Comment by dxs | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dxs | Hacker News Reader

This book is an incredibly good read: "'The Making of the Atomic Bomb' is a history book written by the American journalist and historian Richard Rhodes, first published by Simon & Schuster in 1987. The book won multiple awards, including Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. The narrative covers people and events from early 20th century discoveries leading to the science of nuclear fission, through the Manhattan Project and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Possibly the best book that I have ever read. It deals with many of the issues raised in the comments here, and with politics, industrial development, economics, military capabilities, and the history of modern physics.

Rhodes also wrote "'Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb', which told the story of the atomic espionage during World War II, the debates over whether the hydrogen bomb ought to be produced, and the eventual creation of the bomb and its consequences for the arms race." Also impeccable

Info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb

I really loved this podcast

Hardcore History 59 – (BLITZ) The Destroyer of Worlds

https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-59-the-de...

Second this. It's currently available free on the RSS feed in every podcast directory. The whole back catalog can also be purchased, and IMHO it's well worth buying. I bought it a couple years back and have been very happy with it. I think it's like $80, but you get countless hours of good history from a master storyteller.

His series on World War I (aka The Great War) called "Blueprint For Armageddon" was one of the most interesting and captivating of any podcasts or audiobooks I've ever listened to.

When I was younger the older folks would talk so highly about the days of theater radio, when actors and storytellers would tell audio-only stories. I used to wonder how that could possibly compete with video. After listening to Hardcore History, I get it now. There's something really powerful about listening to a natural storyteller lay things out, and Dan Carlin is a master of the craft. If you're new to him, the last few years of shows are always freely available through the RSS feed that's in every podcast directory.

I have heard that Carlin's historiography isn't great... but I will fully agree that the man is a master storyteller and does wonders for making insanely complex topics comprehensible. Ghosts of the Ostfront was the one that sold me on him.

If he's not dead-on, all the time, well, I can read more later and be corrected.

I had no idea you could just buy his old episodes. May have to go buy them now.

I wish I had read your entire comment before ordering "The Making of" because now I'm paying double shipping to get "Dark Sun" as well.

This is my all-time favorite book, I’ve read through it numerous times. The level of detail and scope of focus is breathtaking. Its narrative reflects to me a deeper truth about the asymmetric leverage that mastery of a new technology bestows, and the unpredictable outcomes of its inevitabile diffusion among humans in a barely-stable world. I can’t recommend it enough, I feel like I learned something major about the nature of our species after completing it.

I'm about an hour into "The Making of the Atomic Bomb"! Great so far.

I recently finished "American Prometheus" the Pulitzer Prize winning biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and it was phenomenal. I recommend it highly. It's a great different perspective on the story of the making of the bomb since it's more focused on the man's life. Really cool.

I read this after seeing Oppenheimer. Just a tremendous book. I learned so much from his description of the early debates around the structure of atoms. It really illuminates the theorists' struggles with quantum mechanics and how, as we often see, progress required a new generation of thinkers.

I've read both and they are simply phenomenal.

late to the thread but just ordered The Making of the Atomic Bomb, thanks for the tip!

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