Customer Reviews

Target Hiroshima: Deak Parsons and the Creation of the Atomic Bomb

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Recently I was given a copy of this book. I glanced through it, and reading the jacket decided to read a bit more. Well, I became so interested in it I have read it all through and must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am not one who is truly interested in war stories, but I enjoy biographies, history, and historical fiction, and this being history as well as a biography of Deak Parsons, the book offered me much that I did not know. I always had a questionable feeling about the atom bomb, what it did, and was it really worth all the lives lost. After reading this book and getting a better understanding of the whole situation, from a better perspective, I can say I now feel better about it. Deak Parsons was quite a man who did so much for his country. The book is plainly written and offers a personal insight into the lives of all who were involved in the events of that time, and made it clear for non-military people like me to understand those events better.

Parsons showed how to bridge the gap between 20th century pure science and engineering application. In so doing, he provided the blue print for all of the successful technological enterprises of the past few decades. Knowingly or not, the model has been followed by the likes of Jobs, Gates, the bio-tech industry among others. Before Parsons, science could split the atom, but not build a bomb (or other useful application). Christman shows us Parsons, and how his unique knowledge and skill allowed him to make the connection, first in the early development of radar, then in the development of the proximity fuze (which together are the ancestors of all modern "smart weapons." Finally, in the paradigm of scientific enterprise, the development of the first a-bombs at Los Alamos. Before an early death, he began to realize the tragic long-term consequences of some of his work, but never lost sight of the need to harness scientific discovery into meaningful and practical uses. Arguably, without his demonstration of how to coordinate science with meaningful enterprise (in his case, the military), reaching the moon in the sixties, user-friendly computers on every desktop with internet access in the nineties, and scores of other tools we take for granted would not have been available and accessible to us common people. A must read for anyone entering, establishing or participating in technological enterprise, and a fascinating window on some of the "secrets" of the World War II era.

Target Hiroshima by Albert B. Christman is great book that you would enjoy reading. It tells the story of William S. "Deak" Parsons, the man that played a great part in researching, assembling, and finally, dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. If you read this book you will learn about the life and hardships of Parsons as you also receive information on the development of the atom bomb and proximity fuse. An interesting and educational book that I recommend you read.

Quite simply one of the major (self effacing) heroes of World War Two. This book will give the reader a true appreciation of the very practical, and pivotal, contributions that Deak Parsons made to the Atomic Bomb project, and the proximity fuse for anti-aircraft shell project. For anyone who is interested in early atomic and radar history, this is a must-read that will be hard to put down!

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This is a very interesting book and well written.
Amazingly easy read for such a technical subject.