Reviewed by Mike Dziekan
Vice President Engineering, Connecticut Analytical Corporation

If you are interested in a detailed account about the discoveries and developments that led to the realization of the world’s first nuclear weapon, this book will be of great interest to you. I found this 863-page book extremely engaging. While being a slow reader, I managed to finish it in one week.

If you don’t want to rely on my word about how good the book is, there are a number of Nobel Laureates who also enjoyed this book, including Luis W. Alvarez, Eugene P. Wigner, Emilio Segre, Glenn T. Seaborg, and I. I. Rabi.

Richard Rhodes has an amazing amount of in-depth knowledge about the rich history behind the development of the atomic bomb. He delves into the world political climate of the period, and how new discoveries in physics and chemistry brought about the Manhattan Project.

The book is organized into nineteen very well-written chapters contained in three major sections:

Part One. Profound and Necessary Truth
1. Moonshine
2. Atoms and Void
3. Tvi
4. The Long Grave Already Dug
5. Men from Mars
6. Machines
7. Exodus
8. Stirring and Digging
9. An Extensive Burst

Part Two. A Particular Sovereignty
10. Neutrons
11. Cross Sections
12. A Communication from Britain
13. Different Animals
14. The New World
15. Physics and Desert Country
16. Revelations
17. The Evils of This Time

Part Three. Life and Death
18. Trinity
19. Tongues of Fire
Epilogue

Rhodes does more than cover the mechanical construction of an atomic bomb; he cuts to the heart of how political ideologies from different nations created a stage that was to be filled with some of the brightest and most imaginative minds ever known. You will be enthralled at learning how a traffic signal pointed the way for a brilliant scientist to come up with the idea of fission, how the neutron was used to explore the inner workings of the atom, and how the concept of squeezing an orange led to a significant discovery in nuclear fission.

What do words like Fat Man, Little Boy, Cross Section, Initiator, and Heavy Water have to do with a nuclear bomb? What is the special significance of places like Oak Ridge, Hanford, Los Alamos, Trinity and a Squash court in Chicago? Where did the name Manhattan Project come from? Did Einstein really have anything to do with the atomic bomb? What major scientific developments led to our present day concepts of nuclear physics?

What is the best way to separate isotopes of U-238 and U-235, and why is this important?

Is a fast neutron or a slow neutron best for splitting a uranium nucleus?

How is the cross section calculated?

How much radioactive isotope does one need to bring about critical mass, and exactly what is critical mass?

Is uranium or plutonium better for building an atomic bomb?

Why does a highly decorated American general see fit to talk with a Hungarian physicist who prefers to sit in a bathtub while he thinks?

What major discoveries in physics and chemistry would have to be made before a final “gadget” is produced?

Why did the U.S. Government give its reserve of silver to the military during WWII?

If any or all of these questions intrigue you, then I highly recommend this book, for all these questions will be answered in exceptional detail, excepting the few that might violate national security.

Anyone interested in science will be enthralled as the discovery of seemingly unrelated events and ideas come together in very unexpected ways. Rhodes also takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the psyches of many of the most brilliant scientists who have ever lived. Whether you have a GED or a Ph.D., this book will certainly hold your interest, for Richard Rhodes has done a superb job in compiling a detailed biography of one of the most fearsome and awesome weapons mankind has ever created.

I highly recommend "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," and suggest that this book should grace the bookshelf of anyone with a curiosity about science or science history.

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