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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
This is an incredible work of journalism and research and in itself fascinating. Oppenheimer's persona is as magnificent and fascinating as the text.
informative
slow-paced
This book is exceptionally well researched and an extremely dense read. However I feel it leaned way too heavily into the "was he/wasn't he" of being a Communist - with a large portion of the book foreshadowing how certain interactions would pan out for his future security hearing - at the expense of learning more about his personal life, especially later in his life.
I wish that it focused more on the scientific aspects of his life and his work, especially when it came to Los Alamos and making the bomb. The book doesn't give you a very good picture of WHY he is known as the father of the atomic bomb, just that he apparently did a lot of administrative work with a bunch of different scientists who seemed to be equally responsible for the outcome.
This book also manages to get quotes from everybody and anybody who may have been even tangentially associated with Oppenheimer, to the point that the book starts repeating the same things multiple times from every single person's perspective. This book is very liberal with name dropping politicians and scientists which many times left me thinking "who even are these people?". On multiple occasions I would find myself wanting to get on to something more interesting, and then it would come and then be gone in an instant.
Overall, I feel like this book could've been half as long and still given me more than enough information about Oppenheimer's life.
I wish that it focused more on the scientific aspects of his life and his work, especially when it came to Los Alamos and making the bomb. The book doesn't give you a very good picture of WHY he is known as the father of the atomic bomb, just that he apparently did a lot of administrative work with a bunch of different scientists who seemed to be equally responsible for the outcome.
This book also manages to get quotes from everybody and anybody who may have been even tangentially associated with Oppenheimer, to the point that the book starts repeating the same things multiple times from every single person's perspective. This book is very liberal with name dropping politicians and scientists which many times left me thinking "who even are these people?". On multiple occasions I would find myself wanting to get on to something more interesting, and then it would come and then be gone in an instant.
Overall, I feel like this book could've been half as long and still given me more than enough information about Oppenheimer's life.
A stunning achievement. Captures the man in all of his complexities and contradictions. Excellent on its own, but also a necessary companion to the recent movie which, if you haven't read the book, will be daunting with its incomprehensibly large cast of characters.
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
We had a movie this year. A Christopher Nolan movie. It was different than his other ones. No jaw dropping action scenes. No time travel tricks. Your mind stays sane through the movie. Doesnt feel like Nolan right? But it was. A movie that is one in a million. The story which was almost lost to the mankind was told by the best filmmaker on the planet. The story met its justice. The movie became a hit. People went inside expecting thrill but came outside with a deep sense of gloom and melancholy . What else would you feel when you go through that entire process. The process of making of the deadliest weapon known to mankind- the nuclear bomb. How could you beome so delighted after knowing what happened to the man who invented it and what he had to go through.
So, I decided to read the book that inspired the movie. I felt the book ‘American Prometheus’ compiled and written by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin would just be an other boring biography that makes key points about the life of the protagonist. This book turned out to be different. The first thing that caught my attention was that this book is unusually big for a biography. I had an e book , so I decided to read atleast 10 pages a day. Soon, my resolution went down the gutter as every page I read from this book took me inside a rabbithole of videos and article that woud take me a couple of days to come out of.
The books offers a bird eye view on the life of Julius Robbert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. He was popularly called Oppie. Such a soft name for a person who invented a bomb. right ? But , as you continue reading the book you realise that that Robert was more softer at heart than the name ‘oppie’. We start from his birth, his parents migration, their business and how Oppie started developing interest towards geology and science.
Oppenheimer was a bright kid from his early childhood. His intellect would surpass that of the scholars. The novel clearly outlines his emotional condition . Although Robert was a boy with high intellect, he was not quite happy or satisfied from his childhood. There was an undertone of nihilistic cynicism throughout his life. He was reserved and looked like he lacked emotions. He has several monsters in his head, even though he looked like a strong lion to the outside world.
The book goes into detail about his education, college days in the States, England and Germany. Several other stalwarts and their political ideologies are written in very detail without taking you into the abyss of boredom. Things would never have carried any controversy, but what big thing has happened without the involvement of dirty politics ?
Oppie gets stuck in a whirlwind of the atomic project and the politics that followed. The book carries us through oppie’s personal and work life. Their juxtaposition is written with simple explanations. His personal affairs, family and other events have been given the literary justice. You wouldn't miss the layer of sadness and gloom that always followed Oppenheimer and his acquaintances wherever they went. Overall, it's a sad story. However great the glory, the grief that you have to go through reading the book is not less.
The efforts the authors had to put to compile millions of minute details and bring them together to tell a story is just unparalleled. There has never been written a biography, as good as this book. I feel the movie has successfully provided the justice to the book. While reading, it feels as if you are walking with Oppenheimer along his journey through life. The end is heartbreaking. However, the efforts to triumph may be, if there is politics involved, someone has to pay the price. Oppenheimer had to pay the price here. The title feels perfect for the book. It sums up how, just like Prometheus, who wanted to do something good for humankind was tortured and killed. You could feel several such similarities with Oppenheimer’s life, too.
I read this book listening along to an audiobook. That enhanced the experience multiple folds. This biography is a perfect 5/5 work. I highly recommend you read this. Because the history , true history, must never be forgotten.
So, I decided to read the book that inspired the movie. I felt the book ‘American Prometheus’ compiled and written by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin would just be an other boring biography that makes key points about the life of the protagonist. This book turned out to be different. The first thing that caught my attention was that this book is unusually big for a biography. I had an e book , so I decided to read atleast 10 pages a day. Soon, my resolution went down the gutter as every page I read from this book took me inside a rabbithole of videos and article that woud take me a couple of days to come out of.
The books offers a bird eye view on the life of Julius Robbert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. He was popularly called Oppie. Such a soft name for a person who invented a bomb. right ? But , as you continue reading the book you realise that that Robert was more softer at heart than the name ‘oppie’. We start from his birth, his parents migration, their business and how Oppie started developing interest towards geology and science.
Oppenheimer was a bright kid from his early childhood. His intellect would surpass that of the scholars. The novel clearly outlines his emotional condition . Although Robert was a boy with high intellect, he was not quite happy or satisfied from his childhood. There was an undertone of nihilistic cynicism throughout his life. He was reserved and looked like he lacked emotions. He has several monsters in his head, even though he looked like a strong lion to the outside world.
The book goes into detail about his education, college days in the States, England and Germany. Several other stalwarts and their political ideologies are written in very detail without taking you into the abyss of boredom. Things would never have carried any controversy, but what big thing has happened without the involvement of dirty politics ?
Oppie gets stuck in a whirlwind of the atomic project and the politics that followed. The book carries us through oppie’s personal and work life. Their juxtaposition is written with simple explanations. His personal affairs, family and other events have been given the literary justice. You wouldn't miss the layer of sadness and gloom that always followed Oppenheimer and his acquaintances wherever they went. Overall, it's a sad story. However great the glory, the grief that you have to go through reading the book is not less.
The efforts the authors had to put to compile millions of minute details and bring them together to tell a story is just unparalleled. There has never been written a biography, as good as this book. I feel the movie has successfully provided the justice to the book. While reading, it feels as if you are walking with Oppenheimer along his journey through life. The end is heartbreaking. However, the efforts to triumph may be, if there is politics involved, someone has to pay the price. Oppenheimer had to pay the price here. The title feels perfect for the book. It sums up how, just like Prometheus, who wanted to do something good for humankind was tortured and killed. You could feel several such similarities with Oppenheimer’s life, too.
I read this book listening along to an audiobook. That enhanced the experience multiple folds. This biography is a perfect 5/5 work. I highly recommend you read this. Because the history , true history, must never be forgotten.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
American Prometheus is the first full-scale biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to build a atomic bomb at the time of war for his country. Immediately after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he became the most famous scientist of his generation the embodiment of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress in the field of nuclear advancement.
He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and criticized the Air Force's plans to fight an infinitely dangerous nuclear war before the case on him forcibly imposed whose decision was already taken and he just became the scapegoat in whole situation . In the now almost-forgotten hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful massive nuclear energy, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss, Superbomb advocate Edward Teller and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover worked behind the scenes to have a hearing board find that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America's nuclear secrets.
This is Extensively researched, based on thousands of records and letters gathered from archives in America and abroad, on massive FBI files and on close to a hundred interviews with Oppenheimer's friends, relatives and colleagues. Author gave us maximum insight of his life and his relationship and his patriotism towards his country, how he managed to fight his case against Lewis strauss
He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and criticized the Air Force's plans to fight an infinitely dangerous nuclear war before the case on him forcibly imposed whose decision was already taken and he just became the scapegoat in whole situation . In the now almost-forgotten hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful massive nuclear energy, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss, Superbomb advocate Edward Teller and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover worked behind the scenes to have a hearing board find that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America's nuclear secrets.
This is Extensively researched, based on thousands of records and letters gathered from archives in America and abroad, on massive FBI files and on close to a hundred interviews with Oppenheimer's friends, relatives and colleagues. Author gave us maximum insight of his life and his relationship and his patriotism towards his country, how he managed to fight his case against Lewis strauss