'I [have] read everything on the subject that I could lay my hands on, but I never read such a good, comprehensive account as Jim Baggott's... Highly recommended.' -- Reader's Digest 'High drama... fascinating reading.' -- BBC Focus Magazine 'Grimly compelling. Thorough and accessible.' -- Daily Telegraph 'The best popular science book of the year to date by far.' -- Popular Science 'Baggott's investigation is an accessible account of the race to build the world's first atomic weapons. Compelling.' -- Good Book Guide 'Atomic is the tale of the creation of the Atomic bomb during wartime, and the political fallout from the realization of these powerful weapons... Most importantly Atomic is about the people and personalities behind the bomb... It's a disturbing book - simply because it's a very disturbing story.' -- Book Geeks 'Comprehensive and clear-flowing book by Jim Baggott... the real nub of this thriller of a book: the human brain is the thing that fills you wit fearful awe.' -- Diplomat Magazine 'This is an excellent example of popular science, explaining a series of difficult concepts clearly and coherently, but without sacrificing accuracy. When combined with the personal stories of the scientists the result is an excellent study of the development of the first atomic bomb.' -- History of War 'Jim Braggott's clear, elegant prose never falters, whether unveiling the scientists and spies who raced to unlock the secrets of the atom bomb, or describing the sub-atomic particle which drove the physicists on to what J Robert Oppenheimer later called 'sin'.' -- Telegraph

Jim Baggott is an award-winning science writer. A former academic chemist,he runs an independent management consultancy practice but maintains a broad interest in science, philosophy and history and continues to write on these subjects in his spare time, for, amongother publications, New Scientist magazine. His previous bookshave been widely acclaimed and include A Beginner's Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005) and Beyond Measure: Modern Physics,Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (OUP, 2004).