Oppenheimer. Portrait of an Enigma, Jeremy Bernstein (ISBN 978-1-56663-569-1, Ivan R. Dee)

The third Oppenheimer biography I have read. Compared to the other 2 this is a very brief one. Jeremy Bernstein is a physicist turned science writer who wrote many biographies for The New Yorker. In the introduction of the book he writes he never got around to writing a biography of Oppenheimer for The New Yorker and sees his book as this piece he never wrote. As such it is more a long article than a full length book biography. Bernstein takes a personal angle to his subject as he did some atomic weapons research himself and spent some time at the Institute of Advances Study while Oppenheimer was its director. He inserts his expertise in physics and personal observations of Oppenheimer into this short biography. If you want a well written, not too lengthy biography then this book is a good choice. If you are looking for a comprehensive picture with more details about Oppenheimer as a man then American Prometheus is a better choice in my opinion. If you are an Oppenheimer ‘fan’ then you can also read this book without hesitation, well written and because of its brevity it will not take you long to finish.