to the trash bin.
170910
Donna Brazile has written a contemporaneous history of the Russian hack of the 2016 American election as well as an inside look at the sausage and stress of our political process at the highest levels. Though non-fiction, it reads like a Dan Brown novel or spy thriller; I read it in less than 24 hours. I almost didn't buy this book because the media focused only on one chapter related to Hillary Clinton's collapse or fainting at the Sept 11 memorial service. Their focus was misleading in terms of the larger content of the book.

Political Science students, history buffs, journalists, and news junkies will enjoy this book. If the Republicans and Democrats don't work together to fight Russian cyber warfare, we may have seen our last free and fair election some years ago. Anyone who watches or reads politics, wants to volunteer for a campaign, or who is horrified by the electoral college outcome, Comey's behavior, or Russian hacking will appreciate Ms Brazile's forthright honesty, frankness, and backbone.

Highly recommended. And holds up: recognize that she wrote & published this before the Special Prosecutor was appointed!