Rating: 
Summary: Nuclear Madness Explained by a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
Review: +++++
The heart of this well-referenced, easy-to-read book (with very informative appendices), by Dr. Helen Caldicott, is about two substances or two chemical elements:
(1) Plutonium (Pu)
(2) Uranium (U)
There are two types or isotopes of Pu of primary importance:
(1) Pu-239
(2) Pu-238
Pu-239 is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. One pound of Pu-239 "is almost the most carcinogenic [cancer-causing] substance known to the human race." Pu-238 is used as a nuclear power source especially in space probe exploration. It has been called "the most dangerous material on Earth."
There are two types of U of importance in nuclear reactions:
(1) U-235
(2) U-238 (much more abundant than U-235)
U-235 is also used in nuclear weapons and ammunition. U has to be processed and there are medical risks associated with processing it.
Both types of Pu and both types of U cause severe health consequences when there is exposure to them via various means such as by radiation.
A large part of this book deals with nuclear weapons covering such topics as the following: their components, how they work, their testing, the newer and more efficient ones being made, the aging of nuclear weapons, and the deadly consequences of what happens if nuclear weapons are used. (Caldicott devotes an entire chapter to "The Reality of Nuclear War.") It "has [been] documented how more than 1.3 billion people have been killed, sickened, or maimed by nuclearism over the past 55 years, and how pollution from nuclear weapons operations has drastically changed the global environment and endangered all life forms."
Caldicott presents many examples of innocent people (including children) that now have serious or hopeless medical conditions as a result of being exposed to nuclear radiation through such means as working with and handling nuclear substances, conflict where uranium ammunition is used, and nuclear waste that contaminates food and water sources.
This book, I feel, has its greatest impact when it discusses nuclear accidents. I think most enlightened people are aware that there could be an accidental nuclear war set off by something as simple as the "launch of a weather balloon" and possibly resulting in the "annihilation of the planet." But other types of accidents are possible. For example, in 1964 "a [U.S.] satellite with a...plutonium power system crashed. Some 2.1 pounds of plutonium-238 were dispersed around the world. A report prepared in 1989...stated that, "a worldwide sampling program carried out in 1970 showed [this contamination] to be present at all continents and all latitudes." Another example closer to where I live: "The most serious Russian nuclear space accident occurred in 1978 when a [Russian] satellite carrying a nuclear reactor smashed into the Northwest Territories of Canada. Sizable amounts of radioactive debris were distributed over [many thousands of miles]...[The resulting] carcinogenic, radioactive particles posed a serious risk to the population, because they could be either inhaled or ingested through the food chain."
The frightening thing is that as more countries acquire nuclear technology and know-how and, as well, as more countries attempt to join the "space race," the potential for nuclear accidents increases dramatically.
Another interesting aspect of this book is how the military, corporate-industrial, and political spheres are intertwined and support nuclearism. (Caldicott names specific corporations and politicians.) As a result, tremendous amounts of money are spent on U.S. military programs, money that could be used probably more effectively in non-military areas.
Near the end of the book, Caldicott states the following:
"America has the power and resources to reverse global warming, to save the ozone layer, to prevent chemical pollution, to stop deforestation, to curb the human overpopulation problem...The money that [the American government] invests in killing must now be redirected urgently to the preservation of life. America must rise to its full moral and spiritual height to reach its intended destiny--the nation that saved
the world.
In a similar vein, the people of Europe must resist the constant call from America to arm and re-arm. So too, the people of Canada, of Austrailia--and indeed the people of the world. We cannot continue to behave as primitive animals killing for pleasure, killing for money, killing for religious imperatives, killing for greed and territorial imperative. Conflict resolution and peacekeeping must be our new priorities."
There are a few inaccuracies in this book. However, because the overall message is so important, I found it easy to ignore these minor inaccuracies.
In conclusion, this is a powerful book with a powerful message. In 1985, the late two-time Nobel Prize winner (once for chemistry, once for peace) Dr. Linus Pauling nominated Dr. Caldicott for a Nobel Peace Prize. After I read this book, I understood why he nominated her!!
+++++
Rating:
Summary: Nuclear Madness Explained by a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
Review: =====>The heart of this well-referenced, easy-to-read book (with very informative appendices), by Dr. Helen Caldicott, is about two substances or two chemical elements: (1) plutonium and (2) uranium. There are two types or isotopes of plutonium of primary importance. Plutonium-239 is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Plutonium-238 is used as a nuclear power source especially in space probe exploration. Both types of plutonium cause severe health consequences when there is exposure to them via various means such as by radiation. Note that plutonium-238 has been called "the most dangerous material on Earth." One pound of plutonium-239 "is almost the most carcinogenic [cancer-causing] substance known to the human race." There are two types of uranium of importance in nuclear reactions: uranium-235 and the more common uranium-238. Uranium-235 is also used in nuclear weapons and ammunition. Uranium has to be processed and there are medical risks associated with processing it. Both types of uranium cause severe health consequences when there is exposure to them via various means such as by radiation. A large part of this book deals with nuclear weapons covering such topics as the following: their components, how they work, their testing, the newer and more efficient ones being made, the aging of nuclear weapons, and the deadly consequences of what happens if nuclear weapons are used. (Caldicott devotes an entire chapter to "The Reality of Nuclear War.") It "has [been] documented how more than 1.3 billion people have been killed, sickened, or maimed by nuclearism over the past 55 years, and how pollution from nuclear weapons operations has drastically changed the global environment and endangered all life forms." Caldicott presents many examples of innocent people (including children) that now have serious or hopeless medical conditions as a result of being exposed to nuclear radiation through such means as working with and handling nuclear substances, conflict where uranium ammunition is used, and nuclear waste that contaminates food and water sources. This book, I feel, has its greatest impact when it discusses nuclear accidents. I think most enlightened people are aware that there could be an accidental nuclear war set off by something as simple as the "launch of a weather balloon" and possibly resulting in the "annihilation of the planet." But other types of accidents are possible. For example, in 1964 "a [U.S.] satellite with a...plutonium power system crashed. Some 2.1 pounds of plutoniun-238 were dispersed around the world. A report prepared in 1989...stated that, "a worldwide sampling program carried out in 1970 showed [this contamination] to be present at all continents and all latitudes." Another example closer to where I live: "The most serious Russian nuclear space accident occurred in 1978 when a [Russian] satellite carrying a nuclear reactor smashed into the Northwest Territories of Canada. Sizable amounts of radioactive debris were distributed over [many thousands of miles]...[The resulting] carcinogenic, radioactive particles posed a serious risk to the population, because they could be either inhaled or ingested through the food chain." The frightening thing is that as more countries acquire nuclear technology and know-how and, as well, as more countries attempt to join the "space race," the potential for increased nuclear accidents increases dramatically. Another interesting aspect of this book is how the military, corporate-industrial, and political spheres are intertwined and support nuclearism. (Caldicott names specific corporations and politicians.) As a result, tremendous amounts of money are spent on U.S. military programs, money that could be used probably more effectively in non-military areas. Near the end of the book, Caldicott states the following: "America has the power and resources to reverse global warming, to save the ozone layer, to prevent chemical pollution, to stop deforestation, to curb the human overpopulation problem...The money that [the American government] invests in killing must now be redirected urgently to the preservation of life. America must rise to its full moral and spiritual height to reach its intended destiny--the nation that saved the world. In a similar vein, the people of Europe must resist the constant call from America to arm and re-arm. So too, the people of Canada, of Austrailia--and indeed the people of the world. We cannot continue to behave as primitive animals killing for pleasure, killing for money, killing for religious imperatives, killing for greed and territorial imperative. Conflict resolution and peacekeeping must be our new priorities." (Some people see the solutions in the above two paragraphs as unrealistic. How are they unrealistic?) There are a few inaccuracies in this book. However, because the overall message is so important, I found it easy to ignore these minor inaccuracies. In conclusion, this is a powerful book with a powerful message. In 1985, the late two-time Nobel Prize winner (once for chemistry, once for peace) Dr. Linus Pauling nominated Dr. Caldicott for a Nobel Peace Prize. After I read this book, I understood why he nominated her!! <=====>
Rating:
Summary: The Most Important Book in the English Language
Review: Amazon.com has an inventory of over two million books. If I had to choose the single most important book, the one book I would recommend to ANYONE, I would say that this is it. Dr. Helen Caldicott is an Australian pediatrician and human survival activist. She is frequently on the short list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. As of the day I'm writing this, she hasn't quite won it yet. I personally think it's just a matter of time before she does. Would you say that you have a really rock-solid, thorough, complete understanding of the nuclear threat in today's world? Probably not. The topic has had a far lower profile than it once did, since the end of the Cold War. Well, don't you think you ought to consider updating your understanding? This book is user-friendly, it's timely, and it's EXTREMELY informative. You should buy this book for Chapter Two alone. When's the last time you read anything about nuclear winter, written by someone who actually knows what they're talking about? Don't you think you should be well-informed about the topic? How about accidental nuclear war? Did you know we came within less than 3 minutes of a major, accidental exchange of nuclear missiles, on January 29, 1995? How good an understanding of fallout do you really have? What about its specific medical consequences? As a voter and a taxpayer, don't you think you owe it to yourself, to your children, and to ME (and all the rest of humanity, obviously) to be as well-informed about these topics as possible?! The bulk of this book is devoted to discussing the often incestuous relationships between major defense contractors and our national government. Dr. Caldicott illuminatingly describes how nuclear policy can be not only influenced, but actually formed, directed, and driven by the extremely well-funded corporate forces of our arms establishment. She makes a number of excellent points about the dangers inherent in this situation. I will let you discover her brilliant observations for yourself. Even if you don't expect to agree with her views, you should at least hear Dr. Caldicott out. If you disagree with her, that's your right, but at least listen to what she has to say. In a totally non-partisan spirit, she also provides four helpful appendices, which I imagine people of any political stripe would find to be informative and helpful. These appendices include A.)Major U.S. Nuclear-Weapons Makers; B.)U.S. Nuclear-Weapons Control Centers and Government Authorities; C.)Locations of the Majority of Usable U.S. Nuclear Weapons; and D.)Major Antinuclear Organizations in the United States, Great Britain, and Russia. If you value being informed about matters of life and death, I recommend that you also seek out "The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War," by Carl Sagan and Paul Ehrlich. Another user-friendly, informative book, which assumes no prior knowledge or scientific background, is "Planet Earth in Jeopardy: Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War," by Lydia Dotto. But again, the most important book on the topic, and the one I hope you ask all your friends, family and neighbors to read, is "The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military-Industrial Complex," by Dr. Helen Caldicott. Please buy it, and above all, please try to understand what Dr. Caldicott has to say to us all.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Important Book in the English Language
Review: Amazon.com has an inventory of over two million books. If I had to choose the single most important book, the one book I would recommend to ANYONE, I would say that this is it. Dr. Helen Caldicott is an Australian pediatrician and human survival activist. She is frequently on the short list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. As of the day I'm writing this, she hasn't quite won it yet. I personally think it's just a matter of time before she does. Would you say that you have a really rock-solid, thorough, complete understanding of the nuclear threat in today's world? Probably not. The topic has had a far lower profile than it once did, since the end of the Cold War. Well, don't you think you ought to consider updating your understanding? This book is user-friendly, it's timely, and it's EXTREMELY informative. You should buy this book for Chapter Two alone. When's the last time you read anything about nuclear winter, written by someone who actually knows what they're talking about? Don't you think you should be well-informed about the topic? How about accidental nuclear war? Did you know we came within less than 3 minutes of a major, accidental exchange of nuclear missiles, on January 29, 1995? How good an understanding of fallout do you really have? What about its specific medical consequences? As a voter and a taxpayer, don't you think you owe it to yourself, to your children, and to ME (and all the rest of humanity, obviously) to be as well-informed about these topics as possible?! The bulk of this book is devoted to discussing the often incestuous relationships between major defense contractors and our national government. Dr. Caldicott illuminatingly describes how nuclear policy can be not only influenced, but actually formed, directed, and driven by the extremely well-funded corporate forces of our arms establishment. She makes a number of excellent points about the dangers inherent in this situation. I will let you discover her brilliant observations for yourself. Even if you don't expect to agree with her views, you should at least hear Dr. Caldicott out. If you disagree with her, that's your right, but at least listen to what she has to say. In a totally non-partisan spirit, she also provides four helpful appendices, which I imagine people of any political stripe would find to be informative and helpful. These appendices include A.)Major U.S. Nuclear-Weapons Makers; B.)U.S. Nuclear-Weapons Control Centers and Government Authorities; C.)Locations of the Majority of Usable U.S. Nuclear Weapons; and D.)Major Antinuclear Organizations in the United States, Great Britain, and Russia. If you value being informed about matters of life and death, I recommend that you also seek out "The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War," by Carl Sagan and Paul Ehrlich. Another user-friendly, informative book, which assumes no prior knowledge or scientific background, is "Planet Earth in Jeopardy: Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War," by Lydia Dotto. But again, the most important book on the topic, and the one I hope you ask all your friends, family and neighbors to read, is "The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military-Industrial Complex," by Dr. Helen Caldicott. Please buy it, and above all, please try to understand what Dr. Caldicott has to say to us all.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Pathetic Diatribe
Review: Helen Caldicott proves once again why those possessed of her views should be allowed nowhere around policymaking decisions. Wrong on Ronald Reagan; wrong on the nuclear freeze; wrong on Euro-missiles; wrong on the Cold War. How many times do anti-Americans need to be wrong before American publishers reject their rantings for the tripe that they are?
Her early works posit the uncontroversial proposition that nuclear war would be bad. Gee, there's a news flash. They advocate policies which, if followed, would have extended the life-span of the Soviet state and hence, its continuing confrontation with the democratic states of the West, continuing the heightened danger of nuclear war to which she professes opposition. One cannot help from concluding, from the very first words of her work, that what she truly regrets in the failure of the Clintonistas to import socialist and Marxist (what she calls "idealistic") policies to the United States.
As usual, her work is historically ignorant, pathetically obtuse, and virulently anti-American and anti-freedom. Like her, it should be consigned to the oblivion it so richly deserves.
Rating: 
Summary: Let's lister to her now!
Review: I recently read this book, and am appalled by the thought of spending billions on nukes, while most of the world is hungry.We should cooperate not fight with each other.
Rating:
Summary: We Should All Read this Book!
Review: I saw Ms. Caldicott on C-SPAN, giving an eye-opening talk about the growing nuclear waste problem in the US and abroad. So, I bought her book and read it. It scared the bajeebers out of me! Because of its density, depleted uranium "waste" and by-products are used in virtually all military tank armor and all large-caliper shells. Any of our troops who have worked around tanks or entered an area that was shelled, has been exposed to high doses of radiation as a result. We hear nothing about this in the media. (Those nifty "embedded" reporters were also exposed as they hid behind our tanks!) In Kuwait, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, we have left behind an incredibly large amount of radioactivity, impossible to clean up. Talk about weapons of mass destruction! Every American should read this book, then begin writing letters to their congressmen.
Rating:
Summary: Good book. Scary if true
Review: If what this book says about nuclear war is true, then boy should we be scared. Not sure how is much true or not. Otherwise, overall, this book was really good. I enjoyed reading it.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.
Review: It's hard to digest anymore of the good doctors opinions after
her previous works and her and her fellow peaceniks shrill,
"Reagans gonna drop the bomb and we are all gonna die",
doomsday predictions. She got it wrong on Reagan then and has
it wrong on GW now! Some of us do remember the 1980's and Caldicott's friends in the various anti-war and nuclear freeze movements. Now that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is no more, we can peek inside those KGB and Stasi archives and see so many of her well intentioned friends, preaching unilateral disarmament of the western democracies on the one hand and collecting a paycheck from the KGB/Stasi with the other. They were pied pipering the well meaning Caldicott's of this world into a game whose end she still does'nt understand. So I repeat, she misunderstood Reagan and the world then and in The New Nuclear Danger: George W.Bush's Military Industrial complex and she still is on the wrong side of history. Gee, maybe we ought to take the good docter to court for malpractice. Do yourself a favour and take this as a honest second opinion, don't waste your time. JMN
Rating:
Summary: "There she goes again......"
Review: She was wrong then, and she's wrong now. Just as Helen Caldicott was wrong about a nuclear freeze in the 1980's, she's wrong about the fight against terrorism now. Does anyone really take seriously the thoughts of an appeaser who would rather let terrorist enemies run over us than go after them forcefully as we should?
Admirers may point to her Nobel Peace Prize, but just remember, Yasir Arafat, a terrorist, won a Nobel Peace prize as well. The award really isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
Silly, naive, foolish - it's as simple as that.
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