Reddit reviews Radiation Detection and Measurement

Your opinion is wrong. None of these references show any evidence whatsoever that cold fusion is a real phenomenon. Here are some references for where you can read about real nuclear physics:

• Physical Review Letters
  
  
• Nature
  
  
• Physical Review C
  
  
• Nuclear Instruments and Methods
  
  
• arXiv nucl-ex
  
  
• arXiv nucl-th
  
  
• Blatt and Weisskopf
  
  
• Krane
  
  
• Loveland, Seaborg, and Morrissey
  
  
• Leo
  
  
• Knoll
  
  
• Bertulani

So the book I linked will in no way make you able to go out and obtain accurate measurements, its mostly post-measurements data understanding/manipulation.

This is the textbook I used in school for my class introductory course on radiation detection, interesting side note, when my mother was in college she used the third edition (I used the fourth). It goes over a lot of the theory behind detectors. It's a much drier read than the health physics book, and a lot more math. Detection requires a fair bit of math and a little electronics knowledge to understand, plus a good dose (hah) of understanding of radiation itself. Wikipedia can be a good source for a broad overview of the more esoteric types of detectors.

All this said, getting accurate measurements requires training and not just books.

http://www.amazon.com/Radiation-Detection-Measurement-Glenn-Knoll/dp/0470131489