Arjen said:
Amazon.com: reviewer S. Buckl has a go at it.
I'm through the first four chapters of the book and I can already see that the author got an "F" in science. She may be a good reporter and a skilled writer, but she should have the book reviewed by a knowledgeable science consultant before publishing. The mistakes are so obvious that they destroy all credibility.
Here are some examples. On page 21, the author refers to the panic caused by the radio broadcast of the "War of the Worlds". She mentions that the public was "sensitized" due to recent technological advances, and she cites the jet engine, the radar and the microwave oven. None of these devices were known to the general public in 1938. Experimental jet engines were being developed in the UK and Germany, but were virtually unheard of in the USA. Radar was also in an experimental phase, and shrouded by a great deal of secrecy because of its military potential. The secrecy was so great that even the German military was not aware about the progress made in the field in the USA and UK, lets alone general public. Finally, the heating effect of microwaves was not discovered until 1945.
Then on page 29 the author says that the nuclear blast travels at 100 mph. As with any explosion, the shockwave travels at the speed of sound (approx. 700 mph).
On page 33 she refers to Peenemunde as the fabrication site for German V2 rockets. V2 was produced at Mittelwerk in the Kohnstein. The initial production line built at Peenemunde was destroyed in a RAF bomd raid. Peenemunde was the test site for V2 rockets, not a production site.
On page 34, the author refers to V2 as a "winged missile". V1 was the winged missile (a precursor of today's cruise missiles), while the V2 was a ballistic missile without wings, only small control surfaces in the tail.
And all these in the first 30 or so pages of the book...
Now, regarding the mysterious Soviet "flying saucer". There is absolutely no evidence that the Soviets had the technology to build a compact aircraft capable of flying at 1200 mph, intercontinental range, hovering capability, and stealthy in 1947. In fact, nobody is capable of building such an aircraft today. If such an aircraft was ever developed over 60 years ago, some information would have leaked out by now. Moreover, if the Soviets had such technology, why didn't they use it improve the performance of their military aircraft during the Cold War armament race?
Bolding mine. Don't buy.
The Amazon.com: reviewer S. Buckl made some boo-boos too!
Many of us can find them above, but one requires some in depth
knowledge from reading aerospace engineering books or asking
someone who has the knowledge.
Technical stuff can be hard to get right!
So, she screwed up, and her publisher screwed up not getting
the book reviewed by someone who had a clue. That alone would have
probably saved the day here as that would have also alerted
her publisher on the teenage mutant junk.
I am amazed by the lack of caution she exhibited on not checking
with her other Area 51 sources on the teenage mutant story. She would
have gotten warnings from those guys. That should have raised a
big question in her mind. I would really like to ask her that to see
what she said.
After all, one of those Area 51 guys gave her the story on the
teenage mutants. When Bill Weir from ABC News in Las Vegas,
and his boss talked with that source, they reported that to them,
this man seemed obviously confused and conflicted. I believe they
used the word "obviously" because they were trying to understand
why Annie Jacobsen didn't notice it. In Annie's defense though,
perhaps ABC saw him on a bad day. Weir also indicated the guy was
in his late 80s. Who knows. I actually thought that maybe this
source had read the the 1956 "Astounding Science Fiction"
story "Tomb Tappers" by James Blish, and then got confused. It would
be another interesting question.
So the bad news is that it wasn't just one mistake that was made but
a number of them in the system of checks and balances.
The good news is that such editorial staffs need good technically
capable people who can do the research and run down the facts and
check online sources, etc. Perhaps now they will at least work
with stringers. So some of you guys on this forum who love research
may be interested! You never know!