The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Muller, Richard A. Physics for Future Presidents: The Science behind the Headlines. W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.

Physics for Future Presidents: The Science behind the Headlines is a non-fiction book divided into five sections, containing a total of 25 chapters and several dozen subsections that cover topics of interest to policy makers and leaders. Throughout this book, author Robert A. Muller attempts to describe physics concepts underlying important issues like energy usage and pollution to a hypothetical future president. Muller uses footnotes to provide additional information, sources and running commentary.

In Section I, “Terrorism,” Muller describes terrorist attacks in America that have already happened in order to predict what will and will not be able to happen in the future.

Chapter 1, “Nine-Eleven,” talks about the physics behind how two jet liners caused the twin towers to collapse, as well as some of the policies that allowed them to get to that position. Muller introduces the reader to the concept of tons of energy equivalent to explain why gasoline is such a powerful, and potentially destructive force.

Chapter 2, “Terrorist Nukes,” is Muller’s review of the likelihood of terrorists being able to carry out a number of potential attacks. Overall, Muller believes that building a working nuclear bomb is simply too complicated for anyone outside of a functioning government, and so the real threat to look out for is making sure that no one from an existing nuclear power sells a bomb to terrorists.

Chapter 3, “The Next Terrorist Attack,” attempts to predict the most likely future scenarios, focused mainly on Al-Qaeda, and the potential for terrorist attacks on or using airplanes.

Chapter 4, “Biological Terrorism,” discusses the 2001 anthrax attacks. Muller explains why biological attacks have the potential to be mass atrocities, but why this one was not.

Section II, “Energy,” looks at some of the basics of energy usage in the U.S. today.

Chapter 5, “Key Energy Surprises,” examines some misconceptions about energy usage. It talks about what makes gasoline such a popular fuel source, and what it would take to replace it.

Chapter 6, “Solar Power,” talks about one of the most commonly misunderstood sources of renewable energy. Muller says that because the amount of power a solar panel is able to produce is directly tied to its size, solar power can be a reasonable replacement for power plants, but not a good way to power cars.

Chapter 7, “The End of Oil,” covers the likelihood that the world could someday run out of oil and compares some possible alternative energy sources.

Section III, “Nukes,” explains how nuclear reactions can be used to fuel both weapons and power plants.

Chapter 8, “Radioactivity and Death,” explains what radioactivity actually is and how it does harm to the human body. Muller uses this section to pose a number of open-ended policy questions about harm reduction.

Chapter 9, “Radioactive Decay,” goes down to the sub-atomic level to explain why breaking apart the nucleus of an atom causes such a powerful and potentially dangerous reaction. The chapter also explains the concept of half-lives.

Chapter 10, “Nuclear Weapons,” is about how different types of nuclear bombs are built, how the processes to do so were discovered and what the effects of these weapons are.

Chapter 11, “Nuclear Madness,” discusses existing stock piles of nuclear weapons, why they have never been used, and why attempts at more “futurist” weapons have fallen through.

Chapter 12, “Nuclear Power,” looks at the more controlled nuclear reactions used to generate electricity in power plants, and the different forms they can take.

Chapter 13, “Nuclear Waste,” talks about what’s left over from the reactors described in Chapter 12, what the options are for dealing with it, and why it results in such strong anti-nuclear sentiment.

Chapter 14, “Controlled Fusion,” talks about hypothetical technologies that force atoms together rather than breaking them apart, releasing just as much energy as current technologies while producing a lot less waste.

Section IV, “Space,” tells the brief history and potential future of man-made objects in outer space.

Chapter 15, “Space and Satellites,” introduces the reader to the first and most common man-made objects in space.

Chapter 16, “Gravity Applications,” talks about how the absence of gravity in space and the different levels of gravity on the moon and on other planets can be used to help further technological advances.

Chapter 17, “Humans in Space,” talks about the history and trajectory of the U.S. space program. Muller asks the reader to weigh the risks versus the rewards.

Chapter 18, “Spying with Invisible Light,” explains how infrared light, not visible to the human eye, can be utilized both up close and by satellites to detect what vision cannot.

Section V, “Global Warming,” covers one of the most well-known and yet hardest to address topics facing any future president.

Chapter 19, “A Brief History of Climate,” covers the natural fluctuations the global climate has gone through, and why modern changes are so drastically different, because they are happening so much faster.

Chapter 20, “The Greenhouse Effect,” describes how the ozone layer keeps the Earth’s temperature fairly consistent, and how various pollutants affect it. It discusses the dangers that carbon dioxide can do to both the air and the sea.

Chapter 21, “A Very Likely Cause,” provides the statistics to back up the claim that global climate change is more likely due to human activity than to any other cause. It also provides some evidence, in the form of a case study, that human activity can reverse it.

Chapter 22, “Evidence,” lays some of the logical fallacies that both sides use when arguing about climate change and warns the reader not to fall prey to believing them or undermining their own argument by using them.

Chapter 23, “Nonsolutions,” discusses things that won’t solve global warming – either because they currently are not working, or because they are too far off to be realistic.

Chapter 24, “The Fruit on the Ground,” provides some solutions Muller thinks are already working, as well as the reasons he has to be optimistic.

Chapter 25, “New Technologies,” talks about some things that could work as long as the scientific community continues to advance them. Ultimately, Muller says, it will come down to tough, smart decision-making.