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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
Fascinating book that paints a rather complicated and somewhat baffling picture of a man. It makes the movie Oppenheimer seem that much worse, to be honest. His whole life flattened down without anything that made him actually interesting.
While the atomic bomb is the centerpiece here, for obvious reasons, what surrounds that period of his life is the real interesting part. What kind of man became the father of the atom bomb and then would go on to speak out against its use and proliferation.
Definitely worthwhile if you like knowing about the FBI, McCarthyism, and science history.
While the atomic bomb is the centerpiece here, for obvious reasons, what surrounds that period of his life is the real interesting part. What kind of man became the father of the atom bomb and then would go on to speak out against its use and proliferation.
Definitely worthwhile if you like knowing about the FBI, McCarthyism, and science history.
god where do i even begin...
i literally just finished this book and is it embarrassing to say i finished it with tears in my eyes? it took me three months to read this and it was one heck of a journey. this biography is such a comprehensive, complex, and deep reading into oppenheimer's life and the people and the world around him during and after his time. oppenheimer is a very complicated and brilliant man, sometimes relatable i couldn't help but chuckle, and when i got to the final chapter—god of course i knew how this was going to end—i almost didn't want to finish the book. i read this nearly every day for the last three months and absorbed every single information, it almost felt like i came to know, learn, and understand oppenheimer as if i had met him personally and not just someone i first heard of through christopher nolan's film (yes my education never bothered introducing us to who created the atomic bomb). i felt so deeply and too much as i read the final words of the last chapter. perhaps this is a testament to the great and tremendous work kai bird and martin sherwin have done for years.
i literally just finished this book and is it embarrassing to say i finished it with tears in my eyes? it took me three months to read this and it was one heck of a journey. this biography is such a comprehensive, complex, and deep reading into oppenheimer's life and the people and the world around him during and after his time. oppenheimer is a very complicated and brilliant man, sometimes relatable i couldn't help but chuckle, and when i got to the final chapter—god of course i knew how this was going to end—i almost didn't want to finish the book. i read this nearly every day for the last three months and absorbed every single information, it almost felt like i came to know, learn, and understand oppenheimer as if i had met him personally and not just someone i first heard of through christopher nolan's film (yes my education never bothered introducing us to who created the atomic bomb). i felt so deeply and too much as i read the final words of the last chapter. perhaps this is a testament to the great and tremendous work kai bird and martin sherwin have done for years.
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Een lange zit, maar wel erg goed. Pure heksenjacht, schandalig.
Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin's American Prometheus recounts the life of one of the most instrumental figures of the modern world. The legend of Robert Oppenheimer is brought to life with such thoroughness and colour that it is deservesing of the utmost praise
One of the most amazing things about the book is the sheer amount of information that it provides to the readers. It amazes the mind the amount of research and first hand interviews that had to be conducted in writing of this book. And then to bring it all together in a coherent way. And then above all to make it interesting for the readers.
For a single incident, the authors provide comments from multiple people, going back and forth and finally settling on a final narrative. and there are dozens of such incidents. The most prominent is the Le Chavelier affair which takes up a whole chapter of the book and is endlessly repeated striking its importance to the readers.
The other thing the writers do so well is to bring the whole environment to life. The events are so throughly described that that one feels being in the room with Oppie as he struggled through his security hearing, and as he rode horseback at Perro Caliente and later as he enjoyed his summers at St. Johns Island.
One of the most amazing things about the book is the sheer amount of information that it provides to the readers. It amazes the mind the amount of research and first hand interviews that had to be conducted in writing of this book. And then to bring it all together in a coherent way. And then above all to make it interesting for the readers.
For a single incident, the authors provide comments from multiple people, going back and forth and finally settling on a final narrative. and there are dozens of such incidents. The most prominent is the Le Chavelier affair which takes up a whole chapter of the book and is endlessly repeated striking its importance to the readers.
The other thing the writers do so well is to bring the whole environment to life. The events are so throughly described that that one feels being in the room with Oppie as he struggled through his security hearing, and as he rode horseback at Perro Caliente and later as he enjoyed his summers at St. Johns Island.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
A fascinating life, and also incredibly sad. He really loved his country, but the country didn't love him back. Very dense and informative, it was also interesting to see some connections between the Oppenheimers and where I grew up.
This book is exhaustive and dense. Definitely dry at times, but I listened to the audiobook, so it really helped keep me engaged.
This book is exhaustive and dense. Definitely dry at times, but I listened to the audiobook, so it really helped keep me engaged.
Hoo boy. This book was long. Very insightful, and it provides a broader history of the American left especially in California, too.
Bit of a tough one to review. Obviously this book was meticulously researched, and overall well-written. I learned a lot from it, and found the subject matter to be fascinating. I listened to it on audiobook, narrated by Jeff Cummings, and I have to say that the audiobook production was among the worst I've listened to. I won't be lowering my score for that, but it genuinely felt that they had the author go back and re-narrate parts of the book weeks later - sometimes within the same paragraph the voice would be jarringly different, including the pronunciations of people's names! Very bizarre.
Obviously with how Oppenheimer's downfall played out there would be a lot of talk in this book about his associations with Communists, and I can't fault that the book would take a look at things like that. But boy did the book repeatedly do audits of Oppenheimer's friends and acquaintances, and who was or wasn't a communist at that very moment. To me it felt like this interrupted the flow of the narrative quite a bit. Generally it all got brought back together and would be referred to later on in the book, but as the least interested element of his story to me it felt like too much.
I read this book after watching Oppenheimer, and have since rewatched the movie. It's quite clear that the movie is possibly more of an adaptation of this book than an independent biopic, and virtually all the people mentioned in this book show up in the movie, lots of them with direct quotes. It has made the movie more enjoyable to watch, but at this point feels almost like essential reading to properly enjoy the movie adaptation of this book.
Obviously with how Oppenheimer's downfall played out there would be a lot of talk in this book about his associations with Communists, and I can't fault that the book would take a look at things like that. But boy did the book repeatedly do audits of Oppenheimer's friends and acquaintances, and who was or wasn't a communist at that very moment. To me it felt like this interrupted the flow of the narrative quite a bit. Generally it all got brought back together and would be referred to later on in the book, but as the least interested element of his story to me it felt like too much.
I read this book after watching Oppenheimer, and have since rewatched the movie. It's quite clear that the movie is possibly more of an adaptation of this book than an independent biopic, and virtually all the people mentioned in this book show up in the movie, lots of them with direct quotes. It has made the movie more enjoyable to watch, but at this point feels almost like essential reading to properly enjoy the movie adaptation of this book.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced