Didn't Bomb at all

Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

by Steve Sheinkin

Shelved as YA but they could put a copy on the A shelf if they wanted to.  It's a quick but seemingly comprehensive story of the race of the U.S. to beat Hitler to the atomic bomb and of the equally determined race of the Soviet Union to steal the science behind it.  Oppenheimer is the central figure in the building of the bomb--I'm not sure if that's completely accurate but certainly not inaccurate.  Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and Klaus Fuchs are the villain spies.  Not so villainous villains, however. Spies have reasons for doing what they do--don't assume that all spies are simply out for the money.

Ethyl and Julias Rosenberg are only mentioned briefly at the end, so it's odd they're the only ones I even heard about. I guess being executed makes you notorious.  The book really made me interest in poor Oppenheimer, almost enough to read a book about him. I wished he'd lived to see the arms race end.  The one between the US and Russia, of course.  Will it ever really end?

Great book; lively and fast but not skimpy.  I guess if he'd been writing for adults he could have put in more detail, especially about Oak Ridge, the Rosenbergs and the Russian scientist.  But that might have slowed the pace.  I recommend the audiobook highly, for pacing and suspense, but I don't think I would have been disappointed with the written version.

(Seems like there ought to be an easy semantic to use in distinguishing 'audiobook' from 'book'. You know, like 'email' vs. 'snail mail'. What is it?)