Review by Choice Review
With the growing need for cheap, clean, renewable energy, the world must again consider the nuclear option, especially nuclear fusion. Can an infusion of research and resources develop fusion energy in a decade (or two)? The physics and the engineering problems are tough, but the political problems have always proved tougher still. Yet, with the 2009 construction start of the multibillion-dollar International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), perhaps this goal is attainable. Plasma physicist/nuclear engineer Stacy (Georgia Tech), in the autumn of a long career in the field, documents his participation in the 1980s International Tokamak Reactor (INTOR) workshops that shaped the collaboration and partnership born of economic and scientific necessity among Russia, Japan, the European Community, and the US that led the way. This work is an elegant, personalized, if idiosyncratic, account that speaks well for the model of how science progresses. Try this easy piece of a nuclear story, a fascinating insider account for general readers and, in particular, professionals in the field. Who knows? Perhaps the promise of fusion may finally be realized--in another decade (or two). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections. L. W. Fine Columbia University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
