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whitneyfi 's review for:
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
I read American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer in conjunction with watching the film Oppenheimer as a part of the adapted screenplay nominees at the 2024 Academy Awards.
American Prometheus was long. A 720-someodd page book. A near 30-hour audiobook. It took me over two months to plow through it, but here I am.
Was this fun to read? No.
Was it necessary? I think so, yes.
I like non-fiction, but not to this degree. It read like an encyclopedia, which I can acknowledge took an incredible amount of effort and talent -plus 20+ years of research- to put together. I almost view it as a historical record moreso than a book.
I can understand why American Prometheus won the Pulitzer Prize and why it is so vital. But, unless you’re keenly interested in deep-dive historical accounts, this wouldn’t be a great book for you.
What kind of rating do you give this with that considered? By its importance or how much you enjoyed it? I choose the cowards' route: I pick neither.
Christopher Nolan did a great job of adapting the points from this record into a cohesive, easy to digest film. And I can say, while I typically read the book prior to seeing the adaptation, in this case, it really helped doing it the other way around. The visualizations kept me engaged with what was happening in the text, almost like an index.
This is the second book I’ve read in the last six months or so that pointed out Washington & Truman knew the Japanese were all but defeated, and planned to surrender, when they dropped the bombs, which killed well over 100,000 civilians. And that is a depressing, albeit not surprising thing to learn, and that those with power who stood against these ideas, were ultimately put to ruin.
I appreciate this book calls it out for what it was. A quote:
“Oppenheimer’s warnings were ignored—and ultimately, he was silenced. Like that rebellious Greek god Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus and bestowed it upon humankind, Oppenheimer gave us atomic fire. But then, when he tried to control it, when he sought to make us aware of its terrible dangers, the powers-that-be, like Zeus, rose up in anger to punish him.”
I would like to think Oppenheimer would feel vindicated by what is on these pages.
American Prometheus was long. A 720-someodd page book. A near 30-hour audiobook. It took me over two months to plow through it, but here I am.
Was this fun to read? No.
Was it necessary? I think so, yes.
I like non-fiction, but not to this degree. It read like an encyclopedia, which I can acknowledge took an incredible amount of effort and talent -plus 20+ years of research- to put together. I almost view it as a historical record moreso than a book.
I can understand why American Prometheus won the Pulitzer Prize and why it is so vital. But, unless you’re keenly interested in deep-dive historical accounts, this wouldn’t be a great book for you.
What kind of rating do you give this with that considered? By its importance or how much you enjoyed it? I choose the cowards' route: I pick neither.
Christopher Nolan did a great job of adapting the points from this record into a cohesive, easy to digest film. And I can say, while I typically read the book prior to seeing the adaptation, in this case, it really helped doing it the other way around. The visualizations kept me engaged with what was happening in the text, almost like an index.
This is the second book I’ve read in the last six months or so that pointed out Washington & Truman knew the Japanese were all but defeated, and planned to surrender, when they dropped the bombs, which killed well over 100,000 civilians. And that is a depressing, albeit not surprising thing to learn, and that those with power who stood against these ideas, were ultimately put to ruin.
I appreciate this book calls it out for what it was. A quote:
“Oppenheimer’s warnings were ignored—and ultimately, he was silenced. Like that rebellious Greek god Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus and bestowed it upon humankind, Oppenheimer gave us atomic fire. But then, when he tried to control it, when he sought to make us aware of its terrible dangers, the powers-that-be, like Zeus, rose up in anger to punish him.”
I would like to think Oppenheimer would feel vindicated by what is on these pages.