Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (Newbery Honor Book & National Book Award Finalist) Hardcover – Illustrated, September 4, 2012

This book is well researched, it puts you into the mindset of the people involved with the creation of the atom bomb and their challenges and concerns. The action is paced well and keeps you invested in the characters and the story. Definitely worth the time.

I really feel this author is one of the best history writers for a history foundation out there because he truly takes you to the historical event or scenario.He puts in all important data but his extraordinary ability to depict historical events (almost as if you are there) is what brings his work to the top.I read history books quite a bit but his books bring you into history which is something I don’t get when I read many other writers compilations.I have thoroughly enjoy every historical book I’ve read by this anuthor (and I have read most of his work).I can’t recommend this authors history books enough. This guy is really talented and explaining history in a way that is to the point and enticing to read.I would give his books 100 stars if I could!!Bravo!

Non-fiction often gets a bad reputation for being dry and factual, reading more like a history book than a novel. Bomb by Steve Sheinkin breaks aggressively through those stereotypes. Bomb is endlessly thrilling. Even though I, and probably (hopefully) most readers, know the outcome of the race to build the nuclear bomb, I found myself on the edge of my seat. By focusing the text on character narratives, including dialogue, and threading between story lines, this book is an unexpected page turner.When you set aside the index in the back, the actual photographs, and then citation of quotes, it is easy to forget this a nonfiction text rather than a thrilling novel, and at times almost a mystery. I wish they would have taken the photographs of the characters (real people) and put them in the back as a photographic index. It was awesome to picture characters in my mind and then see what they actually looked like and I would have liked access to that right in the beginning of the book.This is a great text for cross-subject study. How fun it would be for the students to learn about the atomic bomb and WWII in history, and then read Bomb in English. This cross subject transfer leads to higher level thinking in our students and promotes actual, deep, learning about real historical events. Bomb is a great choice for teaching high school aged students about the atomic bomb in a new (and much more interesting) way. I think boys and history buffs will find extreme pleasure in this text, but it certainly is not limited to them. I don't usually enjoy non-fiction, and I am not a huge fan of historical fiction either, but I must admit Bomb was a surprisingly enjoyable read. It even taught me new information about a subject I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about!

I am in eighth grade and I think this book describes both the race to develop and use the atomic bomb perfectly. The main plot is about the discovery of fission and the making of the first atomic bomb and the ones that followed. It is also about the race between America, the Soviet Union, and Germany to finish constructing the atomic bomb as soon as possible in order to use it if there is a possible or definite threat from the other country or countries. The book is well written and is also full of suspense. The main characters in the novel are Robert Oppenheimer (a physicist who was in charge of the making of the first atomic bomb), Leslie Groves (an army general who was in charge of the entire Manhattan Project), Klaus Fuchs (a physicist who ended up spying for the Soviet Union), and Harry Gold (a chemist from Philadelphia who betrayed his country by giving top-secret information to the Soviets.) The main locations the novel takes place in are America, Japan, and Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe. The subplots talk about the scientists and physicists who were involved in the making of the atomic bomb and the ones who were also spies or were not spies but were accused of being a spy. The subplots also talk about the different locations where each bomb was tested. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in American history or physics (science.)

This book is an incredible look at the whole world in WWII, including the crazy politics of the war, the terrifying and mesmerising creation of atomic bombs, and the stress of each major power trying to get the bomb built first. By the end of the book, I couldn't help but speculate what other endings could have come to the war if the US had not been the first to complete the bomb.

The story pulls you in from beginning to end. It's been a couple years and my wife and I still talk about this book fairly often.

My son had to read this book for his 8th grade English class. My husband was curious to read the book after my son started telling us about it. It is an amazing book. While it is used for high school level classes, it is definitely a book for adults/mature teens. There are a lot of facts in it and a lot of very descriptive language. It is great for any history buff or anyone who just wants to learn more about the production and use of nuclear bombs. While I did not read the book in it's entirety (both my son and husband did), many excerpts were read to me and many facts were related to me. I highly recommend it. (I was not paid nor compensated for this review. this is simply my HONEST opinion.)

Really Nice book, It went not only in some depth about the history of the bomb itself, but also the chemistry. It didn't offer too much chemistry though. It talked about the process of fission and starting energy (pretty basic stuff). Nice to see it added though.