Rating: 
Summary: Terrifying.
Review: I used to think that mankind was essentially a foolish, greedy, vain, self-indulgent species with little else on the brain except food, sex, and money.The contents of this book have made a lasting impact on me - and I'm not one who is easily swayed. The first nuclear bomb - whether or not you agree with its political, military or social impact on humanity - was a testament to the mental prowess of humankind. Until now, I had never considered how vast our knowledge of nuclear physics needed to be for us to achieve critical mass. It makes the moon landing appear rather less than spectacular... Mr. Rhodes does a beautiful job of presenting the material: the history behind the theories, experiments, scientists and politics of achieving an explosion of this magnitude. The survivors' descriptions of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs are by far the most horrifying things I've ever read. If this book interests you, I highly recommend Mr. Rhodes' "Dark Sun" which takes a long, hard look at the most frightening of man's creations: the hydrogen bomb. I must say, I have a new-found respect for our species' mental capacity.
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Summary: wonderful history of atomic & nuclear physics
Review: The book is a thorough and interesting treatment of the progress of atomic and nuclear physics--especially the discoveries which were the precursors to the development of the atomic bomb. The interplay of the various scientists working in their circumscribed areas and how their individual accomplishments led to the success of the Manhattan Project makes for a most interesting "who dunit." The "painting" of the characters makes this history of physics book read like a thrilling novel of the type Clancy or Grisham write. My interest was sustained as strongly by the Rhodes writing technique as it was by the civil war novels of that master of factual story telling--Shelby Foote.
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Summary: absolutely first rate scientific and political history
Review: This is one of those books that has it all: fascinating personalities, fundamental scientific discoveries explained with utter clarity, and the birth of political issues that are as relevant today as they were 60 years ago. That it is almost certainly the best book on the development of the atomic bomb is in itself remarkable, as the field is already crowded with mediocre efforts. Rhodes makes an entire era - the first half of the 20th Century - come alive in exacting detail. THe book starts with a ruminating Leo Szilard as he wanders the streets of London, with the concept of an atom bomb germinating in his mind. His pesonality is so quirky, his propensity to find just the right contact to advance his agenda, make him the ideal vehicle to follow the story of the harnessing of the atom for military purpose. But to offer a full view, Rhodes starts with the Curies and their milieu, when they discovered radiation - a fundamental new form of energy that could not be explained by chemistry - that was the start of the 20C revolution in physics. Not only does this story cover such luminaries as Einstein and Bohr, but it includes many others lesser known, who added their discoveries to the pieces of the puzzle that finally elucidated the structure of the atom. These developments are also brilliantly set in European and American history, where the rise of Nazism renders them frighteningly relevant. In addition, other issues are addressed, such as the reason for the sudden blossomng of several Hungarian geniuses, including Szilard and von Neumann, who left their homeland for the US. Then Rhodes moves to the practical question of the Bomb's development, which was accomplished predominently by European scientists in exile and some remarkable Americans as well. Here, you witness Enrico Fermi as he creates the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction in CHicago; the flowering of Oppenheimer's genius for administration; and the efforts that Heisenburg led, and perhaps sabotaged, in Nazi Germany. Each personality is given the depth you would expect in a historical novel with adventure, such as Bohr's flight from Norway, and the infighting that went on behind the scenes. It is simply a masterpiece of historical reporting. Though his output has covered many topics, from his personal sexual history to hard scientific topics, Rhodes is indisputably one of America's greatest writers. I was fascinated by this book from page one and even took vacation time so that I could read it in peace while my daughter was in school. Highest recommendation.
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Summary: 10 STARS! Essential reading
Review: This book is one of a few essential books on the US nuclear weapons program, and no self-respecting researcher or other interested parties' bookshelf should be with out it. Mr. Rhodes painstakingly took the time to homogenize all of the various journals, threads, facts, and debunked fiction into one master reference of the Manhattan Project. All of the players are here, with their histories. All of the sites, locations, dates, tests, it's all here. And, it's well put. Many, many photgraphs adorn this well, well rounded book. Very easy to read, and simply states uncolored history, no biasing. A wonderful book, and a PERFECT present for the person you love who is interested in weaponeering.
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Summary: A complicated but fascinating history
Review: A good book, but I thought the author could have done better in singling out truly important scientific developments from those which were less significant. He needed to tip off the reader, "big deal coming up," so the non-physicists like me wouldn't miss the point. I came away, for example, with the impression that Einsteins's famous letter to Roosevelt warning about a possible German A-bomb was not really all that important. Is that what the author intended? Rhodes inspired me to look elsewhere for more information, so I read General Groves' book.(Groves has the head of the Manhattan Project.) Groves' book is as charmless as the man, but as a corrective to Rhodes, it was interesting. Rhodes focuses on the scientists who developed the bomb; Groves portrays the project more as an engineeering feat. Rhodes' hero is the gadly physicist Szilard; Groves' is the DuPont Corporation. My suspicion is that the most difficult part of making the bomb was putting together the huge uranium and plutonium manufacturing complexes at Oak Ridge and Hanford rather than the famous work of Oppenheimer and colleagues to make the U235 and Plutonium explode. An interesting point is that, at Groves' first meeting with the scientists, they expressed concern about their possible loss of royalties from patents. By contrast, DuPont did all its work for cost plus $1 profit. So much for scientific altruism and corporate greed! (p.s. I do not have any association whatsoever with DuPont.) The author led me to an affection for the experimental physicists, especially Enrico Fermi, but I was less impressed with the contribution of the theorists. He wrote superb passages on the Dresden and Tokyo fire-bombs, the first A-bomb test, and the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. He did a good job of portraying the coarsening effect the war had on people like Oppenheimer who began to talk with enthusiasm about killing tens of thousands of people. I do not disagree with the decision to drop the bomb. The bomb ended the war quickly and Hiroshima was no more a moral atrocity than the firebombing of Dresden or the rape of Nanking, but Rhodes shows us how horribly bloody minded the whole human race became in the caldron of war. May we not fall to such depths again.
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Summary: A Traffic Light at Bloomsbury
Review: This has one of the best beginnings in all of non-fiction. "In London, where Southampton Row passes Russell Square ... Leo Szilard waited irritably one gray Depression morning for the stoplight to change.... The stoplight changed to green... As he crossed the street time cracked open before him and he saw a way to the future, death into the world and all our woe, the shape of things to come." The profundity of Rhodes subject-matter is matched by the scale of the prose; he is also helped immeasurably by the all-star cast of characters: Einstein, Lord Kelvin, Oppenheimer, Rabi, Fermi, Teller, Bohr, Heisenberg and Grove, to name but a few of the titans. And there are grimly comic moments: before the first explosion at Trinity Site, scientists took bets on whether the A-bomb would ignite the atmosphere, incinerating the entire sky. Our tax dollars at work, I suppose.
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Summary: How the 20th Century Will be Remembered
Review: Rhodes wonderful work is nothing less than a history of the first 50 years of the 20th Century. Yes there are things he does not mention; World War One, The Great Depression etc...but in reality those events will be mere foot notes, whereas the discovery of nuclear power, and the making of the atomic bomb will be the defining point of the 20th Century. Despite the seeming dryness of the topic, Rhodes' writing is griping and though the physics is at times difficult to grasp, the pace of his storytelling keeps each page turning. A great achievement
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Summary: I Loved This Book, and I'm not Particularly Scientific!!
Review: Yes, I really came to love this book. I am not a scientist or physicist, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was totally capitvated by the beauty and richness Rhodes delivered in his book. Please, even if you are even just an average person like myself, go ahead and open the book, yes give it a chance, and you will grow to love science and see how even the 'smallest thing' an atom, when split in half, contains awesome power. It made me think how we are a product of an intelligent creator who four main qualities are Love, Justice, Wisdom and of course Power. Thanks Rhodes.
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Summary: The Definitive History of the Bomb
Review: My first review of this book seems to have gotten lost in cyberspace somewhere, so I'll give it another try. When I first started reading this book, my first impression was that it was a fascinating read, but that it went into too much depth about the lives of the physicists involved and the historical background of prewar Europe. As I kept reading, however, that depth of description created a powerful impression of the bomb's magnitude, not only in terms of physics, but in terms of politics and history. Thank heavens Hitler didn't get it first. This book is detailed, thorough, and long, but it is very readable. I thought it would take me over a month to get through it, but I got so hooked on it that I finished it in less than two weeks. I don't have a physics background, so I occasionally had a hard time following all of the little scientific details, but the book never lost my interest. With regard to the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I thought Richard Rhodes did an excellent job of showing both sides of the issue without interjecting his own opinion. I got a little tired at the end of reading about Bohr's "complementarity of the bomb," but overall this book left me awestruck at the history of the first atomic weapons. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Simply the best
Review: It is amazing to learn how a group of people working on the frontiers of science create a device that can wipe out civilisation in order to save the civilization. It is even more amazing to learn that at the other end of the globe another similar group was attempting the same feat, yet not to save civilization but to gain racial supremacy. A historical account about the making of atomic bomb that not only focuses on scientific people but also on military personalities. An engaging reading, readers will not only learn the history but also some technical background ofthe manhattan project...
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