The Making of the Atomic Bomb

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Summary: Five Nobel Laureates can't be wrong
Review: Five Nobel Laureates raved about this book. So did Carl Sagan. The book won The National Book Award and The National Book Critics Circle Award. So what have I got to offer?

As an ordinary person, all I can say is that this is a great book to read, especially when it comes to lives of all the scientists involved. If you want to get deeply involved and feel part of what these people went through, read it.

One of the top-ten books I've read in the past in the past 54 years.

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Summary: A brilliant epic retelling of the birth of the atomic bomb
Review: Richard Rhodes's masterpiece is one those books that is almost impossible to over praise. Since reading it a number of years ago, I have been amazed how many times I have heard about one individual or another mentioned in these pages, and either remember specific things about them from this book, or the greater background in which they worked. The book is not, it must be emphasized, not about the Manhattan Project, although that features as a significant feature in the story. Rhodes's tale begins well in advance of that, and his narrative for several hundred pages is a story of the men and women who first started thinking within the field of physics that would eventually make the atomic bomb a theoretical possibility. The cast of characters is immense, and involves nearly all of the major theoretical physicists of the first half of the twentieth century (though many would continue to dominate well into the 20th--indeed, one of the major players, Edward Teller, died only a few weeks before my writing this review).

The first part of the book deals with those men and women who did made a series of brilliant breakthroughs in physics that made the building of an atomic bomb not merely conceivable but feasible, at least sufficiently feasible for the major players in WW II to explore in a full-fledged way whether an atomic bomb could be built. The second half of the book details the efforts of the major players in WW II to build such a bomb. I found this especially interesting, because often writers mention the danger of Hitler having built an atomic bomb before the allies, but Rhodes pretty much destroys any illusions about this. He shows that, first, the German atomic program was tremendously under funded and given only a modicum of support by Hitler and his advisors. There were two major reasons for this. First, the Nazis had little or no access to the materials that would make such a program successful, in particular to an unstable uranium isotope. Their lone source lay in heavy water, which they were able to get from Sweden, but it is exceedingly doubtful that they would have had enough to produce sufficient material for a bomb even if they had known how to do so. But the greater impediment to the building of a bomb was Hitler's own disinclination to do so. Partly because of his own experience with mustard gas in WW I, Hitler was personally opposed to the use of what we would today call WMDs. But as Rhodes shows, even in America there was uncertainty about how devastating such a weapon would be, and some of the Nazis felt that the bomb would result in setting the earth's atmosphere on fire. Therefore, the German atomic threat is greatly exaggerated. Yet, it is still asserted. I read just recently a book by former MP and cabinet minister Roy Jenkins, in which he discusses the possibility of the Nazis getting the bomb first in WW II, an event that is at most a remote possibility. In addition to the German program, Rhodes also discusses the almost nonexistent Japanese program.

The greater part of the book deals with the efforts at Los Alamos, New Mexico to build a workable atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project (so-called because its first administrative offices were in New York) is one of the most massive undertakings in human history, and the story of how General Leslie Groves (whose other great achievement was overseeing the building of the Pentagon) and Robert J. Oppenheimer headed up the program makes for absolutely riveting reading. There is simply no way in the course of a brief review to express the sheer scope and range of issues--scientific, social, political, historical, and military--that Rhodes addresses in this book. It is one of those rare books that not merely informs you on a particular subject, but deepens and broadens one's knowledge of modern history. I would quickly put this volume on the briefest of short lists of modern classics that one ought to have read to understand the world. This truly is a classic that ought to be not merely honored but read.

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Summary: EXTREMELY interesting and well-written work!!!
Review: Having read both the Making of Hydrogen Bomb and the Atom Bomb I have to say Richard Rhodes succeeded where most writers do not. He managed to write a history book that reads like a gripping novel! The book is extremely interesting and I thanked the author for its 700+ page length. The story is very well organized with plenty of explanations and forewords that make the book accessible to not just Physicits and Chemists but to the average readers as well.The stories are meticulously researched and it makes one wonder how it's possible to gather so much information and organize it so well. There is politics (and many things you'll never read about anywhere else), drama, human tragedy, and human persistence. Rhodes carefully and with great care and irony outlines the lives of dozens of scientists, from the early discoverers of the nucleus, to the discovery of its parts, to the discovery of radiaton, and all the way until its horrible implementation in the atom bomb. If you ever wondered why matter is the way it is, read this and you'll be enlightened. Truly one of the best books I ever read!

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Summary: Extraordinary
Review: Rhodes's command of the technical details is equally matched by his superb biographical sketches and philosophical insights. The result is very satisfying.

The hero of the whole saga is rightly Niels Bohr, and Rhodes demonstrates his competence by his emphasis on Bohr's complementarity, with respect to both quantum theory and the use of the Bomb itself.

If there is a tiny error in this book, it is perhaps his neglect of the role played by Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was one of the finest US nuclear physicists of that generation. Although this Nobel Laureate played a relatively minor part in the making of the Bomb, her role was anything but negligible. (Incidentally, the other two women who were important to the story, Curie and Meitner, are well covered.)

This has long been one of my favorite books of all time.

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Summary: Trim the chaff
Review: As with many of today's novels this historical account spends far too much time on trivialities. The real meat of the account, the chemistry and physics, the discoveries and engineering, is buried in a never-ending snow of needless unrelated detail that challenges the reader to discern and string along with the previous piece, perhaps a dozen pages before. Don't get me wrong, the history is all there but scanning through the filler for it is no joy.

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Summary: NOT A BOHR AT ALL
Review: The real message of this book seems to be escaping people, perhaps because there is no obvious excitement to it. Rhodes is quietly plugging the view of Niels Bohr that nationalism in the 20th century was starting to do more harm than good, and that the unleashing of the ultimate energy-source of the universe in the confines of one puny planet had finally brought the issue to a head. Compared with the other matters he covers -- the first discovery of alpha-particles and neutrons, the development and use of 'conventional' weapons of indiscriminate destruction, the Manhattan project and the use of the bombs over Japan to mention only the scientific issues, Bohr's philosophy is not the stuff of headlines. Churchill and Roosevelt missed its significance through their own arrogance, and even Oppenheimer got it a bit confused.

This book is a terrific read and don't let its length put you off, especially at the price. The history of science is engrossing, and so is the history of the 20th century in its clever/stupid way. The sheer brainpower assembled on the Manhattan project is awe-inspiring and the main players are depicted with balance and admirable restraint. Quite apart from the scientists, it is impossible not to see that even the charmless Gen Groves was an exceptionally gifted manager. The major political figures are only described selectively, and Churchill in particular is seen mainly at his worst. The antisemitism of the nazis is described with cold detachment, but one vignette that brought out for me the idiocy of the era was the picture of Hitler writing Mein Kampf in his prison cell 'boyish in lederhosen'. My thoughts turned directly, tangentially and scurrilously to P G Wodehouse's Spode (based on Mosley) of the Black Shorts Movement lookng a perfect perisher in his footer bags.

As an education, this book is a major event. As a readable account of of issues that we all ought to be informed about if we care for the future of our planet and our children it is unsurpassable. But back to Bohr -- I think I buy his analysis, namely that the nation-state is not such a permanent fixture as maybe a lot of us had thought, and indeed it had better not be. I think I see it fraying in different ways here and there, and on balance a good thing too.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece.
Review: I began reading this book in pieces as I loitered in bookstores. I found myself spending quite some time lost in its pages. At first I expected an exposition on Fatman and Little Boy but what I found was truly worth the funding of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Rhodes gives the most comprehensive treatise of twentieth century nuclear physics that I have found thus far. He also delves deep into the characters so that one begins to know those involved, those who would change the world. One can share the joy of insight, of science, and at the same time the fear of its consequences. The book is inspiring and at the same time horrifically graphic. It brings almost to the taste the results of war. It is quite possibly the finest piece of modern history I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: A great mix of Physics and Politics. I was amazed at the amount of political infighting that went on to get the project off the ground as well as the levels of security (or lack thereof). Although a bit dry in parts, its highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about the history of nuclear physics and the arms race.

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Summary: As fine a piece of history as you can find
Review: To be brief, I have never read a work of history that coherently combined as much technical, military, political, social, economic, and most of all scientific information as this. Rhodes's narrative, his descriptions and explanations, and his wealth of insightful details all combine to bring the Manhattan Project into focus - as a military program, as scientific research, and as the work of thousands. Whether you wish to learn about the scientists who developed the weapon, the military men and women who organized the engineering and production, or to gather a background against which to ponder Truman's ultimate decision to use the weapon, this book will provide you with a tremendous foundation as you read further.

Rating:
Summary: Well written chronicle in real-world language
Review: This is a well written chronicle of the making of the atomic bomb, in language we can all understand. Richard Rhodes does an amazing job describing in detail the underlying politics, the scientific process and the world's desire for this powerful creation.

This book is not a gathering of scientific articles, it is an exciting and well thought through story that deals with the entire world all circling around this one important project.

I am by no means a history buff but still greatly enjoyed this book.

What amazed me the most was the author's inclusion of so many people that had a hand in the creation of the atomic bomb. In this regard it is a who's who of science. The exciting part in this respect is that we get to follow some of these scientist from their perilous escape in Germany to universities in the U.S. working for the good of mankind. We then follow them (or their ideas) to Los Alamos to the final creation process.

Once here we see the struggle of both the scientific community and the political forces of the world struggling to determine whether to actually use this power.

Most of us know the final results of this struggle, but the journey there as told by Richard Rhodes, is just as impacting.