Like many, I watched the whole cold fusion saga from start to finish.Fleischamn and Pons are two highly respected chemists , who, in 1989 claimed to have achieved nuclear fussion at room temperature in some metals which had been saturated with the heavy isotope of hydrogen, deuterium.They claimed their system was giving more energy out than it was receiving.The physicists tried to replicate the results..and most(note that word) failed..they attacked Fleischman and Pons..who scurried off and the whole saga was revealed as gigantic mistake.
Thats the general media and public version of what happened.But is it true.?
Scarliy enough, not at all.The author, Charles G Beaudette lists the 38 published reports where researchers replicated some of the original claims as well as humoursly enviserates some of its main ill informed critics and shows how they continously changed the rules about how science works, and appeared to have placed personal bias ahead of scientific and logial analysis.
This is a brilliant book , with a brief foreward by Arthur.C.Clarke .