The Making of the Atomic Bomb
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodesby Richard Rhodes
Shares rank 9 of 51 history books by recommenders
Recommended for a character-driven history that still explains the physics clearly; readers say it reads like a novel. One caveat: many characters are hard to keep track of.
Recommended for a character-driven history that still explains the physics clearly; readers say it reads like a novel. One caveat: many characters are hard to keep track of.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reads like a novel
“Rhodes manages to record history as a character-driven story without sacrificing detailed elements of physical chemistry”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “It's a history book but reads much like a novel.”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “We gave an AI a 3 year retail lease and asked it to make a profit” Praised as excellent nonfiction
“Tied with _The Making of the Atomic Bomb_ as my favorite non-fiction book.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “James Watson has died” “I encourage you - and anyone - to read the excellent book”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Iran war energy crisis is a renewable energy wake-up call” “I was completely floored by”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to track who's who
“I learned a lot but got lost remembering who is who”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| The Making of the Atomic Bombby Richard RhodesThis page | 8 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“A more reliable account is”
“Rhodes manages to record history as a character-driven story without sacrificing detailed elements of physical chemistry”
“my recommendation would've been the first ~300 pages of Rhodes”
“I learned a lot but got lost remembering who is who”
“I was completely floored by”
“It's a history book but reads much like a novel.”
“I encourage you - and anyone - to read the excellent book”
“Tied with _The Making of the Atomic Bomb_ as my favorite non-fiction book.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.