The Radioactive Boy Scout
The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor
Random House Publishing Group · Print & ebook · January 11, 2005
Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science.
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- Who it’s for
- A backyard science obsession becomes an offbeat account of ambition, danger, and hubris.
- Themes
- Scientific obsession and ambition, Hubris and risk, Environmental danger
- Pacing
- Fast
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For younger readers: In the Shadow of the Moon, Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines, Projekt 1065: a Novel of World War II
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science. While he was working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David’s obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a model nuclear reactor in his backyard garden shed. Posing as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the U.S. government and from industry experts.
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Following blueprints he found in an outdated physics textbook, David cobbled together a crude device that threw off toxic levels of radiation. His wholly unsupervised project finally sparked an environmental emergency that put his town’s forty thousand suburbanites at risk. The EPA ended up burying his lab at a radioactive dumpsite in Utah. This offbeat account of ambition and, ultimately, hubris has the narrative energy of a first-rate thriller.
Curiosity Runs Hot
A backyard science obsession becomes an offbeat account of ambition, danger, and hubris.
Come here for
- The uneasy collision of scientific curiosity and nuclear risk
- A true story with the energy of a thriller
Expect
- An account of ambition outrunning caution
- Science with consequences far beyond the shed
Where it sits
| Science & Tech Pioneers | 77% |
|---|---|
| Nuclear Physics | 46% |
| Technology | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Nuclear Physics
- How Cultures Work
- Technology
- Authors
- Ken Silverstein
- Publisher
- Random House Publishing Group
- Published
- January 11, 2005
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Scientific obsession and ambition · Hubris and risk · Environmental danger
- Reading lane
- Nuclear Physics