| The Making of the Atomic Bomb |  | Author: Richard Rhodes
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  160 reviews
Sales Rank: 72430
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 928
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.9
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 2
ISBN: 0671441337
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.4511909
EAN: 9780671441333
ASIN: 0671441337
Publication Date: February 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Significant cover and binding edgewear. Binding creases. A couple areas where spine is slightly loose. However, ALL text is present and intact. Text, clean with no creases or marks. Despite some flaws, book is still fully functional. Ships next day.
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Amazon.com Review
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Product Description
Here for the first time, in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan.Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly -- or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity there was a span of hardly more than twenty-five years. What began as merely an interesting speculative problem in physics grew into the Manhattan Project, and then into the Bomb with frightening rapidity, while scientists known only to their peers -- Szilard, Teller, Oppenheimer, Bohr, Meitner, Fermi, Lawrence, and yon Neumann -- stepped from their ivory towers into the limelight. Richard Rhodes takes us on that journey step by step, minute by minute, and gives us the definitive story of man's most awesome discovery and invention. The Making of the Atomic Bomb has been compared in its sweep and importance to William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It is at once a narrative tour de force and a document as powerful as its subject.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 155 more reviews...
Simply amazing. November 16, 2008
Richard Rhodes provides the definitive account of the making of the Atomic Bomb. This book covers the characters, the technological dilemmas and all of the politics involved in making the atomic bomb. Starting with the various scientists and their backgrounds Rhodes takes us through the major players and their contributions towards the bomb. The book at times does get a little heavy on the physics but it is worth the detail for putting into context how the scientists came together to develop the bomb. The beginnings of the military industrial academic complex are developed and its crystallization becomes clear through people like Bush and Compton. While daunting at times given the sheer volume of the book it is worth taking your time to understand one of the greatest stories in the 20th century. This is truly the best account and a must read for those who want to understand how the 20th century and beyond was shaped by the work of the Manhattan Project.
 The making of the atomic bomb October 13, 2008
I'm only half way through the book. However, it is making all the physicist that I read about in my science courses come alive. It is a great read.
greatest book I've ever read - got me to study physics September 26, 2008
This book is exciting to read and technically detailed. It gives a history not only of those involved in the production of the actual bomb, but of the physics and discovery of the atom and its components. No text book from walker or lectures from feynman can compare in how engaging this book makes the science and history. Since I have nothing but approbation for this book, my only complaint is slightly manufactured so as to make this more of a review. I wish that the book went into more details towards the end including maps and diagrams of the enrichment facilities. He may include that with other book and certainly this was long already, but that lack of details towards the end made the reading and experience slighly rushed.
Great book if you like history and physics August 20, 2008
Great book if you are interested in the subject of science and nuclear physics. The book does a good job of explaining a lot of technical jargon in layman terms and tells a compelling story of the scientists involved. I read this book back in school and fell in love with the side stories and the footnotes in the making of the bomb. The later parts of the book are a bit of a drag and it is easy to get bored. A couple of friends who i recommended this book to did not like it as they felt it was too heavy and they were not really interested in science as much :).
Outstanding Book August 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Myself not being a scientist there were parts of this book that were hard to understand theoretically speaking, but the historical story the book brings forth is hard not to understand. Between the people making blind discoveries to educated guesses to scientific brilliance it's all here. Leading up to the climatic climax. This book is long and could be hard to read at times but the important historical facts leave nothing to wonder. A fantastic account of the making of the atomic bomb from around the world to then center on two cities in Japan was a page turner through and through. A giant collection a names, dates and ego's that ethics aside did stop a war cold in it's tracts. A weapon with hopefully will never see the light of day again.
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