GOOD READING

D. Bodansky and 5 others, Indoor Radon Hazards (U. of Wash. Press, 1987, 147pp., $9.95 softbd). is a very good summary of the present knowledge on the subject, recommended as a reference book rather than easy reading. There are two points in which my previous reports must now be updated: 1) The conversion from pCi/l to mrem/yr (which, as explained previously, includes biological in-tangibles) is taken as 1 pCi/l = 200 mrem/yr, a figure that I will use from now on; 2) they reject animal experiments with cigarette smoke [AtE Apr 88] and conclude that in humans smoking plus radon is synergistic (combined risk greater than sum of individual risks).

Congress has empowered the NRC and other agencies to im-pose fees and fines, which are being applied arbitrarily and amount to an unconstitutional power to levy taxes, say the Citizens for a Sound Economy, 470 L'Enfant Plaza East, S.W /#7112, Wash, DC 20024 (an organization very worthy of your support) in a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court in Fla. P&L vs. US NRC. Free, but contributions welcome.

R. Bailey, "Ministry of Fear," Forbes, 6/27/88; condensed in Reader's Digest Nov. 88: a good portrait of AIDS ally Jeremy Rifkin.

"Carl Sagan, walking the shoes of Mr. Lincoln," Contentions, Oct. 88 (Comm. Free World, 211 E. 51 St., New York, NY 10022); do not miss "Sex Education: the awful truth" by M. Decter in same issue. Free; contributions welcome.

T.H. Jukes, "How to survive when everyone's scared," 21^st Century, Sept/Oct. 88.

H.Gordon, Channeling into the New Age: the "teachings" of Shirley MacLaine . . . (Prometheus Books, 700 E. Amherst St., Buffalo, NY 14215, 198pp. hdbd., $18.95) is a very entertaining book in spite of Isaac Asimov's banal foreword. Most of the credit should go to the hilarious bilge supplied by Miss MacLaine ("I have the capacity of holding two contradictory points of view in my mind and not be confused by it"); in fact, I have extracted a whole floorful of her wisdom for Fort Freedom's Buffoon's Quarters, In-firmary and Asylum.

The trick is to get them young.

[picture of mushroom cloud]

"in Hiroshima and Nagasaki eveloped cancer years later. Hundreds of American citizens have also died from the effects of fallout nuclear tests produced in Nuclear reactors can be"

[picture of Hitler smiling and shaking hands of young children, with "Mein Fuhrer" poem underneath]

Both pages are from grade-school readers.

The one on the right was published by Children's Press, Chicago, Ill., in 1987.