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A review by kate66
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
4.0
I am definitely not going to try and pull the wool over your eyes by telling you I have any idea about physics, atomic energy or the inner workings of the universe. I approached this book with the idea of getting to know more about Mr Oppenheimer and the Los Alamos group. (Which, I will freely admit, I know little and the names that were familiar are only that way because I watched The Big Bang Theory - so thankyou Sheldon and his cats).
Thankfully this book did supply me with lots of information that I did understand. There is a phenomenal amount about communism (who was in, who was out, who dipped a toe in etc) which I found slightly tedious but necessary. There is also a phenomenal amount about the various trials (which also encompasses communism) that Oppenheimer and his fellow physicists had to endure.
So, as far as I could tell Oppenheimer was ridiculously bright but struggled with originality and hard work. Thankfully he was a great organiser and inspirational to the point that he encouraged the Los Alamos crew shine in their respective fields. However he also appeared to be star struck, petty, jealous, rude, naive and suffered from a total lack of common sense.
Unfortunately when great minds are involved there is always jealousy. So I got to the end of the book wondering several things - if JRO hadn't been such an insufferable fool whether he would been targeted by other physicists after the bomb; if he hadn't dropped his colleagues in the soup whether they would have backed him during his trials; if he'd stopped smoking when he was told he had TB he might have lived.
They're minor points in the life of a remarkable man but I still wondered. Oppenheimer certainly seemed oblivious of cause and effect in his personal life if not his professional.
The truth is that this book left me feeling very depressed. I think that is purely due to the amount of time spent on the effects of the bomb. It certainly appeared that once it was tested the Americans couldn't wait a single second to see what it would to do people -- couldn't drop it on the Germans because they'd already surrendered so the Japanese got it in the neck even though they were a beaten people already. It seems that no one cared at all what devastation it had wrought on the human beings who died. The advancement of science (it appears) is the only thing that matters.
Yes, I was profoundly depressed and if it hadn't been the USA it would have been someone else.
So I'm glad to have finished. It gave me what I wanted but I'd rather not watch the movie.
Thankfully this book did supply me with lots of information that I did understand. There is a phenomenal amount about communism (who was in, who was out, who dipped a toe in etc) which I found slightly tedious but necessary. There is also a phenomenal amount about the various trials (which also encompasses communism) that Oppenheimer and his fellow physicists had to endure.
So, as far as I could tell Oppenheimer was ridiculously bright but struggled with originality and hard work. Thankfully he was a great organiser and inspirational to the point that he encouraged the Los Alamos crew shine in their respective fields. However he also appeared to be star struck, petty, jealous, rude, naive and suffered from a total lack of common sense.
Unfortunately when great minds are involved there is always jealousy. So I got to the end of the book wondering several things - if JRO hadn't been such an insufferable fool whether he would been targeted by other physicists after the bomb; if he hadn't dropped his colleagues in the soup whether they would have backed him during his trials; if he'd stopped smoking when he was told he had TB he might have lived.
They're minor points in the life of a remarkable man but I still wondered. Oppenheimer certainly seemed oblivious of cause and effect in his personal life if not his professional.
The truth is that this book left me feeling very depressed. I think that is purely due to the amount of time spent on the effects of the bomb. It certainly appeared that once it was tested the Americans couldn't wait a single second to see what it would to do people -- couldn't drop it on the Germans because they'd already surrendered so the Japanese got it in the neck even though they were a beaten people already. It seems that no one cared at all what devastation it had wrought on the human beings who died. The advancement of science (it appears) is the only thing that matters.
Yes, I was profoundly depressed and if it hadn't been the USA it would have been someone else.
So I'm glad to have finished. It gave me what I wanted but I'd rather not watch the movie.