Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists [Paperback]

Robert Jungk (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0156141507 | ISBN-13: 978-0156141505 | Publication Date: October 21, 1970 | Edition: 1St Edition

An account of the remarkable scientists who discovered that nuclear fission was possible and then became concerned about its implications. Index. Translated by James Cleugh.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Jungk was born in 1913 in Berlin, emigrated to Paris in 1933, where he made documentary films and studied at the Sorbonne, lived in Prague from 1936-38 where he published an anti-fascist paper, and then fled to Switzerland when the Nazis entered Prague, staying there until 1945. Then, as a freelance journalist, he worked for several papers including The Observer of London, for which he covered the Nuremberg Trials.

During the 1950s he began to explore the themes which dominated the rest of his life: the future, and peace and anti-nuclear activity. His first book was entitled The Future Has Already Begun, and in 1953 he founded the first Institute for Research into the Future.

By the 1960s Robert Jungk was known around the world and was much in demand as a speaker on global issues. He worked with Bertrand Russel on anti-nuclear campaigns; with Johan Galtung he co-founded the International Conference on Futurism in 1967, out of which he emerged the World Federation for Future Research. He began to develop Future Workshops, in which people envisioned desirable futures and the means of achieving them, as a way of regaining power over their own lives. Then in 1987 he founded the International Futures Library in Salzburg, the first public library specialising in the collection, inter-disciplinary networking and distribution of future-oriented information.

A similar blend of scholarship and activism characterised his peace initiatives. His book Brighter than a Thousand Suns was followed by several others on the nuclear theme, including The Nuclear State in 1978. At the same time, Jungk was deeply involved in the peace movement, lecturing and participating in marches and demonstrations. In 1992, he stood as the candidate of the Green Party in Austria's presidential elections.

Following Robert Jungk's death in Salzburg in July 1994, the International Futures Library is continuing its work in the spirit of his efforts, including the production of the quarterly bulletin Pro Zukunft (For the Future), which he started in 1987.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1St Edition edition (October 21, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156141507
• ISBN-13: 978-0156141505
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first good historical picture of the Manhatten Project, May 5, 1999

By 

Stephen M. St Onge "Stephen M. St. Onge" (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists (Paperback)

Robert Jungk went to a lot of trouble to interview as many people as possible who'd worked on the A-bomb, and produced this well written history of the Manhatten Project. It's a bit dated, but if I had to recommend three books on this subject, this would be one of them (the others would be Richard Rhode's THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB and Lillian Hoddeson's CRITICAL ASSEMBLY). There's interesting information in here I haven't read anywhere else, and I've read over a dozen books on the Manhatten Project.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Historical Revisionism at its worst, August 24, 2002

By 

Tony (Moorpark, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists (Paperback)

While an easy to read book, Jungk presents some false information that depreciates the value of the book.

The first is the impression that Von Weisacker and other German scientists attempted to give to the post war world, that they were not really trying to build a bomb, but were merely interested in nuclear power. This is refuted by Jeremy Bernstein, in his book "Hitler's Uranium Club." The historical record shows that there were many memorandums sent to the German Military, by the scientists, about the possibility of producing an atomic bomb.

The more serious misstatement however, is about Klaus Fuchs' espionage on the Manhattan Project which was the most damaging espionage committed by any of the atomic spies of that era. Jungk claims that Fuchs decided to spy for the Soviet Union when he learned about plans to bomb Hiroshima. This is so off base that one has to question Jungk's scholarship or motives. Here is why: Fuchs began spying for the Soviets in 1941 in Britain, before Pearl Harbor and before there was even a Manhattan Project. The decision to acutally bomb Hiroshima was made in 1945. None of the scientists know what the targets were.

This is such a huge distortion of the facts that it should be mentioned in any review of this book. The book has lots of details but if you buy it, beware of some of the downright distortions of history. A better choice is Richard Rhodes's book, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb".

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting and easy to read, October 30, 2003

By 

Keith Appleyard "kapple999" (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists (Paperback)

This book was written nearly 50 years ago in the 1950's, so naturally some of the stories are incomplete with todays hindsight, but I wish I'd read this book 20 years ago. It is extremely well written, and full of fascinating anecdotes. Although I am familiar with many of the characters & stories, there was something new for me in every chapter, for example the insights into Oppenheimer in Germany before WWII. It would be wonderful if a revised version could be published incorporating the story of the Soviet Atom Scientists.