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radbear76's review
4.0
More of a history of the early cold war that uses the hydrogen bomb as a focal point. The telling of the development of the atomic bomb from the perspective of Soviet espionage was a great way to review the information without rehashing his book about that topic. Definitely worth reading.
ben_sch's review
5.0
- I've never read a passage so erotic that subtly turns in gross horror. (The incredible depth and detail of the ignition of the Mike thermonuclear device and all of the physics involved in it's operation as it expands outwards and turns into a wave of destruction.)
- WTF moment 1: Curtis LeMay casually flying spy planes over Russia with possible hopes that he could start WWIII. He'd spent years getting the U.S. bombing force into a potent force, and seemed extremely into not letting the force go to waste. He seems correct that in 1952 or 1954 if he wanted to wipe out Russia and their ability to retaliate, he could, and that if the choice was between mutually destruction later, or Russia destruction now, he was correct. But also, we're alive now so that choice wasn't necessary? He also had comments about how the u.s. military strength at the time was way more than the rest of the world and how the U.S. could have flexed it's military to gain power. It seems like military people really seem to think about death differently than most civilians and I'd like to understand that better. In General leMay's mind 80Million Russian deaths is fine, as it would increase the U.S. power relative to the rest of the world. The deaths don't really count as part of his calculus. In most people's mind, 80 million deaths and the destruction of Russian culture really outweigh U.S. becoming relatively more powerful.
WTF moment 2: A bunch of people had some last minute wtf-are-we-doing-let's-stop-this thoughts before the first H-bomb test. They were thinking if there is anytime to negotiate a no-bomb-testing-treaty, now was the time to do it, before anyone exploded any H-bombs. The bomb testing was 2 days before the presidential election, and the people sent this guy down to the Marshall Islands to convince the bomb people to have some 'technical difficulties' and delay the explosion a few days just in case the next president had a different opinion than Truman. So the guy goes down there talks to a bunch of people and then they say whatever, you're call dude. But then the guy doesn't want Truman to be mad at him, or something, so he says go ahead and explode it as normal. Wtf dude, history is counting on you!
WTF moment 3: There really were thousands of Russian spies all over the U.S. in the 40s. I'm interested in whether the Red Scare was a bit more based in truth than I thought? Also though, something that came up several times in the book is if you are a weird / socially difficult person, than others will use politics to remove you from power, citing your opposing views, lack of management skills, past connections to political groups, etc. Some of the spies and many people with soviet sympathies had no idea what was actually going on in the country, but were more passing along information because they hoped it would be helpful to this idealistic movement.
The first computer program run on an electronic computer --- ENIAC --- was a monte carlo simulation of a thermonuclear explosion, as von Neuman was trying to figure out the feasibility of the weapon.
WTF moment 4: The United States bombing of North Korea had about 1.5-2 million casualties, about the same number as all of the Japanese casualties in WW2. They destroyed 10-100% of the largest 20 cities or so, looks like maybe 60% on average. Basically all urban areas were bombed. In general I feel like I have more empathy for those guys in Idaho that live in bunkers in the middle of nowhere.
psuedo WTF moment 5: An unarmed atom bomb exploded on the runway about 30 miles from San Francisco when it was taking off to go to Korea. (There was an accident and the plane crashed on takeoff) At first I thought this was a big deal, but then I realized that an unarmed A-bomb is mostly just a bunch of normal explosive without the plutonium core to arm it. It did throw normal U-238 around the runway, which just seems like a regular, normal level of military fuckup. Now I hope that planes don't crash when they fly armed bombs.
I don't think these are necessarily the moments that are going to stay with me, but I sort of have to process them before I can start thinking about what the arms race was doing and why it occurred, and the similarities between Los Alamos and other technology organizations.
Not as good of a book as the making of the atomic bomb, but I still learned a bunch and it gave me lots of feels on several topics so 5*.
- WTF moment 1: Curtis LeMay casually flying spy planes over Russia with possible hopes that he could start WWIII. He'd spent years getting the U.S. bombing force into a potent force, and seemed extremely into not letting the force go to waste. He seems correct that in 1952 or 1954 if he wanted to wipe out Russia and their ability to retaliate, he could, and that if the choice was between mutually destruction later, or Russia destruction now, he was correct. But also, we're alive now so that choice wasn't necessary? He also had comments about how the u.s. military strength at the time was way more than the rest of the world and how the U.S. could have flexed it's military to gain power. It seems like military people really seem to think about death differently than most civilians and I'd like to understand that better. In General leMay's mind 80Million Russian deaths is fine, as it would increase the U.S. power relative to the rest of the world. The deaths don't really count as part of his calculus. In most people's mind, 80 million deaths and the destruction of Russian culture really outweigh U.S. becoming relatively more powerful.
WTF moment 2: A bunch of people had some last minute wtf-are-we-doing-let's-stop-this thoughts before the first H-bomb test. They were thinking if there is anytime to negotiate a no-bomb-testing-treaty, now was the time to do it, before anyone exploded any H-bombs. The bomb testing was 2 days before the presidential election, and the people sent this guy down to the Marshall Islands to convince the bomb people to have some 'technical difficulties' and delay the explosion a few days just in case the next president had a different opinion than Truman. So the guy goes down there talks to a bunch of people and then they say whatever, you're call dude. But then the guy doesn't want Truman to be mad at him, or something, so he says go ahead and explode it as normal. Wtf dude, history is counting on you!
WTF moment 3: There really were thousands of Russian spies all over the U.S. in the 40s. I'm interested in whether the Red Scare was a bit more based in truth than I thought? Also though, something that came up several times in the book is if you are a weird / socially difficult person, than others will use politics to remove you from power, citing your opposing views, lack of management skills, past connections to political groups, etc. Some of the spies and many people with soviet sympathies had no idea what was actually going on in the country, but were more passing along information because they hoped it would be helpful to this idealistic movement.
The first computer program run on an electronic computer --- ENIAC --- was a monte carlo simulation of a thermonuclear explosion, as von Neuman was trying to figure out the feasibility of the weapon.
WTF moment 4: The United States bombing of North Korea had about 1.5-2 million casualties, about the same number as all of the Japanese casualties in WW2. They destroyed 10-100% of the largest 20 cities or so, looks like maybe 60% on average. Basically all urban areas were bombed. In general I feel like I have more empathy for those guys in Idaho that live in bunkers in the middle of nowhere.
psuedo WTF moment 5: An unarmed atom bomb exploded on the runway about 30 miles from San Francisco when it was taking off to go to Korea. (There was an accident and the plane crashed on takeoff) At first I thought this was a big deal, but then I realized that an unarmed A-bomb is mostly just a bunch of normal explosive without the plutonium core to arm it. It did throw normal U-238 around the runway, which just seems like a regular, normal level of military fuckup. Now I hope that planes don't crash when they fly armed bombs.
I don't think these are necessarily the moments that are going to stay with me, but I sort of have to process them before I can start thinking about what the arms race was doing and why it occurred, and the similarities between Los Alamos and other technology organizations.
Not as good of a book as the making of the atomic bomb, but I still learned a bunch and it gave me lots of feels on several topics so 5*.
gullevek's review against another edition
5.0
The New Testament to the Old Testament. And like the New Testament it is much shorter and easier to read as you get all the basic science out of the way.
An amazing delve into years post second World War and how the Russians came to their first nuclear bomb and the development of the thermonuclear bomb and critical events around this time.
Fascinating and amazing, really highly recommended.
An amazing delve into years post second World War and how the Russians came to their first nuclear bomb and the development of the thermonuclear bomb and critical events around this time.
Fascinating and amazing, really highly recommended.
gregbrown's review
4.0
Rhodes' book on the history of the atomic bomb was a masterpiece; this, on the buildup to the hydrogen bomb, is merely excellent.
The first book has the benefit of a strong through-line and a nice dramatic arc as splitting the atom went from imaginable to possible to inevitable. Reality was more messy for the topics covered here, with Rhodes having to backtrack somewhat to cover Soviet spying on the Manhattan Project that accelerated and enabled their own atomic bomb breakthrough. The American side was somewhat stalled after World War II, only kicked back into action by Soviet progress and the building Cold War tensions and even then plagued by dead ends.
Rhodes does a great job with what he's given, and the benefit of writing this one after the end of the Cold War when Soviet archives and testimony became more widely available. The scientific explanations are as clear and fascinating as ever, and the characters vividly rendered enough that I even grew to hate Strauss and Teller by the very end. And as usual, some of the anecdotes are breathtaking. Highly recommended after you've read Rhodes' first entry in the series, and I'm excited to read his two follow-ups: TWILIGHT OF THE BOMBS and ARSENALS OF FOLLY.
The first book has the benefit of a strong through-line and a nice dramatic arc as splitting the atom went from imaginable to possible to inevitable. Reality was more messy for the topics covered here, with Rhodes having to backtrack somewhat to cover Soviet spying on the Manhattan Project that accelerated and enabled their own atomic bomb breakthrough. The American side was somewhat stalled after World War II, only kicked back into action by Soviet progress and the building Cold War tensions and even then plagued by dead ends.
Rhodes does a great job with what he's given, and the benefit of writing this one after the end of the Cold War when Soviet archives and testimony became more widely available. The scientific explanations are as clear and fascinating as ever, and the characters vividly rendered enough that I even grew to hate Strauss and Teller by the very end. And as usual, some of the anecdotes are breathtaking. Highly recommended after you've read Rhodes' first entry in the series, and I'm excited to read his two follow-ups: TWILIGHT OF THE BOMBS and ARSENALS OF FOLLY.
kennesaw59's review
2.0
I was hoping this book would provide a detailed description of the science behind the development of the hydrogen (thermo nuclear) bomb. That is what Richard Rhodes did in his wonderful book about the making of the atomic bomb.
Instead the book spends about 700 pages describing who was spying on who and how the Soviet Union was stealing secrets.
The history of the spies is a fine subject, but it is just not what I thought I was getting when I started this book.
Instead the book spends about 700 pages describing who was spying on who and how the Soviet Union was stealing secrets.
The history of the spies is a fine subject, but it is just not what I thought I was getting when I started this book.
mburnamfink's review
3.0
The hydrogen bomb is the natural sequel to the atomic bomb, but Dark Sun is a shadow of its predecessor, and Rhodes can't find a single narrative thread in this trudge of a history.
The individual pieces are there, the transformation of the American atomic complex from a handful of scattered parts in the late 1940s to an instrument capable of killing a nation in 1955 is a fascinating story of bureaucratic transformation. The Teller-Ulam device is a masterpiece of precision engineering, directed towards evil ends. And there are personalities aplenty, from Teller to Oppenheimer to Curtis LeMay. The Russian atomic bomb effort was guided by plans stolen from Los Alamos by Klaus Fuchs, and the Rosenbergs paid with their lives for their minor part as couriers. Yet, I had no real sense of the people, or the uncertain time of the age. I love this stuff, and this book was a struggle to get through.
The individual pieces are there, the transformation of the American atomic complex from a handful of scattered parts in the late 1940s to an instrument capable of killing a nation in 1955 is a fascinating story of bureaucratic transformation. The Teller-Ulam device is a masterpiece of precision engineering, directed towards evil ends. And there are personalities aplenty, from Teller to Oppenheimer to Curtis LeMay. The Russian atomic bomb effort was guided by plans stolen from Los Alamos by Klaus Fuchs, and the Rosenbergs paid with their lives for their minor part as couriers. Yet, I had no real sense of the people, or the uncertain time of the age. I love this stuff, and this book was a struggle to get through.
worshipgeek's review
4.0
After recently reading Hiroshima Nagasaki, I found myself curious about how the hydrogen bomb was developed and tested. Amazon recommended that I read Dark Sun. I started the book in the background (theology and some other reading took priority) several months ago and have been chewing on it ever since. Spoiler, this book is not short! I read almost everything electronically, but if you were to pick up the paperback, it's 700+ pages long.
I've been chewing on it for a while. However, you'll notice that I am writing a review, so the book never ended up in my "abandoned" pile. My continuing curiosity always caused me to pick it back up and read another chapter. The latter chapters do pick up (I kind of got the impression that Rhodes was running out of space). The earlier chapters are really devoted to understanding the science and people essential to the atomic program in the US and USSR.
Rhodes writing style is all over the place. He seems to be unable to resist following a tangent or packing in every bit of his research. The hydrogen bomb isn't really discussed until the final third of the book. Rhodes also clearly has a fascination with the espionage, spending significant time discussing the various Soviet espionage efforts, the FBI investigation of those efforts, and the trials resulting from those investigations. He honestly could have written a completely separate book, as I failed to see how much of this espionage narrative supported the main subject of the book, the design of the hydrogen bomb.
Also, a large part of this book is trying to understand the deterrence and arms race between the US and the USSR. He brings this all to bear in the Epilogue, showing the futility of the nuclear arms race, which cost the US 4 trillion dollars, and was a large factor in the financial breakdown of the USSR. I found this quote from Solly Zuckerman to be particularly relevant to today's news cycle:
"In light of the certain prospect of retaliation, there has been literally no chance at all that any sane political authority, in either the United States or the Soviet Union, would consciously choose to start a nuclear war. This proposition is true for the past, the present and the foreseeable future.... In the real world of real political leaders . . . a decision that would bring even one hydrogen bomb on one city of one's own country would be recognized in advance as a catastrophic blunder; ten bombs on ten cities would be a disaster beyond history, and a hundred bombs on a hundred cities are unthinkable."
I don't know about you, but the words, "sane political authority" send shivers up my spine. I'm not sure with North Korea, we're dealing with a "sane" leader. He does build a convincing case though, particularly following the Cuban missile crisis, that the arms race and nuclear build-up was not only counter-productive but really in many ways defied any logic.
Looking at the book as a whole, I would recommend it, particularly for someone who is a history buff. I suggest that perhaps you pretend the title of the book is something like, Dark Sun: A History of the Nuclear Arms Race of the 20th Century. If you pretend thusly, the book would be quite excellent and on target!
I've been chewing on it for a while. However, you'll notice that I am writing a review, so the book never ended up in my "abandoned" pile. My continuing curiosity always caused me to pick it back up and read another chapter. The latter chapters do pick up (I kind of got the impression that Rhodes was running out of space). The earlier chapters are really devoted to understanding the science and people essential to the atomic program in the US and USSR.
Rhodes writing style is all over the place. He seems to be unable to resist following a tangent or packing in every bit of his research. The hydrogen bomb isn't really discussed until the final third of the book. Rhodes also clearly has a fascination with the espionage, spending significant time discussing the various Soviet espionage efforts, the FBI investigation of those efforts, and the trials resulting from those investigations. He honestly could have written a completely separate book, as I failed to see how much of this espionage narrative supported the main subject of the book, the design of the hydrogen bomb.
Also, a large part of this book is trying to understand the deterrence and arms race between the US and the USSR. He brings this all to bear in the Epilogue, showing the futility of the nuclear arms race, which cost the US 4 trillion dollars, and was a large factor in the financial breakdown of the USSR. I found this quote from Solly Zuckerman to be particularly relevant to today's news cycle:
"In light of the certain prospect of retaliation, there has been literally no chance at all that any sane political authority, in either the United States or the Soviet Union, would consciously choose to start a nuclear war. This proposition is true for the past, the present and the foreseeable future.... In the real world of real political leaders . . . a decision that would bring even one hydrogen bomb on one city of one's own country would be recognized in advance as a catastrophic blunder; ten bombs on ten cities would be a disaster beyond history, and a hundred bombs on a hundred cities are unthinkable."
I don't know about you, but the words, "sane political authority" send shivers up my spine. I'm not sure with North Korea, we're dealing with a "sane" leader. He does build a convincing case though, particularly following the Cuban missile crisis, that the arms race and nuclear build-up was not only counter-productive but really in many ways defied any logic.
Looking at the book as a whole, I would recommend it, particularly for someone who is a history buff. I suggest that perhaps you pretend the title of the book is something like, Dark Sun: A History of the Nuclear Arms Race of the 20th Century. If you pretend thusly, the book would be quite excellent and on target!