The Manhattan Project

This history is not overly technical, and it reads quickly, giving you an overview of the Manhattan bomb project from start to finish. I did skim through some sections devoted to the science and tech involved in the development of the atomic bomb, but I also read many of them. There are some good anecdotes I haven't seen elsewhere. In preparation for the first test detonation, the scientists were in a trench, and advised to turn away and lie face down, sheltering their heads with their arms. Instead they chose to watch the results of all their hard work, using goggles and welding glasses to protect their vision. The author didn't pick up the detail of how Richard Feynman viewed the blast - in Feynman's book, he recounts that he watched the explosion from inside a truck cab, reasoning that the tinted glass would shield him from the worst effects of the blast. It did at the time, but Feynman, and some others, did develop cancer in their later years. Was it due to their field of research? At any rate, this book is a good general resource for studying "The Manhattan Project."