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1.63k reviews for:
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
4.33 AVERAGE
1.63k reviews for:
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
4.33 AVERAGE
Oh man, this book was a doozy, but I was really determined to read it before the film adaptation this summer. If you’re interested in Oppenheimer’s story in the fullest detail possible, this is the book for you. If you’re looking for an easy read on the basics of his life, this probably isn’t for you. Be warned that there are LOTS of details, anecdotes, and side stories on seemingly every person he interacted with. I admittedly had to skim some sections I found less interesting, but the level of detail and fair telling of his life story was truly astounding.
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Read this for college paper and it's actually pretty engaging. Very comprehensive, but almost to a fault. Dude's story is way more wild than I thought and I can't wait to what Chris Nolan does with this guy's life.
I wanted to read this book before I saw the movie. From reading reviews of the movie, several of those same criticisms can be applied to this book. The book is a biography of J. Robert Oppenheiemer's entire life. Details about his Los Alamos/Manhattan Project days are noticeably absent compared to his early adult life and the post-Manhattan Project life. Oppenheiemer comes off as somewhat of an enigma - neither hero nor antihero - complex, complicated. Listened as an audiobook, and I would recommend.
challenging
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
I heard that Martin Sherwin almost gave up on this book after 25 years of research and wouldn't have anything in hand! However kai bird helped him to sail this ocean of fire and came up with a master class history narration' AMERICAN PROMETHEUS' A profoundly contemplated and well researched biographical account of the lib J ROBERT OPPENHEIMER ----A man who worshiped science and moral companionship---A man who master the ATOM---A man who martyred by his own acquittance--- a man who become destroyer of worlds.
It's hard to diagnose how this book made me feel. Often I was angry, resolutely irritated at the ABSOLUTE SMALLNESS of our government, our leaders, our accepted ideology, and our society.
It was and is still illegal to be a collaborative idealist. Oppenheimer was continuously and routinely embarrassed for his left-leaning ideology. So much so that he stamped it out of him, much as he did his Jewish identity.
Oppenheimer was at least twenty years ahead of the government on atomic policy, and its broader global implications.
Oppenheimer ushered in the atomic era and was poorly rewarded for it. He was illegally wire-tapped DOZENS of times and in many locations. Our FBI was (and is) a bunch of fast thinking (flat thinking) blood-hounds that couldn't balance an ounce of nuance between their shared braincell.
I'm disappointed in the behavior of our government. There are those who say this was a tragedy of the times, but I don't think so. I think the government still behaves this way. They're just better at it now. The FBI and CIA would absolutely prevent the nomination of a candidate who would attempt to address the military industrial complex (see the collapse of Democratic field overnight against Bernie Sanders during our last election for proof of this).
There is an in group (MIC), and they are stupid. They're the MBAs chasing a single stupid metric on a financial data sheet without understanding the broader impact of their decision. They've implemented the Bellman Fallacy across every single sector and square inch of society, and no one stops them. Can anyone stop them?
It's forced me to meditate on my anger and my feeling of powerlessness to navigate a world that's opted for Crumbl Cookies instead of local bakeries on every corner. A world that's traded newspapers beholden to a city or demographic for a global media of society pushers who only write op-eds based on news FED to them by the establishment. A world that dumped play houses (Vonnegut wrote about how there used to be hundreds in Iowa alone) for television screens. It's not anti-modern to question why every utility man has wrought has been force-fed into a monopoly machine that generated shittier and shittier outcomes.
I often think a group of fifty people could provide better for those fifty people than inserting that same group into this society, and I think that says something about the fundamental flaw of how we live.
I can't change it. I can't accept it. But I also can't be so goddam pissy about it. So I'm left with the old cliche of love. And I'm so weak at being a loving person. I've got no love for society, and it's impacted my ability to love the people around me. I can love my children. That's really all I've had in me for the last few years, but it's not enough.
I know I've moved away from Oppenheimer with this review, but I'm narcissistically putting myself in his shoes (I'm no atomic hurler, and don't feign that level of intelligence) and understanding that my ideals, which I hold to be true, are incompatible with this world.
And that's fine. For y'all. I'm just going to keep loving my babies.
It was and is still illegal to be a collaborative idealist. Oppenheimer was continuously and routinely embarrassed for his left-leaning ideology. So much so that he stamped it out of him, much as he did his Jewish identity.
Oppenheimer was at least twenty years ahead of the government on atomic policy, and its broader global implications.
Oppenheimer ushered in the atomic era and was poorly rewarded for it. He was illegally wire-tapped DOZENS of times and in many locations. Our FBI was (and is) a bunch of fast thinking (flat thinking) blood-hounds that couldn't balance an ounce of nuance between their shared braincell.
I'm disappointed in the behavior of our government. There are those who say this was a tragedy of the times, but I don't think so. I think the government still behaves this way. They're just better at it now. The FBI and CIA would absolutely prevent the nomination of a candidate who would attempt to address the military industrial complex (see the collapse of Democratic field overnight against Bernie Sanders during our last election for proof of this).
There is an in group (MIC), and they are stupid. They're the MBAs chasing a single stupid metric on a financial data sheet without understanding the broader impact of their decision. They've implemented the Bellman Fallacy across every single sector and square inch of society, and no one stops them. Can anyone stop them?
It's forced me to meditate on my anger and my feeling of powerlessness to navigate a world that's opted for Crumbl Cookies instead of local bakeries on every corner. A world that's traded newspapers beholden to a city or demographic for a global media of society pushers who only write op-eds based on news FED to them by the establishment. A world that dumped play houses (Vonnegut wrote about how there used to be hundreds in Iowa alone) for television screens. It's not anti-modern to question why every utility man has wrought has been force-fed into a monopoly machine that generated shittier and shittier outcomes.
I often think a group of fifty people could provide better for those fifty people than inserting that same group into this society, and I think that says something about the fundamental flaw of how we live.
I can't change it. I can't accept it. But I also can't be so goddam pissy about it. So I'm left with the old cliche of love. And I'm so weak at being a loving person. I've got no love for society, and it's impacted my ability to love the people around me. I can love my children. That's really all I've had in me for the last few years, but it's not enough.
I know I've moved away from Oppenheimer with this review, but I'm narcissistically putting myself in his shoes (I'm no atomic hurler, and don't feign that level of intelligence) and understanding that my ideals, which I hold to be true, are incompatible with this world.
And that's fine. For y'all. I'm just going to keep loving my babies.
A very comprehensive look at Dr. Oppenheimer's life that explores his complex personality and documents his rise and fall during the early Cold War years. His life serves as an example of the saying "The toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow." The way he was treated by the people he angered is a disturbing potrait of the measures people will use to supress dissent. The description of the McCarthy Era reminded me of some aspects of current events.
Book club book. And a beast of a book. I would never have read this on my own, and I think my lack of understanding in physics really kept me from enjoying it. However, there are some great moral dilemmas that are brought up that make it worth reading. Moral of the story: fear never wins.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced