The Manhattan Project

by Al Cimino

The ramifications of the Manhattan Project are still with us to this day. The atomic bombs that came out of it brought an end to the war in the Pacific, but at a heavy loss of life in Japan and the opening of a Pandora's box that has tested international relations.This book traces the history of the Manhattan Project, from the first glimmerings of the possibility of such a catastrophic weapon to the aftermath of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It profiles the architects of the bomb and how they tried to reconcile their personal feelings with their ambition as scientists. It looks at the role of the politicians and it includes first-hand accounts of those who experienced the effects of the bombings.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, World War II

Paperback

First published July 14, 2015

Reviews

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average account of the race to build the atomic bomb

Cimino is the pen name of Nigel Cawthorne, a serial author of war, true crime, art, science, history, literature, fashion, sex and humour books.

This book is described as being written for laymen, but I did find the technical detail quite hard to follow and as such I did skip some sections. Whilst it's not possible to avoid some degree of technical detail the nuances of various isotopes and neutrons went over my head.

Despite this Cimino does show some of the conflict between the academics and the military which in more detail might have made a more readable account.

For anyone interested in physics this might be a useful primer on the history of atomic development, but for me it was too technical and didn't hold my attention. It felt like a journalists effort to quickly pump out a book on the atomic bomb.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thankfully, most of the world’s population don’t remember the atomic bomb being used and fewer every day lived through the bomb-shelter building 1950s that followed.
Revisionist history has changed the narrative regarding these times, as writing about history without living it always does. Wh is to say which view is more accurate?
This book gives a fairly academic look into why the U.S. built and used the bomb and is worth reading, especially for those whose understanding of the times is abstract at best.
I was left with the feeling that there is a lot more depth to the story than told, but this book is a good summary of events.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty self-explanatory by the title of this book, this is a pretty quick summary of the science, history and people and events behind the Manhattan Project. Unfortunately, it's a little uneven and at times, poorly written and confusing. Still I do think this short book can help AcDec students understand a little more clearly the technology behind Uranium and Plutonium atomic weapons and the roles that Hanford, Washington, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico and their scientists and leaders played in the development of the nuclear age.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick easy read that provides a general overview of the development of the atom bomb by the Americans. It introduces the reader to the significant scientists involved and sites where experimental work was conducted. The author avoids physics that would be beyond most readers comprehension.

[Rick Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

Highly informative. Enjoyed it immensely. Mr. Cimino greatly helped me realize just what a massive undertaking this was. The relationship between General Groves and Oppenheimer may never again be duplicated, they put aside their vast differences in philosophy to get the bomb built, in today's world it's hard to picture that happening.

[Jeffrey Zeltzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best read to a layman.

Thoroughly enjoyed. I am not a physicist, so the simpler explanations of the science were easier to understand. The story's characters, illustrations and photos brought the telling into focus. The inter-weaving of war, politics and objective--end the war --are defined.

A good introduction to an important tale.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book to take a look at just to remember that some times just because we have the power to do something doesn't always mean we should.

[Dave Hammett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical

Very good history of the U.S. Nuclear program from a technical view. No personal scandals here. It also a very readable book.

[Mike Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting telling of the story of the production of the first nuclear bombs. A good mix of technical information and historical context.

[Allen Bessanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

An introductory history lesson, really good for anyone with even a passing interest in the beginnings of Atomic energy and weapons. Not boring in the least!

[Puwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remembering the story of the atomic bomb during World War II, the entire world ran on a mad marathon. The author Al Cimino revealed the story of the atomic bomb and he unlock the secrets of the nuclear fiction. The Manhattan Project is a very dynamic scientific truth, the book reflects. It’s a mesmerizing dream for the readers with loads of surprise how this fiction became in reality with the progress within a short period of time "for the purpose", means for a "need" according to the project management, but it's inevitable most of the needs for distractions more than constructions. But it is a significant achievement of the century of America’s war affairs.

Today, the atomic bomb project is the pathfinder that leads the nuclear project that dominates and affects a vital role in world politics. The nuclear project decides the world superpower based on the body of political economy and world affairs. The author comprised the revolution of science through the atomic heritage on this project that embarks on the legacy of war history. The book says that the Manhattan Project territories are declared inaccessible zone even after the postwar have been stripped of their equipment and demolition.

The project role of the US government in conducting a secret, nationwide enterprise that took apart from laboratory science into the combat field with an entirely new dimension of war culture. The scientific armament race with a new type of weapon concludes the immediate postwar with legal debates over the atomic acts of 1946 by the atomic energy commission.

The experiment of bombarding atoms featuring knowledge of nuclear research during such collisions resulted in the mega amounts of energy discovered by Einstein’s world-famous equitation E=mc2 . The book widely covers the advanced project methodology in action with the perfect vocabulary used for physics and chemistry for how science goes to war. According to the author, most of the project works particularly the government approvals, committee decisions, and task accomplishments are competing on the navigation progress path based on the 1941 invasion, therefore, the government of the country is in the situation “ready for war” as quickly as possible. The project scope of this project is escalation both horizontally and vertically in width of power and the depth of damage, reflecting the following line from the president, “I think the whole thing with due regard to time. This is very much of the essence.”

The experimental and the testing process existence, the necessary quantification brought into the multifaction factor level moving towards the nuclear generation, (risk, supercritical, and out of control, at some point.) The project stakeholder is the government with a public, and private partnership program based on the activities and integration, the integral part fully owned and controlled by the Office of Scientific Research and Development. The secret of the success of this project was the interoperable system, the project zone was established not as an institute or a construction site but it’s a “model village” It has been facilitated with all comforts including housing, which I could realize this concept, the management cannot divulge or leak the project secrets outside of the zone.

In my conclusion, this book contributed a good practical lesson about the scope, plan, integration, and leadership skill of project management, which lead the team to achieve the goal within a given timeline in a successful manner. However, I am a project management professional, I found that the construction and structurization are two wider tracks in the PM rail engine, the prediction of collision and detection exists on the knowledge management, if the knowledge management fails or moves out of the control, no doubt the project will be derailed, and the burden is inexcusability. Thanks a lot, to my friend/colleague Yasodhara Kapuge for the book.

[Boni · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a well-written Wikipedia chronology of the most controversial invention from mankind. A unique blending of science, engineering, industry, secrecy, and oh-such-urgency, well-told and replete with details and personalities, scientific ‘races’, and luck. The vast expenditure of over $2B over just a few years, skipping pilot studies and moving directly to production, assuming 4 parallel paths of possible solutions… What a project, led by General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Just an amazing piece of history and accomplishment by so many known/unknown Nobel laureate soldiers of science and engineering! And told within a mere 187 pages! But as a documentary-type book, it could have used more diagrams, maps, and more of those cool historical photographs. Even without though, this is a must read for science lovers, history geeks, and military managers. Interesting and odd anecdotes ranging from Einstein not actually authoring his warning letter to President Roosevelt 🥸… to the naming of Fat Man 💣 and Little Boy 🧨… to the Los Alamos soldiers winning the award for lowest venereal disease rate 🕺🏻💃🏻for any unit in the US Army 😆. I’ll have to reread this to get straight the physics… plutonium, uranium, fission and H-bombs (1952), piles (of uranium and graphite), gaseous vs centrifuge vs thermal diffusion, electromagnetically separated U-235, fission, guns versus implosion. This book’s science descriptions doesn’t get so complex to turn me away, so I look forward to rereading with highlighter in hand!

[Elizabeth Duckworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but dry reading. The working relationship between Robert Oppenheimer and General Groves. Those who say the genie should never been let out of the bottle are being a little short sighted there always was someone who would be able to figure it all out. If it hadn't been the U.S. We, the world might already be a vast desert land where no one could live. As it is, unscrupulous politicians
through out the years are allowing little nuggets of info, for leverage or profit, to get into the hands of people who woulds use this info ideological/power reasons and not for defense, recognizing Oppenheimer's greatest fear.

[Charles Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and readable book, it has some details of the Manhattan Project that I had not seen before. I have read a number of books about the Project and the early days of nuclear power, etc and this is a good addition. This does seem like a summary of other books that the author read but that might save me the time of reading them! The author seems to churn out books about lurid events and I bet that he did not do any original research or interview any surviving Project team members. He does not list any sources or interviews or anything. Still I enjoyed reading the book.

[Bradley J Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read!

Details on the scale of preparation I was not aware of until I read this. Massive undertaking and results were not finalized until just before the bombs were assembled.

[Brad Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief Summary of the Making of the Atomic Bomb

This was a good account of the invention of the first nuclear weapon. The inventive process was accelerated beyond comparison to any effort ever attempted.

[Ted Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed read

This was a good detailed account of the thought process and experimentation of the atomic bomb. Lots of good science.

[Patrick Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

High level. Bland, but informative.

[lee root · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Good book, very entertaining, very interesting, that's six words. Now nine, now 11, why does the review have to be 18 words?

[Nigel Pinkus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a good start for anyone who is just starting out reading about the Atomic Bomb. It is brief and concise, but it covers many of the main issues concerned. It certainly isn't perfect, but it is a suitable start. No reference was made about the Rosenberg's (Julius and Ethel). No reference was made to the treatment of Oppenheimer after 1945. There was only one line about the release of information Nagasaki and Hiroshima to the rest of the world and there was one line on Klaus Fuchs.

But, it had some great concluding comments and some vivid descriptions about the terrible suffering of the Japanese people. For the record, there were some terrible, terrible war statistics experienced by the Japanese from the US invasion of their country. On the southern islands of Okinawa, for example, the people there were so terrified that tens of thousands of them committed suicide. On the main island of Honshu, 70,000 Japanese soldiers were killed and another 19,000 were injured compared to 6,822 US troop deaths. But, if that wasn't enough, the fire bombings before then, was actually even worse. One single raid over Tokyo, for example, killed 100, 000 people almost all were civilians (the elderly, women and children). By the end of the bombings more than nine million people were left homeless. Some sobering statistics. 4 STARS

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book - it is a generally well-written primer on the topic of the Manhattan Project, which was the scientific effort during the second world war to research, and build the atomic bomb which was ultimately responsible for bringing the war to an end.

I was slightly disappointed when I saw the size of this book, as I have read much more comprehensive works which cover the same subject in a lot more detail. While Cimino does a competent job of touching on the major development milestones throughout the process, I really felt that he had dehumanised a lot of the story. He has chosen to focus on the two leaders of the project - General Groves, and Robert Oppenheimer - but I felt like he only paid lip service to many of the scientists who were involved.

As I said before, this is a good introductory piece to the Manhattan Project, and is suitable for people with a passing interest in the topic, but for people with either a deeper interest in the historical and scientific repercussions of the atomic bomb, they may wish to look elsewhere.

This review and more can be found at Book of Bogan

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be an interesting read. The author does a good job of covering the subject without gettint too bogged down in the technical terminology that I have found in other books dealing with the subject. His writing style makes it read more like a story than history.

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy to understand development of the first nuclear bombs.

I received a free Kindle copy of The Manhattan Project by Al Cimino courtesy of Net Galley  and Arcturus Digital, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook and Twitter pages.

I requested this book as the description sounded interesting and I have read a couple of other books on the subject. This is the first book by the author that I have read.

[Eileen Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

A chilling history of the atomic bomb and the people who decided to advance this terrible weapon.
What was in the minds of these people I don't know. This is one genie that won't get back in the bottle.
Their legacy is with us still with some unstable countries and regimes trying to join this despicable club.
I would hope that this terror will be eradicated very soon, but it won't be in my life time unfortunately.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Arcturus Digital via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

[Tucker May · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book delivers exactly what it promises: a brief, easy-to-read overview of the accomplishments and ramifications of The Manhattan Project. I generally tend to think mainly of Los Alamos when I think of The Manhattan Project and this book does a good job of capturing the scope of the full endeavor, which was so much more than just Los Alamos. An enjoyable and educational read (with a few typos).

[Gary Barron · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very informative book but difficult read and sometimes hard to understand what is being discussed if you’re not of a scientific background. I do recommend if you want to learn more behind the first Atomic Bombs

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too technical but good overview

[Hailey Willey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very basic. Didn’t dive too deep into the personnel, the project, or the science. Very top-level introduction to the topic