The Making of the Atomic Bomb

25th Anniversary Edition

By: Richard Rhodes

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 37 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

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 25 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.

©1995 Richard Rhodes (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Science, history and war making.

This story has it all no stone left Unturned I read the original hard copy after hearing Rhodes interviewed in 1986 on local radio. So getting the chance now to have the book listened to is a real treat. What a shame at the same time that its sequel Dark Sun is only available in Abridged form when its story is equally compelling not because of the science (which is covered so thoroughly in this book) but because the first half covers the espionage undertaken by the Soviets to have their form of The Gadget, which of course was Fatman. I've seen other reviewers express the same sentiment of Dark Sun, hopefully someone reads these reviews and is considering an unabridged release of that equally compelling tome.

Note to listeners: upon completing the audible I find that the epilogue, about 30 pages of the post-war attempt at Arms Control is also missing relative to the print edition of 1986 Perhaps this was a method because much of this material is covered in Dark Sun.

Informative, but wandering

This is a great story;it starts by introducing the main players in the theory of nuclear physics at the turn of the century. Give a background of the research that was done and how one experiment lead to another and it cascaded into the bombs. However, was a bit wandering at times, I remember a long description on the use of poison gas in the Great War, which felt out of place to me. Also the chapters are very long and full of dense information, I have a minor in physics and I had to go back and re listen a number of times, so I probably wouldn't recommend this to someone with no background in physics. All in all though a grad read.

Thorough and enjoyable story, mediocre narrator

The writing is accessible to the lay person and the historical characters' quirks add color. I'm glad I listened to this long description of a crucial period in physics, it sheds some light on this often impenetrable branch of science.
The narrator, on the other hand, makes an alarming number of blunders in his pronunciation of foreign names, titles and Greek letters. It does not detract from the subject itself, but it is annoying.

Maybe more info than you want

But this book was perfect for me. Suffice it to say that los alamos is just a part of the story. The story of this book starts before atomic structure was known and ends with the dropping of the bomb. Yea >30 hours ... but this is my car commute book so length makes it a great value.

I'm following this with "First into Nagasaki" which is proving to be a good follow on book.

A must listen / read

I will insist to my children that they digest the horror of this event - brilliantly articulated here - to help humanity prevent a recurrence forever after - even if the odds are only a fraction of 1 percent.

Paradigm shift

Everyone alive today should have to read this or at least understand the implications of using our US weapons systems. It's astounding how numb we as a people can become in just a few generations. Highly recommended.

Great combination of fission physics and history!

What did you like best about this story?

Spellbinding historical account with a deep-enough review of the underlying atomic physics to make it interesting for those who love to un-peel the science.

Remarkable historical achievement

Outstanding in breadth, clarity and the depiction of character. It is absorbing and reads at times like a thriller.

Mind Blowing

This book is thought provoking on so many levels. A marvel of human ingenuity. A stark and cold reality of tough decisions. An eye opening revelation into what such a weapon really does and what it really means to this world that is living with this capability that is a MAD.

Recommended

This is an excellent book that describes the tense relationship of science and war. Highly recommended!