Nuclear power is now back on the political agenda, but it has never 
been off mine: I was warning my students about the dangers of rising 
carbon dioxide levels and how nuclear energy could help to combat this 
more than thirty years ago. Over the years I have produced a number of 
work sheets on the subject. The target readership is intelligent young 
people who wish to be able to take an active and informed part in the 
debate on whether and how nuclear energy has any place in an 
environmentally friendly energy policy.

My students, and others, have told me I have some small gift in making 
science intelligible and relevant, even interesting, and for this 
reason I have put some of these worksheets onto my web site.

 http://www.barrygray.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Tutoring/NucFutIntro.html

If I am wrong please accept my apologies for wasting your time.


-- 
Barry Gray
http://www.barrygray.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Barry Gray wrote:
> Nuclear power is now back on the political agenda, but it has never 
> been off mine: I was warning my students about the dangers of rising 
> carbon dioxide levels and how nuclear energy could help to combat this 
> more than thirty years ago. Over the years I have produced a number of 
> work sheets on the subject. The target readership is intelligent young 
> people who wish to be able to take an active and informed part in the 
> debate on whether and how nuclear energy has any place in an 
> environmentally friendly energy policy.
> 
> My students, and others, have told me I have some small gift in making 
> science intelligible and relevant, even interesting, 

You're making a very common error in that you're
confusing technology and science.

Science is the study of nature. Technology is the
implementation of knowledge. Human decision making
process of "what to do" is politics even if it relates
to the environment. You might make a case for your
writings to be a sociological work.

 > and for this
> reason I have put some of these worksheets onto my web site.

>  http://www.barrygray.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Tutoring/NucFutIntro.html

> If I am wrong please accept my apologies for wasting your time.

It is an adequate "coffee table science" book for pre-
college youth but it does not present a studied argument
for your point of view. Also it lacks references to peer
reviewed articles and fails to even mention opposing
viewpoints. As such it becomes more a propaganda piece
than "intelligible and relevant, even interesting"
explanation of anything scientific.

Although there is very much dissent about how to describe
the book, Carl Sagan's _Cosmos_ is a good book for you to
read as one model of a successful book in the genre you
claim you're attempting to enter as an author. Please
bear in mind that consumer demands have progressed in
that realm. Later entries in the popularized science
series were published by Roger Penrose in the 1990's. The
primary feature is that those were written for a much
more advanced audience and relied less on color plates.

I'd wager that the story of human civilization's consumption
of energy could be made into an insanely popular book based
on the Sagan model if you're up for a tremendous amount
of work. Don't forget that Sagan was already well established
and well polished in his presentation of the material he
put into book form (as well as a TV series) late in his life
and he had a lot of help spiffing the book and the TV series
into shape. It seems to me you'd have to do all that work
yourself, many man-years worth of work.

Best of luck with your quest.

In message <fuvehn$jo1$1@aioe.org>
          foolsrushout  wrote:

[snip]

>> If I am wrong please accept my apologies for wasting your time.
> 
> It is an adequate "coffee table science" book for pre-
> college youth but it does not present a studied argument
> for your point of view. Also it lacks references to peer
> reviewed articles and fails to even mention opposing
> viewpoints. As such it becomes more a propaganda piece
> than "intelligible and relevant, even interesting"
> explanation of anything scientific.
> 
[snip]
> 
> Best of luck with your quest.

Thanks for your very courteous and helpful contribution.

Full reply by e-mail.




-- 
Barry Gray
http://www.barrygray.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk