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1.64k reviews for:
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
4.33 AVERAGE
1.64k reviews for:
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
4.33 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Does get a bit slow in the middle (after the bomb and before the inquiry hearing) but overall a very thoughtful and well laid out book
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Gripping read. Masterfully written and incredibly informative and detailed - there is so much side context on Oppenheimer's acquaintances and the war and particularly the red scare of the 50s, which was very nice and contextualised Oppenheimer so well. It really makes you ponder too about humanity, power, the past, and the future.
Maybe four and a half as this meanders a bit in ways that don’t fully service the narrative, but I’d say 95% of everything here paints the full portrait.
An exhaustingly thorough recounting of Oppenheimer’s life, I certainly came away learning much. The convenient formatting and engaging writing make for an easier read than one would expect given the subject matter.
informative
slow-paced
Intriguing look at a man who built one of the most influential devices in history. It's sad to read how he was treated after he got us the weapon to end a World War. Nevertheless, this was something I was looking forward to reading and was not dissappointed.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Title: | American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer
Series: |
Order: |
Author/Editor: | Kai Bird, Martin J Sherwin
Note (Accolades): |
Genre/Subject: | History, WW2, Biography
Pages: | 1023
Owned/Platform: | PDF
Excitement: | 7
Rating: | 11
How did I hear about it: | In conversations about the movie "Oppenheimer" Directed by Christopher Nolan
Finished: | Yes
Read over the course of: | 6 or so months
Date Finished: | Tue, Jan 28, 2025
Reason Finished: | as narcisistic as it is for me to say, my experience the past few years with my family and my faith, and personal interests in developing my intillect... I have to say I relate to Oppenheimer a lot. I am not accomplished in anything like Robert is, but his human condition is something I live and know very well.
Reason Dropped: |
Expectations: | Exceeded
Pacing Feel: | Too Long
Style: | Narrative & Wordchoice
Worth My Time: | YES
Anything else: | "I think a lot of people have given up trying to comprehend things, and when they give up with the physical world, they give up with the social and political world as well. If we give up trying to understand things, I think we’ll all be sunk." - Frank Oppenheimer, Ch 41 Epilogue. Pg 804" Oppenheimer was guilty of excessive friendship" Ch. 37, Pg. 738. After reading this, I think this is one of the first books I have come across that I would say is a modern classic of the yet unformed literature canon of this current time period I live in, and would be on my own "MUST READ" list if I had one. The mammoth amount of work that went into this book is unfathomable. The last 200 pages of this book is the footnotes and bibliography, just to show how extensive the research on this book was. The amazing depth of emotions that has been pulled from Oppenheimer's life is a real treat. This book was the main source of inspiration behind the movie Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. It is written as a loosely chronological anthology of J Robert Oppenheimers life, giving us a vertical slice into many different aspects, conversations, and situations in Oppenheimer's life. The chapters are organized a little different than what I am used to where the chapters are not about one specific subject, but usually two distinctly different but related subjects so reading a chapter feels like two chapters. This is my first well produced biography I have read, and is also enlightening as snapshot of US History. In reading this I am now aware of how little I know about quite a few topics in modern US History, namely ... The Red Scare and McCarthism, WWII in general, The Soviet Union, The Spanish Civil War, The New Deal, The CIA, FBI and J Edgar Hoover, The Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Roosevelt, President Truman, and President Eisenhower... just to name a few topics I now know I need to inform myself about. A brief summary of this book is an overview of Oppenheimer's unique secular jewish liberal arts childhood education in New York City, which developed his many interests, leading him to become a polymath of sorts, specifically in psychology, progressive politics, history, philosophy, and literature, with his formal college education being in the "new" physics. The book then follows his life personally, politically, and career wise. How he came into the position to be the director of the manhattan project, and then his work to develop responsible policies surrounding nuclear energy. His efforts to develop policies of working towards a more peaceful future led to him making many political enemies, who launched an unjust campaign against Oppenheimer to remove his influence from the government and academic community. This book paints a damning picture of the United States. I don't know enough about WWII in order to treat this book as an understanding of the entire war, but my god, if some of the things discussed about this book are able to be verified in other sources... It would make the United States the primary aggressor of post WWII history. The biggest claim this book makes is that Japan was actively seeking out a peaceful end to the war more than a month in advance to the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The common history that I am aware of being taught in history classes and college ethics courses is that Japan had a "no surrender" policy, and that America would have eventually won the war through brute force and attrition, but at the cost of annihilating millions of lives in both the Japanese military, and American military...So dropping the bombs on their homeland would be a plausible argument to demonstrate that Japan has no way of winning the war...but that is not the picture that this book paints. It claims that Japan was attempting to organize a peaceful meeting between the US and Japan, through the Soviet Union as a mediator, more than a month in advance of the dropping of the bombs. And the reasoning behind dropping the bombs was not to end the war with Japan, but to demonstrate to the Soviet Union to not politically challenge the United States. The US government almost unilaterally stripped all the scientists abilities to shape the political policies surrouding the use of Atomic Energy, and Harry S Truman was incredibly eager to use atomic bombs...not as a weapon of war, but a tool for diplomacy. If this depiction of these events is true and accurate, then I don't think the US Government can be trusted to use its military assets for good. Yes, history is written by the victors, and WWII was definitely a war of ideologies, and the idealogy of the west (Neoliberal Imperialism) is still preferable to the Nazi idealogy (Nationalist Fascism), but we must remember that even though western ideology is preferable, it still does not make it good when you examine the horrifying outcomes that western policy and military action has displayed on record. This book has made me realize that almost every single figure I can think of in history that has forced us to reconsider some major view of human existence always becomes disgraced, the image of evil, their names are a curse, they are erased from history, or become a martyr. From Socrates with philosophy, Galileo and Copernicus with Heliocentrism, Martin Luther with Individualism, Martin Luther King Jr with race equality. Marcion with the biblical canon, Darwin with Evolution, & Marx with Communism... these are just the names that come to mind. I know there are more. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MOVIE AND BOOK: The movie is divided into two parts, Fission and Fusion, and simply leaves out a lot, as can be expected from any book to film adaption but does a great job cutting to the essence of Oppenheimer life and work. While you would think that reading this book would feel like a directors cut, it is not that way. The book is more like a TV show. It is divided into 5 parts, with each part being like a "season" on a TV show, with each chapter being an "episode". I think a TV show would make for a more accurate adaption, but it would have never reached the mainstream appeal and critical mass without Christopher Nolan adapting this book into a movie. The Security and compartmentalization Oppenheimer was in support of in the movie, but in the book, Oppenheimer was not in support of compartmentalization. Hans Bethe is a frequent close friend and confidant, but I don't remember much of him during the movie. Kids staying with another person. In the movie, the Oppenheimers take their kids to the Chevaliers for some time when they feel like they cannot handle their kids. In the book they take the kids to one of Kitty's siblings. Oppenheimer's relationships and affairs. The movie showed extensively his relationship with Jean Tatlock, but did not go into his relationship with Ruth Tolman. Oppenheimer loved women, but it was not potrayed as a toxic womanizer, but more of the type of person that is very romantic and emotionally sensitive, making many women feel comfortable around him, and swoon for him. The Nature of the german bomb project. in the movie is displayed as if they are behind on the development of the bomb. in the book it is pretty unclear how far along the bomb project was.
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Review looks weird due to exporting format errors from a spreadsheet |
Series: |
Order: |
Author/Editor: | Kai Bird, Martin J Sherwin
Note (Accolades): |
Genre/Subject: | History, WW2, Biography
Pages: | 1023
Owned/Platform: | PDF
Excitement: | 7
Rating: | 11
How did I hear about it: | In conversations about the movie "Oppenheimer" Directed by Christopher Nolan
Finished: | Yes
Read over the course of: | 6 or so months
Date Finished: | Tue, Jan 28, 2025
Reason Finished: | as narcisistic as it is for me to say, my experience the past few years with my family and my faith, and personal interests in developing my intillect... I have to say I relate to Oppenheimer a lot. I am not accomplished in anything like Robert is, but his human condition is something I live and know very well.
Reason Dropped: |
Expectations: | Exceeded
Pacing Feel: | Too Long
Style: | Narrative & Wordchoice
Worth My Time: | YES
Anything else: | "I think a lot of people have given up trying to comprehend things, and when they give up with the physical world, they give up with the social and political world as well. If we give up trying to understand things, I think we’ll all be sunk." - Frank Oppenheimer, Ch 41 Epilogue. Pg 804" Oppenheimer was guilty of excessive friendship" Ch. 37, Pg. 738. After reading this, I think this is one of the first books I have come across that I would say is a modern classic of the yet unformed literature canon of this current time period I live in, and would be on my own "MUST READ" list if I had one. The mammoth amount of work that went into this book is unfathomable. The last 200 pages of this book is the footnotes and bibliography, just to show how extensive the research on this book was. The amazing depth of emotions that has been pulled from Oppenheimer's life is a real treat. This book was the main source of inspiration behind the movie Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. It is written as a loosely chronological anthology of J Robert Oppenheimers life, giving us a vertical slice into many different aspects, conversations, and situations in Oppenheimer's life. The chapters are organized a little different than what I am used to where the chapters are not about one specific subject, but usually two distinctly different but related subjects so reading a chapter feels like two chapters. This is my first well produced biography I have read, and is also enlightening as snapshot of US History. In reading this I am now aware of how little I know about quite a few topics in modern US History, namely ... The Red Scare and McCarthism, WWII in general, The Soviet Union, The Spanish Civil War, The New Deal, The CIA, FBI and J Edgar Hoover, The Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Roosevelt, President Truman, and President Eisenhower... just to name a few topics I now know I need to inform myself about. A brief summary of this book is an overview of Oppenheimer's unique secular jewish liberal arts childhood education in New York City, which developed his many interests, leading him to become a polymath of sorts, specifically in psychology, progressive politics, history, philosophy, and literature, with his formal college education being in the "new" physics. The book then follows his life personally, politically, and career wise. How he came into the position to be the director of the manhattan project, and then his work to develop responsible policies surrounding nuclear energy. His efforts to develop policies of working towards a more peaceful future led to him making many political enemies, who launched an unjust campaign against Oppenheimer to remove his influence from the government and academic community. This book paints a damning picture of the United States. I don't know enough about WWII in order to treat this book as an understanding of the entire war, but my god, if some of the things discussed about this book are able to be verified in other sources... It would make the United States the primary aggressor of post WWII history. The biggest claim this book makes is that Japan was actively seeking out a peaceful end to the war more than a month in advance to the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The common history that I am aware of being taught in history classes and college ethics courses is that Japan had a "no surrender" policy, and that America would have eventually won the war through brute force and attrition, but at the cost of annihilating millions of lives in both the Japanese military, and American military...So dropping the bombs on their homeland would be a plausible argument to demonstrate that Japan has no way of winning the war...but that is not the picture that this book paints. It claims that Japan was attempting to organize a peaceful meeting between the US and Japan, through the Soviet Union as a mediator, more than a month in advance of the dropping of the bombs. And the reasoning behind dropping the bombs was not to end the war with Japan, but to demonstrate to the Soviet Union to not politically challenge the United States. The US government almost unilaterally stripped all the scientists abilities to shape the political policies surrouding the use of Atomic Energy, and Harry S Truman was incredibly eager to use atomic bombs...not as a weapon of war, but a tool for diplomacy. If this depiction of these events is true and accurate, then I don't think the US Government can be trusted to use its military assets for good. Yes, history is written by the victors, and WWII was definitely a war of ideologies, and the idealogy of the west (Neoliberal Imperialism) is still preferable to the Nazi idealogy (Nationalist Fascism), but we must remember that even though western ideology is preferable, it still does not make it good when you examine the horrifying outcomes that western policy and military action has displayed on record. This book has made me realize that almost every single figure I can think of in history that has forced us to reconsider some major view of human existence always becomes disgraced, the image of evil, their names are a curse, they are erased from history, or become a martyr. From Socrates with philosophy, Galileo and Copernicus with Heliocentrism, Martin Luther with Individualism, Martin Luther King Jr with race equality. Marcion with the biblical canon, Darwin with Evolution, & Marx with Communism... these are just the names that come to mind. I know there are more. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MOVIE AND BOOK: The movie is divided into two parts, Fission and Fusion, and simply leaves out a lot, as can be expected from any book to film adaption but does a great job cutting to the essence of Oppenheimer life and work. While you would think that reading this book would feel like a directors cut, it is not that way. The book is more like a TV show. It is divided into 5 parts, with each part being like a "season" on a TV show, with each chapter being an "episode". I think a TV show would make for a more accurate adaption, but it would have never reached the mainstream appeal and critical mass without Christopher Nolan adapting this book into a movie. The Security and compartmentalization Oppenheimer was in support of in the movie, but in the book, Oppenheimer was not in support of compartmentalization. Hans Bethe is a frequent close friend and confidant, but I don't remember much of him during the movie. Kids staying with another person. In the movie, the Oppenheimers take their kids to the Chevaliers for some time when they feel like they cannot handle their kids. In the book they take the kids to one of Kitty's siblings. Oppenheimer's relationships and affairs. The movie showed extensively his relationship with Jean Tatlock, but did not go into his relationship with Ruth Tolman. Oppenheimer loved women, but it was not potrayed as a toxic womanizer, but more of the type of person that is very romantic and emotionally sensitive, making many women feel comfortable around him, and swoon for him. The Nature of the german bomb project. in the movie is displayed as if they are behind on the development of the bomb. in the book it is pretty unclear how far along the bomb project was.
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Review looks weird due to exporting format errors from a spreadsheet |