Soon the battle between deniers and realist on cold fusion/LENR will be fierce, and we will need to have data and arguments to face the mountain of urban myth and manufactured false-truth that protect current consensus. In the middle of that bloody battlefield there will be open-minded people who will follow the arguments, the data, They will consider the deniers arguments as much as ours, probably having current manufactured consensus as an initial prejudice. This is why it is important to have good arguments, to know the history of LENR, the science of LENR, the fallacies against LENR.
There are many articles on internet but it is not so structured, even if it can be a very good introduction, and valuable resource to argument. To master that subject and be able to understand the depth of anti-LENR fallacies one need not only to know Cold Fusion history, but also Cold Fusion science, at least the basics.
It took me more than one year to have access to the book I will advise, and read them. i am conscious that today few people have the courage to read hundreds of technical pages, but I don't see any alternative. Here is my proposal :
- If you are not so convinced, if you want to advise a book to an open minded newcomer the good book is "Excess Heat" by Charles Beaudette. Even the first chapter is already convincing, not in all details, but to explain the structure of the myth and prepare honest people to take care of mainstream claims. this book is also a good student book about calorimetry and epistemology applied to cold fusion fiasco. It details the mistakes that found mainstream myth. It tells the history until 2002, with only the key details, but study precisely the causes and the structure of the fiasco. If only one book, this is the good one.
"Excess Heat: Why Cold Fusion Research Prevailed" is published by Infinite Energy, available on Amazon, and also freely published by the author in ICCF9/Tsinghua - If you are desiring to debate on cold fusion, avoiding argumentation pitfalls and wishful thinking, the best tool to know what is observed in LENR science, what are the theory and their drawbacks, the experimental pitfalls that have been exploited by myth-builders, the best book is "The science of LENR" by Edmund Storms. This book is a huge review, firsts of the experimental results which are sorted by types, then about theories. To that there is reference appendices about calorimetry and palladium behavior. This book allow one to understand many details in Mallove and beaudette books, and sure it can help understand the absurdities of claims in the books of gary taubes, parks, Huizenga. Unlike Beaudette and Mallove, Edmund Storms seldom address history, except to spot blatant errors like the gary taubes conspiracy theory on tritium, or the manipulation of Hansen supporters to make recombination look noticeable by reducing current density.
The book "Science of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction: A Comprehensive Compilation of Evidence and Explanations about Cold Fusion" is no more available on Amazon , but I could find it on World Scientific, it's publisher. Maybe you can find it elsewhere as used book... Too bad it is short when the battle is approaching. - The most detailed history book describing the early cold fusion saga, the few month were the official myth were built, mostly the first 2 month, and a little the 18 first month, is "Fire From Ice" by Eugene Mallove. His book is less technical than Charles Beaudette, covers less the logical fallacies and epistemological errors, but is much more detailed on the intrigues, the various errors of cold fusion actors, that allowed that fiasco to establish as a consensus. One benefit from having read Edmund Storms or Beaudette books to understand the validity of some arguments.
"Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth Behind the Cold Fusion Furor" is sold by infinite Energy and available on amazon. - The last book is an optional advice, it is "The explanation of LENR". One big problem with cold fusion is that today most people on earth refuse to accept evidence if the is no theory to explain it. This is why some have denied LENR , and why others have proposed pet-theories that violate basic laws of physics. Edmund Storms in that books cover that subject. The book starts with a detailed survey of the experimental results that a theory would have to predict. Then it makes a review of what the laws of thermodynamics, chemistry, physics, imply when considering theories. It continues by analysing currently proposed theories, sorted by classes, and spotting the incoherence with physics, thermodynamics, and chemistry laws. It continue by defining what are the properties of any possible theory according to his conservatives assumption. Finally he propose one theory, the Hydroton. That last point is very interesting, but for argumentation the path from experiments to theoretical requirements is the real value of that book. the hydroton theory can also solve the irrational fear of some deniers who refuse to consider facts without a theory.
"The Explanation of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction: An Examination of the Relationship between Observation and Explanation" is published by Infinite Energy.
Armed with those book, you will sure be able to argument on people who challenge the reality of cold fusion from early refuted results, from unproven and refuted conspiracy theories, without the least positive results to oppose, with a long list of proven errors, misconducts, fallacies, that normally should send them to academic hell of ridicule.
If you want to laugh afterward, you may try to read the skeptics book, starting from the one of Gary taubes, but really the price of the book and your time is not worth the pleasure to read bad science
