To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.Copyright © 2005-2024 Christopher P. Winter. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on 25 February 2024.
| TECHNOLOGY |
Books on all aspects of technology may end up reviewed here: from the mundane (carpet tiles or concrete) through engineering education to energy policy and even the development of space vehicles. |
| PRINCIPAL AUTHOR |
TITLE (Linked to review) |
RATING (0-5) |
REVIEW DATE |
ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson, Ray C. | Confessions of a Radical Industrialist | 5.0 | 12/21/2013 | Follow Ray Anderson as he wrings waste out of his carpet-manufacturing business — and ramps up the profits! |
| Brown, Julian | Minds, Machines, and the Multiverse | 5.0 | 8/20/2000 | A report on current scientific progress toward building the quantum computer, which — if it can be built — could consign all other computers to the dumpster of history. |
| Courland, Robert | Concrete Planet | 5.0 | 9/01/2012 | Don't let the title put you off. The saga of concrete is fascinating, and Courland writes about it with accuracy and verve. His critique of modern concrete construction practices in the last two chapters is an added bonus. |
| Cravens, Gwyneth | Power to Save the World | 5.0 | 3/10/2010 | Follow Gwyneth Cravens and her guide on a quest to discover the truth about nuclear power plants. |
| Cuttle, Christopher | Lighting by Design | 4.0 | 1/12/2010 | For architects and others professionally concerned with building lighting systems, this highly theoretical book will be valuable; for homeowners, not so much. |
| Dubbs, Chris | Realizing Tomorrow | 5.0 | 5/19/2012 | Here's the newest installment in the ongoing history of the advance of private spaceflight. |
| Ferguson, Eugene S. | Engineering and the Mind's Eye | 5.0 | 6/30/1998 | Ferguson documents how — to its detriment — engineering education in America has changed since the 1960s, de-emphasizing practical, hands-on learning in favor of the purely analytical approach. |
| Fogg, Martyn | Terraforming | 5.0 | 5/24/1996 | This book bids fair to become the bible of its very abstruse field, which concerns making living conditions on other planets more like those of Earth. |
| Freeman, S. David | All-Electric America | 4.0 | 1/04/2017 | The authors present much information on the merits of renewable power — but they dismiss nuclear power. |
| Fuller, John G. | We Almost Lost Detroit | 5.0 | 8/15/2011 | Journalist Fuller's riveting account is overly alarmist in places but well researched and accurate about the slipshod performance of the AEC and the nuclear industry during their first three decades. |
| Gipe, Paul | Wind Energy Comes of Age | 5.0 | 2/04/2010 | Wind energy came of age fifteen years ago, according to this 1995 book. In it, Paul Gipe explains why by describing much about how the fastest-growing source of alternative energy works. |
| Goldstein, Joshua | A Bright Future | 5.0 | 6/20/2019 | Professor Joshua Goldstein and engineer Staffan Qvist show the way to cut carbon emissions without skimping on electrical power. |
| Goodell, Jeff | Big Coal | 5.0 | 2/01/2010 | Three years of world-ranging research went into this hard-hitting examination of the coal industry. |
| Goodell, Jeff | How to Cool the Planet | 4.5 | 4/17/2010 | Turning from the problem of climate change to possible solutions, Goodell once again produces a worthy read. |
| Hamilton, Clive | Earthmasters | 4.5 | 4/03/2013 | Ethics professor Hamilton examines the moral dimensions of geoengineering to counter global warming. |
| Hapgood, Fred | Up The Infinite Corridor | 4.5 | 1/24/1997 | A penetrating but fragmentary look at MIT and the soul of engineering |
| Hassoun, M. Nadim | Structural Concrete | 5.0 | 6/30/2011 | The fourth edition of a very thorough introductory textbook on the use of concrete in construction. |
| Hessley, Rita K. | Coal Science | 5.0 | 8/25/2011 | An introduction to the classification and gasification of coal — useful, but with some errors and obscurities. |
| Jaczko, Gregory B. | Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator | 3.0 | 3/19/2019 | Dr. Jaczko, a former NRC chairman, now condemns nuclear power outright for dubious reasons. |
| Jain, Pramod | Wind Energy Engineering | 5.0 | 2/04/2010 | A recognized expert on the planning of wind energy projects, Pramod Jain here provides a very accessible compendium for anyone embarking on such a project. |
| Kintisch, Eli | Hack the Planet | 5.0 | 7/09/2010 | Another book on the hot topic of geoengineering, appropriately cautious about plunging into such measures as a means of adapting to climate change. |
| Koppel, Ted | Lights Out | 5.0 | 10/17/2022 | America's power grid is at risk from cyber attack or physical sabotage. Ted Koppel explains what that means. |
| Krupp, Fred | Earth: The Sequel | 5.0 | 2/10/2010 | Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn of the Environmental Defense Fund offer us an entertaining and inspiring tour of today's clean-energy developments. |
| Lustgarten, Abraham | Run To Failure | 5.0 | 6/10/2012 | Lustgarten's in-depth assessment of BP, benefitting from the government report on the Gulf Gusher and other documents, confirms the neglect of safety measures in the past and its likely continuance into the future. |
| Lynas, Mark | Nuclear 2.0 | 4.5 | 8/07/2016 | Mark Lynas delivers a brief but persuasive argument for keeping nuclear power as a part of our strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change. |
| Magner, Mike | Poisoned Legacy | 5.0 | 10/30/2011 | British Petroleum (aka BP), as documented by journalist Mike Magner, has a history of putting profits before the safety of its workers or the health of the communities where its facilities lie. |
| Mahaffey, James | Atomic Accidents | 5.0 | 7/17/2014 | Written by a nuclear industry veteran, this well-researched history of the field provides a rational perspective on its mistakes and its prospects for the future. |
| Martin, Gerard (ed.) | Wind Turbines | 5.0 | 5/06/2012 | This compendium of independent papers does not cover the whole spectrum of wind turbine design, but it is a very useful resource for those investigating the subject. |
| Martin, Richard | SuperFuel | 4.5 | 6/04/2012 | The promising, but long-neglected, technology of molten salt reactors is well covered here by Richard Martin. He describes the current revival of interest in MSR designs, which may bring about the vaunted "nuclear renaissance." |
| Monbiot, George | Heat | 4.5 | 1/20/2010 | Thinking "outside the box", British journalist George Monbiot looks for some unconventional options to slow the production of greenhouse gases. And he finds some. |
| Morone, Joseph G. | The Demise of Nuclear Energy? | 5.0 | 7/31/2011 | Why did the United States fail at developing nuclear power? The authors provide a well-researched, clear-eyed answer. |
| Morton, Oliver | The Planet Remade | 5.0 | 4/25/2016 | Oliver Morton unwraps the onion-layer complexity of geoengineering methods that might be used to combat climate change.. |
| Partanen, Rauli | Climate Gamble | 5.0 | 8/15/2016 | The authors, an environmental writer and an engineer, debunk false criticisms of nuclear power and argue that it must be one of the tools in our climate-change-solutions kit. |
| Petroski, Henry | The Essential Engineer | 4.5 | 7/10/2011 | Henry Petroski's continuing mission: To raise the public's recognition of the engineering profession. In this book, his fifteenth, he achieves only mixed success. |
| Preston, James F. | EPA Certification Guide | 3.5 | 5/03/2012 | This 1994 guide to EPA refrigeration and air-conditioning technician certification is useful but flawed. Look for a later printing. |
| Rhodes, Richard | Nuclear Renewal | 4.5 | 12/20/2005 | Nuclear power, says Rhodes in this 1993 book, is poised to pull out of the power dive into which it was sent by Three Mile Island — and high time, too. |
| Rhodes, Richard | Visions of Technology | 5.0 | 3/30/2003 | A veritable gold mine of short pieces on technology from throughout the 20th century |
| Romm, Joseph J. | The Hype About Hydrogen | 5.0 | 1/03/2006 | Dr. Romm's work with the Department of Energy convinced him that creating a hydrogen economy is vital — but only if we avoid half measures and do the job right. |
| Sweet, William | Kicking the Carbon Habit | 5.0 | 2/01/2010 | Another good treatment of options for dealing with the effects of global warming; especially strong on climate science. |
| Tucker, Todd | Atomic America | 5.0 | 8/18/2011 | A seldom reported side of nuclear fission power plant development — that done by the Navy, Army and Air Force — is the subject of Todd Tucker's comprehensive and insightful account. |
| Warburg, Philip | Harvest the Wind | 4.5 | 7/10/2012 | You think wind power has little potential to create American jobs, or to contribute to the country's energy mix? This well-researched book will change your mind. |
| Wolfson, Richard | Nuclear Choices | 5.0 | 1/17/2006 | An excellent and insightful technical description of the principles, practical operation, and problems attendant to, nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. |
| The books are rated from 0 to 5 in increments of 0.5. Colors represent the following quality ranges: | ||||
| 4.0 to 5.0 | Quality: | HIGH | (Color = Aqua) | Competent to exceptional; well worth the money |
| 2.0 to 3.5 | Quality: | FAIR | (Color = Lime) | Useful despite some flaws; may or may not be worth buying. |
| 0.5 to 1.5 | Quality: | POOR | (Color = Yellow) | Seriously flawed; read it if you wish, but don't buy it. |
| 0.0 to 0.0 | Quality: | YUCK | (Color = Fuchsia) | Avoid this book at all costs! |
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.