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Description edit
Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science, and his basement experiments—building homemade fireworks, brewing moonshine, and concocting his own self-tanning lotion—were more ambitious than those of other boys. While working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- David Hahn: Bright but unmotivated, picked on at school, but fascinated by home chemistry experiments of all kinds
- Patty Hahn: A loving but emotionally fragile, alcoholic mother
- Ken Hahn: A concerned dad, but also described by the author as "pathologically oblivious"
Quotes edit
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“The police realized that they were going to need outside help, as nuclear physics was beyond the station's normal call of duty.”
Author
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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Michael and Patty’s relationship was turning increasingly sour,
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David frequently had up to a dozen experiments and projects in progress simultaneously.
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science was David’s primary means of coping with the world, building his confidence, and showing off.
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reached 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit, and everyone within a half-mile radius was burned alive.
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But the reactor never bred a single milligram of new plutonium fuel and was shut down in 1994.
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plutonium is produced by bombarding nonfissionable uranium-238 with neutrons.
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A more profound and terrible shock came in February 1996 when Patty, roiled by mental illness, shot and killed herself in the kitchen of her home.
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them.” Those with living fathers described them as “rigid, stern . . . and emotionally reserved,” and the scientists themselves were “slow in social development, [and] indifferent to close personal relationships [or] group activities.”
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First Sentence edit
David Hahn's earliest memory seems appropriate in light of later events; it is of conducting an experiment in the bathroom when he was perhaps four years old.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in True Crime: Unlikely To Happen Twice. (standard series)
This book is in True Crime: Totally Messed Up. (community list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Ken Silverstein (Author)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 621.483092
Notes for Parents edit
Reading Level: Young AdultsFine for teens or adults, unless you suspect your teen reader is anything like the title character in this story.
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