Useful for the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Good overview of the nuclear disaster in Japan and discussion of the pros and cons of nuclear energy and alternatives. ( )

Meltdown! is the story of the nuclear meltdown in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami in June 2011. The subject matter begins with the earthquake and tsunami, including the Japanese warning systems. It then moves on to explain the history and science behind nuclear reactions before returning to what caused the reactors to meltdown. Fred Bortz includes what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
While the subject matter is quite interesting, Fred Bortz’s book is not the most captivating. There is a lot of information, some that seems to be more advanced than the target age group. The excessive information coupled with the word count – it’s a lot of words in a very short book – left me less excited than I started.
The information is good information but I can’t imagine a child sitting through a reading of the book. Breaking it up and reading a chapter at a time would be best (if using this book for lessons).
I did find Fred Bortz’s language to be a little odd. Some of the wording comes across strangely. To explain is difficult but I got the impression that he was “dumbing” down the language which caused it to seem less than target age appropriate.
I did like the subject matter, I’m not sure I liked the delivery of the material. This is a great indepth look into nuclear energy and what happened in Japan last summer. I do believe the book was written a little too early since there is still information coming. Towards the end of the book there were a number of places where Fred Bortz said that we still don’t know what the end result are. While that makes the book current now, it will become dated as new information comes out. ( )

Last week, if you asked me to explain the processes and dangers inherent in the creation of nuclear energy, I would be hard-pressed to offer more than a rudimentary explanation. After reading Meltdown! however, I marveled at how easily I grasped the entire process. Physicist and author, Dr. Fred Bortz, has a distinct talent for distilling a complex subject into an easily understood concept.

In a compact, colorful book, complete with numerous illustrations and photographs, Fred Bortz recounts the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, sandwiched between solid scientific facts and a global view of the world's energy needs. The reader is left shocked by the massive destruction caused when a natural disaster causes a man-made one of nearly equal proportion. However, the purpose of Meltdown! is not to shock the reader, but to make him think. Yes, this was a terrible disaster, but what are the alternatives? Can the world's energy needs be powered by solar? by wind? by coal? by oil? No, they can't - at least not now. The readers of Meltdown! (recommended for ages 11-17) will be the decision makers of the world within a few short years. Meltdown! will challenge them to see that the world's problems do not always have easy answers.

This should be required reading, offering an easily understood lesson in nuclear energy, a factual account of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster caused by the massive Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, and extensive references and supplemental materials.

(Advance copy supplied by NetGalley - Due on shelves March 1, 2012)
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