Reviews - American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

1.65k reviews for:

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird

4.33 AVERAGE

liamroush's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

egriz's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

imantura's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring fast-paced

I began to reading this on tape during a vacation after watching it in theaters. It was incredibly informative, entertaining, and highly engaging.

By far one of the bests books I’ve read in years, (and I say this despite, rarely reading non-fiction), I had only one small qualm *wink, inside joke* about this book. It does portray Oppenheimer in a very neutral light, but at times the integrity of the book’s objectivity and openness seemed to be in direct contrast in which one or perhaps both authors wanted the book to go. I think the author wanted Oppenheimer‘s affiliation with the communist part to remain a mystery, but this is defeated in a later chapter where, during the trial, Oppenheimer states frankly that he was not a formal member but affiliated heavily because of his political alignment with party values at the time. This and the fact that sometimes I felt the book seemed, at times, to try and influence the readers thoughts towards a situation were the only minor isssues I had.

The prose was fantastic, the amount of research that must have gone into this astounding, and the evidence presented seamlessly. Although it is non-fiction it reads so incredibly smoothly, I am beyond impressed.