The nuclear arms development bible
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This is book is sincerley the most engaging and well-written non-fiction title I have ever read. Exceptionally well-researched, this book takes you from the beginnings of atomic theory right through every important discovery, culminating in the development of thermonuclear weapons. The book goes into much detail, but I never found it too 'heavy' at any time. Simply a marvel of literature, Richard Rhodes has really done well here.
This book IS suitable for readers who are not experts in physics, it breaks things down to make them suitably digestable.
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A Blast
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In 800 brain- and finger-crushing pages Richard Rhodes outlines everything you might ever want to know about the Bomb and some things you won't. You'll start by wondering what HG Wells has to do with Leo Szilard and finish numbed by the description of the suffering of the people of Hiroshima. Along the way there are sometimes tedious side-avenues to be navigated: long sections on those earlier weapons of mass destruction; poison gas attacks in WWI and the firebombing of Hamburg, Dresden and Japan. While these will fill you with horror, they are not really pertinent to the bomb, except to show that Man's ingenuity made WMD long before he understood nuclear physics. Also tedious are the long descriptions of the endless committees governing the Manhattan Project and subsequent use of the Bomb - political history done better elsewhere. The science is sometimes not well explained, but on occasion the work is vividly presented - the successful building and testing of a nuclear pile in Chicago and the terrifying Dragon's Tail experiment are superbly described. All told, probably the best single volume history of the bomb currently available.
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A Magnificent Work!
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This stunning piece of writing is a must for anyone with even passing interest in science and technology. It pulls together - so vividly and excitingly - the history of the science, the people, the politics, the war, and ultimately the aftermath of a weapon that barely 50 years previously no-one would have dreamt possible. This is the best book of its type that you will find.
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Dazzling Light
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Hard to add to the best reviews of this astonishing book. I'd normally struggle with an 800 page tome, but this had me riveted from beginning to end. Somehow, Richard Rhodes interweaves science, politics and the good old human ego in this tale of discovery, dedication, achievement and madness. The sheer scale of the author's research is admirable enough, but the scale of that which he describes is vast. This is, in essence, how hard-won discoveries, often by brilliant individuals, gradually reveal the process of fission chain reaction, and how this knowledge is inevitably usurped by the military in a desperate, superhuman mobilisation of resources to create the first atomic bomb. The book is more than the sum of its parts, which are grand enough. It touches on the human condition and how powerful we can be both as individuals and as dynamic, dedicated groups working towards a common goal. The goal here, terribly, is one of destruction, but the raw power of the bomb is mirrored in the controlled power of the writing and the hope that the author and contributors hold out for the wiser use of their terrifying 'gadget'. Read it and be awed.
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A Brilliant Giant of a Book
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There aren't many books that can claim to tell a story as important as the story related here, in Richard Rhodes' astounding history of an astounding sequence of scientific discoveries. His book, as attested to by the praise, lives up to the epic reality. The first two thirds are the most interesting - the tale of the science, still new and very mysterious, becoming clearer gradually, often in tiny increments; and the tale of the scientists, who were moving civilisation towards something both magnificence and terrible. The final third is riveting, but can't match the thrilling story of the maturing of atomic theory and experiment. Rhodes pulls everything into the book - conversations and recollections on the streets of London; commando missions to destroy heavy-water plants in Norway; descriptions of hikes up hills during which scientists discussed the next set of scientific possibilities; and intimate character portraits of not only the key players, but of anyone who in some way impacted upon the development of the bomb. Some may find the style so exhaustive as to be exhausting; but if you are patient, Rhodes will effortlessly show you whole worlds you would never otherwise have seen. I can't recommend it highly enough.
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