Richard Rhodes describes the theoretical origins of the bomb, the lab experiments, the building of the prototype, the test at Alamagordo, the training of the B-29 crews assigned to deliver the first two combat bombs and the missions themselves. There's much more. Rhodes, gifted with sharp psychological insight and a novelist's ability to convey character, reveals the personalities and emotional dynamics among the scientists and others responsible for conceiving, engineering, testing and ultimately dropping the apocalyptic devices on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition he describes the struggle in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to make the first bomb, as well as the political and military events that led inexorably to the destruction of the Japanese cities. This is a beautifully written book (Rhodes has written a separate book on the craft of writing) that anyone interested in science or history would enjoy. ( )

Absorbing, if slow, sunk in detail, and rambling.

This book should be required reading in public highschools and colleges. Anyone in the USA who votes should read. ( )

The pace of development of nuclear physics and the atomic bomb was amazing. It was as if Benjamin Franklin experimented with electricity and then 50 years later the entire US power grid was built.
Not only did this book tell an amazing story of discovery, but he told about the scientists who developed all this new stuff. You have to have a very different turn of mind to come up with the innovations they did. The ability to think in mathematics and not want to visualize things that really can't be. I also think a lot of these men( and a few women) were like my oldest son. They had social quirks, mental obsessions and felt most at home in the lab. But again, they had to work out the energies and mechanics of the nucleus of an atom using SLIDE RULES! If you don't know what a slide rule is, ask someone who used a lot of math, like an engineer, older than 55. Imagine life before calculators. Imagine doing calculus before calculators. Imagine dealing with numbers like the charge of an electron and the weight of a proton before calculators. I am in awe of just the calculations needed to accomplish what these people did.
Then there is the beauty and simplicity of physics. When it is right, you can tell. Most of physics is simple and plain: E=MC2, Three Laws of Thermodynamics, gravity's inverse square rule. It makes me think that all the complicated particle physics that is going on now is missing something. It is like the weird epicycles people invented to explain the motion of the skies before they would admit it was the Earth moving and not the Sun. There are a lot of weird theories around right now that don't have the harmony and simplicity of Einstein or Newton. They probably aren't right. I think in the next 50 years there will be another jump, because too much doesn't work as physics should when it is truly describing the universe.
On a related, but separate note, physicists who claim to be atheists are liars. A lot of physics just is. It doesn't have a reason that has been found yet. If they don't believe in God, they aren't looking at ultimate causes enough.
The second half of the book, when they were actively making a bomb, not just exploring the properties of uranium had a completely different tone. The bomb was inherent in uranium, like electricity is inherent in lightening and magnets. It was only a matter of time. But it was still difficult. The author is also conflicted. The book was written in the eighties; before Communist Russia collapsed. During the time when all liberals thought Reagan was driving the world to destruction and everyone expected a nuclear holocaust to end the world before 2000. So now, 20 years later, the Cold War isn't quite the awful terror filled period some thought it was. I completely disagree with the author's thoughts, echoing ideas of Robert Oppenheimer and Niels Bohr, that sharing nuclear technology with the Russians would have eliminated an arms race. We see now in a more open time, some countries will be secretive and try for the weapon. As long as secrecy could be seen possibly develop an advantage some country would try it. The open science and world government some scientists thought would be the only way to avoid an arms race was a pipe dream. The arms race would have happened without US paranoia. Mostly because Russia had enough paranoia for any other ten nations.
It is interesting how these historical books are affected by the current political climate. I think this would be a different book if it had been written now. The basic facts are the same, but the interpretation of what is important is different. ( )

The history science is wonderful and Rhodes writing provides a very personal look at the players, starting in the mid-late 19th century. However, he loses his objectivity at times with a strong and unexplained general antiwar message. Not that being antiwar is a negative, however both history and science should be objectively presented to be at their best. For what is presented as history and a history of science to lose its objectivity early is too bad in an otherwise very enjoyable read. Maybe Rhodes should have written the story in two books instead of one. ( )

Excellent review of the conception, making and aftermath of the creation of the atomic bomb. Extremely well written, develops the characters well and gives a thorough background of the physics and politics. ( )

This is so intense. I recently started reading this and I can tell that it will take me awhile to work my way through it, but the level that the author takes in setting the background for the bomb is pretty incredible. I grew up with a father who taught organic chemistry and took many science courses in college before majoring in English. Bohr and Rutherford were historical names in my textbooks and they were names carved on the buildings at the college I attended. The advances that scientists made in the last 150 years were truly amazing. Where are we going?

Finished it, terrific book, epilogue seemed all over the place, but liked reading it anyway. ( )

This book will blow you away!
2293 The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes (read 13 May 1990) (Book of the Year) (Pulitzer Nonfiction prize in 1988) (National Book Award nonfiction prize in 1987) (National Book Critics Circle nonfiction award for 1987) This is one of the best and most important books I have ever read. It tells the story of the bomb, starting back in the early days of this century, and goes through 1945, with an epilogue which touches on developments since and shows that nation-states are an outmoded system of world government. The Epilogue seems so much more palatable since the events of 1989--Russia is becoming less powerful and so the US can back away from the balance of terror. This book has great gobs of nuclear physics which I read with no attempt to understand--because it is impossible for me to do so--but this did not detract from the exciting and fascinating story told. The blurb calls this book the ultimate account of the most earthshaking scientific and political event of our century, perhaps of human history. It was listed by Time in its end of the decade issue as one of the ten best non-fiction books of the decade. ( )

Manhattan Project ( )

This book is considered the classic on the bomb - I even recently saw it listed as one of the top science books of all time - an assessment I do no agree with. Considering its substantial girth, it is a highly readable account of the Manhattan project. Substantial in its scope, it provides equal detail on the scientific, political, and "human interest" aspects of the bomb project. However, Rhodes is a writer - a Hallmark card writer even- rather than a historian or a scientist, and it shows, particularly in the lack of a critical assessment on many key decisions. ( )

The Making of the Atomic Bomb is perhaps the finest history book I’ve ever read. It's more than just a treatise on Hiroshima, Oppenheimer, and the Manhattan Project. It’s a richly detailed epic, exploring in in-depth detail the history of atomic physics, the personalities of the scientists behind the bomb, the complex political and military issues surrounding its development and use, and the historic and social events that shaped its creation.

At it’s center is a complex human story, told without sermonizing and sensationalism. The research undertaken by Rhodes is incredible, and the bibliography lists hundreds of sources. While Rhodes prose might be excessively detailed in places, it’s still a stunning work that needs to be read by anyone seriously interested in history. ( )

Science & Technology
-History recount of making the atomic bomb

http://latentcontent.net/entries/546/... ( )

Rightly deserved to be listed as one of the greatest nonfiction works, in English, of the 20th century. Compelling and thoughtful. Reads like a novel. ( )

The definitive account. ( )

One of the top 5 non-fiction books ever. 5+ stars. Highest rating. ( )