Steve Sheinkin · 266 pages
Rating: (12.5K votes)
“If you think atomic explosions in Asia wouldn't affect Americans, consider this. A study published in Scientific American in 2010 looked at the probable impact of a "small" nuclear war, one in which India and Pakistan each dropped fifty atomic bombs. The scientists concluded that the explosions would ignite massive firestorms, sending enormous amounts of dust and smoke into the atmosphere. This would block some of the sun's light from reaching the earth, making the planet colder and darker - for about ten years. Farming would collapse, and people all over the globe would starve to death. And that's if only half of one percent of all the atomic bombs on earth were used.
In the end, this is a difficult story to sum up. The making of the atomic bomb is one of history's most amazing examples of teamwork and genius and poise under pressure. But it's also the story of how humans created a weapon capable of wiping our species off the planet. It's a story with no end in sight.
And, like it or not, you're in it.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“In the end, this is a difficult story to sum up. The making of the atomic bomb is one of history's most amazing examples of teamwork and genius and poise under pressure. But it's also the story of how humans created a weapon capable of wiping our species off the planet. It's a story with no end in sight.
And, like it or not, you're in it.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“Here at great expense,' [Colonel Groves] moaned to Oppenheimer, 'the government has assembled the world's largest collection of crackpots.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“A man who is a man goes on until he can go no further—and then goes twice as far.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“She was too well-trained to panic.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“Everyone worked day and night, Monday through Saturday. Oppenheimer insisted people take Sundays off to rest and recharge. Scientists fished for trout in nearby streams, or climbed mountains and discussed physics while watching the sunrise. "This is how many discoveries were made," one scientist said.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“When do I start?" is the most refreshing thing I've heard in this whole war.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“As evidence, he dug up those flimsy charges the army and FBI had investigated ten years before: that Oppenheimer was secretly a Communist and maybe even a Soviet spy. Strauss devised a plan for taking Oppenheimer down. He’d have the AEC strip Oppenheimer of his security clearance. Without this clearance, Oppenheimer would no longer be allowed to see secret information on the latest atomic weapons research. He couldn’t advise the government, because he wouldn’t know what was going on. Oppenheimer had two options: demand a hearing, or simply walk away. He knew by now that nothing he did or said could stop the arms race. But there was a principle involved—he couldn’t let the charges against him go unchallenged. “This course of action,” he told Strauss, “would mean that I accept and concur in the view that I am not fit to serve this government that I have now served for some twelve years. This I cannot do.” Oppenheimer got his hearing, but it was bogus from the start. Strauss personally picked the panel of judges. The FBI tapped Oppenheimer’s phones and listened in on conversations between him and his attorney. This illegally gathered information was used against Oppenheimer in court.”
― Steve Sheinkin, quote from Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
“Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you.”
― Tony Hsieh, quote from Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
“Merchants understand from birth the power of compound interest; they know how to accumulate capital. The Internet has also leveled the playing field, so that it seems sometimes that any mad, passionate Indian entrepreneur can write his own future.”
― Gurcharan Das, quote from India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age
“The hope crashes into reality and people get hurt.”
― Matthew Woodring Stover, quote from Caine's Law
“I met you in dream." She says.
"You're right. But here we are, back to the real world."
"I was so afraid you will never remember me in the real world. People usually forget about their dreams once they wake up."
"Not me. Not you. Besides, maybe this none of us woke up. It doesn't mean we can't make it real.”
― Cameron Jace, quote from Snow White Sorrow
“Honoria clung to him, her heart and mind racing. What did she want of this? A moment of tumbled passion, a few nights of escape from dreariness of her life? or more?
Someone to love her. Someone to hold her on his arms, to tell her that she was the center of his world. Some one to trust. Someone to love back.”
― Bec McMaster, quote from Kiss of Steel
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