Those who dare to take on this book will find that, contrary to stereotype, physics can be a real thriller. Dogged researchers and elegant writers, Bird and Sherwin recount the history of one of America's greatest (and most reviled) scientists, the leader of the Manhattan Project ... A time-consuming read, but worth it: this Pulitzer Prize winner is an American epic.
In this midst of such voluminous scholarship, how can Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's American Prometheus purport to be 'the first full-scale biography? The reason, beyond its having the best title, is its span ... These authors compile all of it under a single roof ... American Prometheus is a work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer's essential nature ... While its forte is clearly not physics, American Prometheus does capture the world in which Oppenheimer established his credentials: thick with future Nobelists, bristling with innovation, cattily competitive ... American Prometheus is a thorough examination and synthesis, sometimes overwhelming in its detail.
American Prometheus is clear in its purpose, deeply felt, persuasively argued, disciplined in form, and written with a sustained literary power. It is still recognizably Sherwin’s book, giving new emphasis to arguments first made in A World Destroyed, but at the same time Bird has brought freshness and clarity along with some interpretive ideas of his own.
The tragic and heroic themes of Oppenheimer's life...have long appealed to those of a literary or dramatic turn. Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, in a biography 30 years in the making, attempt instead to unravel the complications of a brilliant and vain human being ... In this long book, there is no mathematics and very little physics ... Here, as it were, are the cocktails and wire-taps and love affairs of Oppenheimer's existence, his looks and conversation, the way he smoked the cigarettes and pipe that killed him, his famous pork-pie hat and splayed walk, and all the tics and affectations that his students imitated and the patriots and military men despised ... The fine text is matched by fine photographs.
...a stunning blockbuster ... The background political context is not fully explored, but this is a small complaint. Bird and Sherwin have undertaken a daunting amount of research, and they do full justice to the complexity of Oppenheimer's story.
The political drama is enhanced by the close attention to Oppenheimer's personal life, and Bird and Sherwin do not conceal their occasional frustration with his arrogant stonewalling and panicky blunders, even as they shed light on the psychological roots for those failures, restoring human complexity to a man who had been both elevated and demonized
The authors lucidly explain Oppenheimer’s many scientific accomplishments and the finer points of quantum mechanics. More, they examine his life in a political context, for, though one of the fathers of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer warned against its proliferation... A swiftly moving narrative full of morality tales and juicy gossip. One of the best scientific biographies to appear in recent years.
