The Boy Who Played with Fusion: Extreme Science, Extreme Parenting, and How to Make a Star
By Tom Clynes
Read by P. J. Ochlan
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This is the story of how an American teenager became the youngest person ever to build a working nuclear fusion reactor. By the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. At eleven, his grandmother’s cancer diagnosis drove him to investigate new ways to produce medical isotopes. And by fourteen, Wilson had built a 500-million-degree reactor and become the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. How could someone so young achieve so much, and what can Wilson’s story teach parents and teachers about how to support high-achieving kids? In The Boy Who Played with Fusion, science journalist Tom Clynes narrates Taylor’s extraordinary journey—from his Arkansas home where his parents fully supported his intellectual passions; to a unique Reno, Nevada, public high school just for academic superstars; to the present, when now nineteen-year-old Wilson is winning international science competitions with devices designed to prevent terrorists from shipping radioactive material into the country. Along the way, Clynes reveals how our education system shortchanges gifted students—and what we can do to fix it.
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Summary
Summary
A 2016 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Shortlist Selection
An Amazon Best Book of the Month in Memoir/Biography for June 2015
A November 2015 Library Journal bestseller in Physics
This is the story of how an American teenager became the youngest person ever to build a working nuclear fusion reactor.
By the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. At eleven, his grandmother’s cancer diagnosis drove him to investigate new ways to produce medical isotopes. And by fourteen, Wilson had built a 500-million-degree reactor and become the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. How could someone so young achieve so much, and what can Wilson’s story teach parents and teachers about how to support high-achieving kids?
In The Boy Who Played with Fusion, science journalist Tom Clynes narrates Taylor’s extraordinary journey—from his Arkansas home where his parents fully supported his intellectual passions; to a unique Reno, Nevada, public high school just for academic superstars; to the present, when now nineteen-year-old Wilson is winning international science competitions with devices designed to prevent terrorists from shipping radioactive material into the country. Along the way, Clynes reveals how our education system shortchanges gifted students—and what we can do to fix it.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Reviews
Reviews
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A (Rock) Star is Born
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“And so we went to war because the president said Iraq might be getting nuclear weapons and we couldn’t afford to wait,” Taylor says, surveying his sloppy science project. “But I’ve got a more advanced operation than Iraq ever had right here in my garage.”
What a punk. And I mean that in a good way.
By nine years old, Taylor Wilson had mastered rocket propulsion, at eleven he produced medical isotopes, and by fourteen the boy had built a 500-million-degree reactor (I didn’t even know something could get that hot), becoming the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. If you’ve ever watched Taylor Wilson’s TED Talks, or kept up on current science, you’d be aware that Wilson is a fascinating, well-spoken, self-confident young man. Tom Clynes’ amazing documentary memoir of his interaction with Taylor tackles these topics. In addition, it delivers a powerful analysis of our current education system, with respect to dealing with gifted children.
Reader PJ Ochlan uses a tight, dramatic cadence when he needs to, during dangerous science experiments when things can go and do go horribly wrong. He uses a light, comedic demeanor during some of the more personal sections about, say, Taylor’s crush--a fellow female over-achiever. He does a marvelous job.
There’s a little for everyone in this audiobook, and…
Oh, hell!
I mean—the damn kid built a STAR.
IN HIS BASEMENT.
HE BUILT A FREAKING STAR.
Seriously, world, what will it take to impress you? What does a little boy have to do, cure cancer?
Okay, Taylor Wilson actually tries to, and…just see for yourself.
Listen to this for mental enrichment. Now!
Author
Author Bio: Tom Clynes
Tom Clynes is a writer and photographer who covers the adventurous side of science, the environment, and education. He has reported on Ebola outbreaks and eco-mercenaries in central Africa, climatologists working in Greenland, and arsenic-loving microbes in California’s Mono Lake. He was a contributing editor at National Geographic Adventure for over a decade and now regularly writes for National Geographic, Men’s Journal, and Popular Science, where he is a contributing editor. He has also contributed to GQ, Conservation magazine, the Guardian, the London Times, Bicycling, Backpacker, and the Washington Post. His magazine stories have appeared multiple times in Best American Sports Writing and Best American Travel Writing. He is also a Knight-Wallace Fellow in journalism , an International Reporting Project fellow, and a two-time recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award. He currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Brookline, Vermont.
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Details
Details
| Available Formats : | Digital Download, CD |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Science |
| Runtime: | 12.45 |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
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