The Oppenheimer Alternative

Good read, though rather bleak when it comes to the emancipation of women and the poor ways they used to mark their territory in a man's world.

quite different, and I enjoyed the mix of characters and the setting, and research that has clearly gone in writing this.

Mid-way through 2020 and "The Oppenheimer Alternative" is the most enjoyable book I've read so far this year. Intriguing, compulsive, heart-wrenching -- it's all there. And it does what any good alternate history should do, draws you in with a fascinating study of time and place and character and then diverges from reality in a way that's so subtle you have trouble spotting the join. I loved the insight the book gave me into the real events around the atomic bomb programme and I'll be following up by reading some bios of the central characters.Hats off to Robert Sawyer for such a compulsive read.

First off, I am a big fan of Mr Sawyer and have read most if not all of his books. This book appears to be incredibly well researched in terms of historic and scientific content and was really enjoyable to read. Unfortunately unlike a lot of other reviewers IMHO I think the ending was ridiculous, completely unexplained and totally out of sync with what I would call the `Retro Science` and 20th century aspirations discussed in 90% of the book. It is very difficult to explain without spoilers but the solution to the major longer term plot scenario appeared within a few pages of the end of the book, with no real explanation of the science or any description of how this ground breaking technology worked or appeared in physical form. This `Eureka 'moment wrapping up the plot very neatly but again, IMHO, completely unsatisfying and somewhat shallow compared to the first 80% of the book. When into approximately 80% of the book I thought this must be the start of one of Mr sawyer`s famous trilogies because there was no way the plot scenario could be explained in the same generation has the current protagonists in the last few pages of the book, sadly I was wrong on both counts.

Ok, I admit I'm a bit partial because I love R J Sawyer.But I did really like this book because is a sweet departure from his usual novels.Still twists, science and great character deptiction applies.It's obvious (as always!) the amount of research and attention to detail the Author used in writing this book.Everyone is so vivid, the history being displayed under your eyes...Again, it's a gem, and prepare yourself for the final twist.

Deals with the manhattan project in an alternate universe. An intetesting read

My favourite science fiction author. He has never written a bad book in my humble opinion. I love all his books and this one is no exception.

Seldom have I read such an engrossing book, with a wonderful twist in the tail (or should that be tale?). If you are interested in science, with fact extended into fiction, read this.

I could've gone without the build-up — that is, all the events that did actually happen in our reality before and immediately after the bomb — but I appreciate its value to the story. All in all, though, this is another accomplished piece by a favourite writer!

Lacked the dramatic tension and narrative drive - especially for most of the story from about halfway - merited by developments.Started out well with fascinating detail around the story of the A bomb and the characters involved, along with plausible reconstructions of things these characters well may have said and done.The story then slowed a lot, even as a key development took us on a completely different track with a crisis looming over the earth. It remained mostly character study, which I think contributed to this slowing.In contrast, I point to ‘The Black Cloud’, an entertaining and interesting 1950s novel by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Though arguably less polished as a piece of writing, it was full of science, drama and character study - not to mention shrewd political insight - all thoroughly mixing to create the tension. It too put the spotlight on different kinds of scientist, how science and personality interact and clash, and how it all comes together to produce novel insights and ideas. The story development showed off Hoyle’s mastery of mathematical structure and logic together with the unexpected intuitive tangents for which he was well known, and showed that a scientist who can write a bit can do a very good job.Nevertheless, Sawyer’s novel should not be damned for failing to be something it may never have intended to be. Interesting scientific ideas and a satisfying ending makes what - for me - veered between 3 and 5 stars a firm 4-plus in the end.

As Robert J Sawyer often does, he’s written a fantastic novel using characters many of us have now become familiar with due to the recent film release. But in this alternate story, he still gives us a lot of true information folded in with a great sci fi story line.

I give this novel 3 stars mainly because it is well written, easy to read and somewhat informative about the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project.As for the scifi, it appears only at the end of the novel as an improbable solution to an unsolvable scientific problem. 90% of the novel is about Oppenheimer and the interactions and conflicts between scientists .Contrary to many people I liked the ending, which in my opinion should have been the central story, if a scifi novel was the intention.

Would we do if we knew the world was ending? It's a question posed in any number of works on page and screen. Suppose, though, that those who knew were some of the brightest minds of twentieth-century science? Those who would not go quietly into the night? That's the premise behind Robert J Sawyer's The Oppenheimer Alternative, the latest offering from the award-winning author.Though, having laid out the premise, the first thing worth noting is Sawyer takes some time getting to it. Indeed, for say the first quarter to third, it's honestly a historical fiction work about Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project. As someone who enjoys historical fiction as a genre and has an interest in the events depicted, the reading here was never dull as the research and characterizations shine throughout as the reader receives a crash course in the history of the atomic bomb's project and the titular character's life.Once the divergence comes, however, Sawyer's prose remains firmly rooted in history as we know it. For, despite the title, this isn't so much a work of alternative history as it is a work of secret history. Think of it as an SF equivalent of, say, Jack Higgins' thriller The Eagle Has Landed, with a story lurking behind the history we know. In this case, from 1945 to the mid-1960s, Oppenheimer and many of those involved with the Manhattan Project were involved in an effort to save humanity. An effort that also draws in the likes of Wernher von Braun and others, as well. The novel becomes a journey through one of the most dramatic periods in modern history, though, at times, it feels more like a series of linked vignettes involving famous names in science than a cohesive story. Indeed, Sawyer goes about introducing elements only to either get rid of them soon afterword or hardly reference them at all. For a novel promoted as being an alternative history, with the word in its very title, it doesn't seem keen on being one.At least until its conclusion. It's there, in the last twelve percent of the novel or thereabout, Sawyer firmly takes out of historical fiction and into SF territory. It's a shift that's both welcome but, not surprisingly, perhaps, immensely jarring as well. It all goes by in a hurry, covering a novel's worth of details in a matter of concluding paragraphs across a few pages. It's full of big ideas, but ones revealed so hurriedly that their scope and meaning almost gets lost. It's an ending full of both possibilities and immense frustrations, not unlike the novel as a whole.In the final analysis, The Oppenheimer Alternative should be The Oppenheimer Secret instead. What Sawyer has created is compelling, even worthy of the over-used moniker of a page-turner, but it's an uneasy mix of elements. Is it a work of historical fiction with a dose of SF thrown into the mix? Or is it a novel too firmly rooted in our history that, when a drastic change does come, it's too much? The answer, for this reader at least, is both, and it makes it an intriguing but unsatisfying read that never lives up to its premise.