<DIV>The globalizing, industrializing world has an insatiable demand for energy, but conventional sources are running out. Oil and coal are burning away, yet solar, wind, and water are decades from providing a replacement, if they ever will. The solution, says Daniel Clery in this deeply researched and revelatory book, is to be found in the original energy source, the Sun itself. There, at its center, the fusion of 620 million metric tons of hydrogen nuclei every second generates an unfathomable amount of energy. By harnessing even a tiny piece of this, mankind can secure all the heat and power we would ever need to survive.<br><br> The simple yet extraordinary ambition of nuclear-fusion scientists has garnered many skeptics but, as <i>A Piece of the Sun</i> makes clear, large-scale nuclear fusion is scientifically possible--and perhaps even preferable to other options. Despite the recent high profile nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiishi and lingering Cold War-era reticence toward nuclear power among much of the general public, Clery passionately and eloquently argues that the only thing keeping us from harnessing this cheap, clean and renewable energy is our own shortsightedness and folly. A new, safer, and tightly regulated nuclear industry could be the answer to all our energy woes. Timely and authoritative, <i>A Piece of the Sun</i>is an accessible, rousing wake-up call to change how we think about energy.</div>