Dark Sun

The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb

De: Richard Rhodes

Narrado por: Jacques Roy

Here, for the first time, in a brilliant, panoramic portrait by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, is the definitive, often shocking story of the politics and the science behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and the birth of the Cold War.

Based on secret files in the United States and the former Soviet Union, this monumental work of history discloses how and why the United States decided to create the bomb that would dominate world politics for more than forty years.

©2012 Richard Rhodes (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

The real back story of the Cold War

The story occasionally gets bogged down on too many details and characters but overall a good historical account from the end of WW2 through the precarious Cold War years for the US & USSR

Highly Recommend

Rhodes intertwines the history of the Cold War, the politics of the time, espionage, morality and the science of the hydrogen bomb into a well told and fast paced story. As others have commented, it seems to focus more on the espionage of the Soviet Union in stealing the secrets of the atomic bomb than the actual science of the hydrogen bomb. I personally felt it added to the story and the backdrop of the hydrogen bomb, but if that isn’t what you are interested in, it may be off-putting. Overall I didn’t like this quite as much as his first book, but that is a high bar to surpass and I would still highly recommend this as a follow up.

Blockbuster Book

I loved The Making of the Atomic Bomb, but wow this book is amazing. Really important document of a crazy period of history. The science in it is great, as a matter of fact, would have been happy to get some more.

Better than Folly of the Bombs but not as good as TMotAB

Good overall, but still there are parts that are drawn out and I found myself missing huge parts of it. Very much a spy book and deals with the getting of the information by the Soviets on The Bomb and development of the H Bomb. Where TMotAB goes into more interesting development of personalities of those involved and had a build of momentum towards the end, this kinda stagnantes. it's worth the listen, but Rhodes other books are much better. Folly of the Bombs is very similar, certainly worth the listen but could had been made a bit more stream lined.

The major issue I have with this is the narrator and the mixing of the sound. the narrator is soft spoken and monotonal. The mixing of the sound does him zero good and if you turn up the volume the bass muffles his words. I had to turn off my bass and turn up my treble all the way to get a clear narration that didn't sound like Charlie Browns teacher.

Excellent retelling of a side of history I didn’t know much about

Great narration, captivating story. As others have said, less focused on the physics and more on the politics and espionage of the era, but an amazing book nonetheless.

Good but more of a bummer than its predecessor

Listened to this right after The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Rhodes is the same caliber of author in this work, but the story is more depressing: espionage by broken men, bleak Soviet PoW camps, nuclear holocaust. Definitely an interesting summary of the decade after WW2 and how the arms race came to be.

the mix on the audiobook is extremely bass-heavy and was a bit distracting.

Fascinating, enlightening, dramatic

Beautifully written, rigorously researched. Well-narrated. History that fells like a thriller. Part of a great series on nuclear weapons.

TEDIOUS - slow, dry, monotone delivery

I’ve listened to Rhodes before, so knew to expect outstanding research and detailed writing. But this book contains much I didn’t expect.

Looking for an explication of the science and engineering that went into making the first fusion bomb, I was a bit surprised to find the first section of the book — ten chapters — completely and solely dedicated to Soviet spying efforts. Fuchs, the Rosenbergs, Greenglass, Gold, and more. All the criminals and their extensive covert activities are laid out in close detail. Their stories continue throughout the entirety of the book.

You have to wait a long time to learn anything about how the bomb was actually built and tested, but this story eventually emerges. You’ll get all the details in true Rhodes fashion.

The book ends with the crucifixion of Oppenheimer, an appropriate ending to the story.

But the reading is as slow and dry as humanly possible. I’d never have gotten through it if I hadn’t run it at 1.2 speed or higher. The reader’s soft monotone never expresses the least emotion or varies significantly in pitch or speed, making listening an exercise in paying attention and staring awake. Good luck.

OK if you like politics, not good for the science

Had mostly politics and background and a lot about the Soviet spy ring during Manhattan. Not very much on the actual building of the hydrogen bombs. If you like spy stuff and political background, you will like this. If you want technical and scientific background, you should look elsewhere.

Basically a pale shadow of his original "The Making of the Atomic Bomb"