The Night Circus - ANTHEA

44
Summer 2012
Knopf
Rights available
ROBERT PETER GALE received his
MD from the State University of
New York and his PhD from UCLA
in microbiology and immunology.
In addition to his more than
800 academic publications, Gale
has written popular books on
Chernobyl and U.S. nuclear energy
policy. He frequently appears on
television news broadcasts, and
received an Emmy for his work on
a 60 Minutes special report.
ERIC LAX is the author of the
New York Times Notable Book Life
and Death on 10 West, an account
of the UCLA bone marrow
transplantation ward, then headed
by Dr. Gale. He also wrote an
account of the development of
penicillin, The Mold in Dr. Florey’s
Coat which was a Los Angeles
Times Best Book of 2004. His
book Conversations with Woody
Allen was a New York Times
Notable Book and international
best-seller.
Radiation: What it is, What You
Need to Know
Robert Peter Gale and Eric Lax
From Dr. Robert Peter Gale, one of the world’s leading
experts in radiation biology who consulted on the scene in
Chernobyl and Fukushima, and critically acclaimed author Eric
Lax, comes a book that dispels myth, provides facts, and tells
the reader everything he or she needs to know about radiation.
In the aftermath of the Japanese nuclear reactor meltdowns
at Fukushima, worldwide attention to, and unease with, the
danger of nuclear energy and radioactivity has only increased
the existing plethora of misinformation about radiation while
doing nothing to improve our understanding of what radiation
is, how it causes damage, and what exact threats there are. The
public needs precise information: how does radiation affect
the body? What risk does it pose in the food supply chain
and in medical treatment? What are the long-term dangers?
What do we need to worry about, now and in the future? We
must also grasp the benefits of radiation, without which there
would not be life on Earth or cures of some cancers. If visions
of mushroom clouds and Dr. Strangelove did not pop into our
heads whenever we hear about the release of radiation, would
we be able to comprehend it rationally as a vital part of our
lives instead of a danger in every instance?
Radiation will address these questions drawing on Dr. Gale’s
extensive research and experience around the world and cut
through years of popular misrepresentations and widely held,
if inaccurate, beliefs. Eye-opening and timely, it is an essential
primer we all must read.