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Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion
Price: $39.00 Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 539.764
EAN: 9780394584560
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 0394584562
Label: Random House
Manufacturer: Random House
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 503
Publication Date: June 15, 1993
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: June 15, 1993
Studio: Random House
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Editorial Review:
A science journalist brings to life one of the greatest scientific frauds of our times with the story of the two obscure researchers who claimed to have discovered a clean, no-fuss method for harnessing the energy of a hydrogen bomb. 20,000 first printing.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Gary Taubes Has A Lot of Explaining To Do
Well, now it's 2004, eleven years after Gary Taubes eulogy to Cold Fusion, "Bad Science : The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion". Unfortunately for Mr. Taubes, science eventually sorts things out and figures out what's real and what's not real. Well, now fifteen years after the big Pons & Fleischmen announcement, it turns out that Cold Fusion is on the cusp of regaining legitmacy in the scientific community. Not only has the U.S. Navy revealed a decade of clandestine Cold Fusion research, ... Read More
Rating:  - The History of Cold Fusion -- In Depth
This book is excellent. It describes in amazing detail the events leading up to and following the "Cold Fusion" news conference. It's the story of how two scientists fooled themselves into believing that they were onto something so big that they had to claim credit for it -- fast. And it's the story of how the least qualified researchers quickly "confirmed" Cold Fusion, and how the best qualified researchers found nothing. If you're interested in how science is done, both well and ... Read More
Rating: - revealing, witty
I strongly recommend this book. Taubes carries the reader through complex issues with wit and clarity. Some of his deadpan observations are hilarious. (Even though Pons and Fleischmann hadn't tried to measure neutrons, they should have known their apparatus wasn't producing enough of them to be consistent with their claims of nuclear fusion. "They weren't dead, for instance.")
Although it's primarily written in the style of fly-on-the-wall journalism, "Cold Fusion" is also ... Read More
Rating: - Mr. Taubes' book is seriously truncated and misleading
When the original Cold Fusion press conference was held on 3-23-89, the reaction of the physics establishment in the first world was immediate , orchestrated and highly hostile. Mr. Taubes book is an effort to spin-doctor an entire area of emerging global science out of exisitence . As of 3-23-99 there are over 3000 peer reviewed scientific papers available in this area of science with nearly every institution connected with nuclear phenomena having checked in. Mr. Taubes confines himself with attacking ... Read More
Rating:  - Excellent, but protracted
The author does an excellent job in chronicling the saga and travail of cold fusion. The "lessons learned" are applicable to numerous technical fields, particularly where conclusions are drawn far ahead of substantiating evidence and critical peer review.
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