The first 70% of this book can be a slog - dense, detailed information about every single discovery in physics over decades. Political drama. Too many people.

But the last two chapters. Some of the most compelling, painful, awe-inspiring writing I have ever read. Every detail that felt "too much" at the beginning culminating in an incredible picture of the destructiveness of war. The horror of the reality of what had been done and the potential that was unleashed. 

I have no previous knowledge of physics and this made things difficult for me throughout much of this book - this is why it took me 9 months to read it - but every second was worth it.