THE WORLD'S 20 GREATEST UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

Reviewed 11/15/2005

The World's 20 Greatest Unsolved Problems, edited by John Vacca

THE WORLD'S 20 GREATEST UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
John R. Vacca (ed.)
Paul J. Bertics (Fwd.)
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005

Rating:

2.0

Fair

ISBN-13 978-0-13-142643-6
ISBN 0-13-142643-5 669pp. HC/BWI $24.99

This is one of those books that appears to promise much when you pick it up, but soon reveals itself to be likely to disappoint. I formed that opinion upon reading the author's overlong Preface (in which he is wont to say that every topic is "discussed at length".) According to this Preface, the book will not only cover the 20 greatest unsolved problems, but will discuss the history of public appreciation of science and its interaction with the politics involved with such issues as energy use, food production, health, and nuclear waste. Next, I realized that Vacca is unclear about whether he is writing a popular book or a textbook; the Preface describes his current work as having characteristics of both. The Preface also could have used a bit more editing — for length, for organization, and specifically in its use of commas. Finally, its tone is more than a little breathless and even credulous in places. Here's an example from page xxix:

Current fusion research was big news in 1989 when it was reported that scientists had achieved fusion at room temperatures with simple equipment.

Readers who don't remember Pons and Fleischmann and their press conference on 23 March 1989 announcing the (bogus) discovery of "cold fusion" may buy the book on the basis of this one claim. If so, they are bound to feel cheated. Still, Vacca's statement is true, if misleading, and his main text might provide the true picture. So I checked. Neither Pons nor Fleischmann is indexed, but cold fusion is indexed on pp 603, 623-5. The first entry begins thus:

Two chemists from the University of Utah announced in March 1989 that they had produced atomic fusion reactions in a simple tabletop device. The claims were debunked within six months and the public lost interest. Nevertheless, cold fusion is very real. Not only has excess heat production been repeatedly documented, but also low-energy atomic element transmutation has been catalogued, involving dozens of different reactions! This technology definitely can produce low-cost energy and scores of other important industrial processes, such as the transmutation of radioactive elements. So, even though Cold Fusion researchers have been thoroughly debunked, research continues based on the promise of the technology.

Again, I judge this as true but misleading. Research on the phenomenon (or phenomena) once called cold fusion does continue, and there are claims of excess energy as well as tritium production. Nevertheless, only now are hints of a theory that may apply beginning to appear, and it is far too early to predict any sort of utility for the process. When I turned to page 623, I found a long sidebar1 labeled "Cold Fusion". This spends two-thirds of its length on the nature and difficulties of "hot" (magnetic and inertial confinement) fusion. That should have been cut to a single paragraph of two or three sentences. I found nothing to criticize, however, in its treatment of cold fusion — except for the fact that it does not support the author's earlier enthusiasm.

And speaking of enthusiasm, you'll notice that the table of contents includes a section on "Free Energy". This term can be (but does not have to be) a synonym for unconventional energy: devices that tap the "zero point energy" of the quantum foam, perpetual motion machines, and their ilk. Alas, that is exactly how Vacca uses it here. He leads off the topic with this (page 556):

Free energy, in the simplest terms, is any energy that is provided by the natural world. In science, energy is defined as "the ability to do work." Free energy is called by many names, such as renewable energy, alternative energy, or nonconventional energy, to list a few. Examples of free energy technologies include a wind generator on a remote homestead, or a solar panel on the International Space Station. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Free energy also includes amazing technologies like a car powered by a water fuel cell, or a home furnace powered by permanent magnets. Without detrimental effects to the environment, and at extremely low cost for the maintenance of the equipment, the best free energy systems deliver energy at no ongoing cost to the user.

This, together with Vacca's treatment of Nikola Tesla, convinced me not to waste any more time on his book. I won't condemn it without reading it, and a quick flip-through shows that a lot of research went into it. It's quite likely that a reader would pick up a lot of good information on current hot topics in science. The down-side is that there's no easy way to tell where the good information ends and mysticism begins.

One final note: The text mentions a "Dr. Bailey", as in this portion from page 560:

"In our society," explains Dr. Bailey, "science is ruled by corporations and profit. Nikola Tesla is said to have discovered how to create a certain type of alternating electricity, and knew how to transmit it through the air to any receiver, on land or in the air. This would have replaced transmission lines, batteries, and the need for gasoline for cars and planes. However, the banker who was promoting Tesla's work found that he could make more money by investing in copper mines and then using the copper from his mines to make wire that the electricity could travel over. He therefore terminated Tesla's work."

I read back a few pages but I couldn't find an earlier instance of Dr. Bailey's name. It is not listed in the index. I do believe, however, that this is Patrick G. Bailey, a man I worked alongside for about a year and a half at a major corporation.2 He does indeed have a Ph.D. He also appears in another book I recently reviewed here: The Hunt for Zero Point, by Nick Cook. Let's just say that, in my opinion, Dr. Bailey's technical advice is not credible.

So I do not recommend this book. I'll give it a rating of 2.0 for effort. Look for something else to satify your curiosity about cutting-edge science, or energy policy, or international geopolitics.

1 Vacca calls them sidebars, even though they take up the full width of a page.
2 I picked up the book again and, just by chance, stumbled upon the first mention of Dr. Bailey. It's on page 542. He is indeed the Patrick G. Bailey of whom I spoke.
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