Book Talk

"Graduating from Harvard at the height of World War II, brilliant mathematician Charlie Fish is assigned to the Manhattan Project. Working with some of the age’s greatest scientific minds, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard, Charlie is assigned the task of designing and building the detonator of the atomic bomb. As he performs that work Charlie suffers a crisis of conscience, which his wife, Brenda—unaware of the true nature of Charlie’s top-secret task—mistakes as self-doubt. She urges him to set aside his qualms and continue. Once the bombs strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the feelings of culpability devastate him and Brenda. Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Collins Book art and author headshot provided by the author’s representative. 00:00 - Show Opening 01:07 - Rot - Allegra Krieger 01:12 - Episode Intro 02:31 - Rot (Cont’d) - Allegra Krieger 03:11 - Interview with Stephen Kiernan, Part 1 17:43 - Welcome - Allegra Krieger 19:19 - Interview with Stephen Kiernan, Part 2 34: