The Berlin Project

By: Gregory Benford

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

New York Times bestselling author Gregory Benford creates an alternate history about the creation of the atomic bomb that explores what could have happened if the bomb was ready to be used by June 6, 1944.

Karl Cohen, a chemist and mathematician who is part of The Manhattan Project team, has discovered an alternate solution for creating the uranium isotope needed to cause a chain reaction: U-235.

After convincing General Groves of his new method, Cohen and his team of scientists work at Oak Ridge preparing to have a nuclear bomb ready to drop by the summer of 1944 in an effort to stop the war on the western front. What ensues is an altered account of World War II in this taut thriller.

Combining fascinating science with intimate and true accounts of several members of The Manhattan Project, The Berlin Project is an astounding novel that reimagines history and what could have happened if the atom bomb was ready in time to stop Hitler from killing millions of people.

Critic reviews

“Amazing.”

“Physics and politics, engineering and imagination, “The Berlin Project” has them all. No one has ever been better than Mr. Benford at expressing the sheer excitement of new science and the human tension of making a case, on which the future of the world depends.

“Let’s not think that there aren’t other decisions being made now, or not made now, on which our future depends. The answers depend on the science, yes, but also on the salesmanship. You have to sell the Moon, and Mars and the stars, to the politicians and the public. And if you don’t get it right . . . there will be consequences. That’s why sci-fi is not just for fans.”

(– Tom Shippey)

“Through an informed exploration of what might have been, The Berlin Project provides a unique and darkly enthralling perspective on the events underpinning the advent of the atomic age.”

“In this intriguing alternate history thriller that speculates on the road not taken in the U.S.’s frantic path toward developing an atomic bomb during WWII…En route to that deployment, Benford brings to life all the heavy hitters involved in the Manhattan Project, such as Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, and Robert Oppenheimer.”

"Karl Cohen is working under Harold Urey as a physics research assistant at Columbia University, where their discoveries bring them into the circle known as the Manhattan Project. In this alternate history (illustrated with historical photographs), Karl, being in the right place at the right time, moves up the timetable on the making of the first atomic bomb. Rather than targeting the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the first “little boy” is deployed June 5, 1944, on Berlin. Physicist and best-selling author Benford (Timescape) keeps most of his narrative solidly grounded in historical facts but not overwhelmingly so, and his engaging and compelling characters (all real people) are easy to connect with. While pondering what might have been, this insightful work provides a sobering look at how fragile the whole process of building an atomic weapon really was."

“One of the hallmarks of science fiction is asking "What if?" IN fact, the entire subgenre of alternate history is based on it. Gregory Benford's exciting alternate WWII thriller The Berlin Project posits a scenario in which the atomic bomb was ready to be deployed one year early, in the summer of 1944 – thanks to a scientist with the Manhattan Project who discovers a new way to cause a powerful chain reaction. How would the war have changed? Find out in the fast-paced story.”

Enough already

I had Highhope's for this book it was well recommended and I enjoy the genre but the authors attention to detail and more detail was painfully slow and unnecessary. He skips over critical historical events like the ending of the war in Japan and spends too much time on irrelevant relational discussion I go nowhere and add nothing.

Entertaining and thoughtful ...

A highly entertaining and thoughtful story that is rich in historical detail. I found the author’s exploration of an alternative history of the Manhattan project fascinating. And I thought the reader did an excellent job of performing the story.

Great book, tormented by an awful narrator!

I really enjoyed this book -- the whole alternate history of the possibilities in WWII had nuclear bombs been developed in time to use them on Germany was fascinating, and the scientific basis made it all the more believable. The characters were interesting and really came to life for me, weren't at all one-dimensional -- and finding out that the author knew many of them personally (and was his main character's son-in-law in real life) explained why. Yes, the author went into a lot of detail about the development of nuclear fuel for the weapons, but since that was the historic turning point the entire story was based upon, and since the author also knows his nuclear science well, it was, IMO, hugely important to be explained in full. While I enjoy a good space opera or even an occasional action-filled alternate history, I also enjoy learning from the SF I read.

This book has a solid factual basis since the story was based on an intimate knowledge of the history involved, with just a few key details changed to provide the alternate possibilities explored -- one method of uranium separation chosen vs. another, when the reality was the reverse. I can understand that some folks, who prefer more action in their SF, might find it a dry and dusty story, but to me it seemed all the more realistic because of of the factual development; decisions were made in the book that, in hindsight, should have been made in reality. Also, WWII wasn't an event to be easily simplified, and the author didn't even try to; he just changed one of two pivotal events that changed the entire possible course of the war, and then explored how the changed history might have turned out. All in all, it was my second-favorite alternate history of WWII (my favorite being Connie Willis's Blackout/All Clear).

What I did NOT enjoy was the narrator. Not only was he dry and pedantic to the point of being soporific, but he kept misreading words and, in a couple places, entire phrases. He'd turn a word into a totally different word, changing the author's entire meaning. I'd gotten the Kindle version originally and then, wanting to also pay attention to my knitting while I was reading, got the audio book, so I did have the original text to compare the narration to. The narrator's regular misreading was really annoying and got more frequent as the book went on.

Additionally, why on earth would a narrator be chosen for a book containing so many foreign names, accents, and phrases in French and German who did not have even a SLIGHT understanding of pronunciation in either of those two languages? I don't know how to properly pronounce German, but if his French pronunciation was any indication, it was probably equally horrific. His attempts at French were so painful I found myself properly pronouncing the French phrases just to try to clear the anguish of his butchered attempts from my memory! He didn't do much better on the accents when people were speaking English, even native English speakers. He gave Richard Feynman such a ridiculously exaggerated Bronx accent that he sounded like a Mafia wannabe instead of a brilliant scientist! His attempts at accented English were also inconsistent, coming and going apparently as the mood struck him. Who made the mistake of choosing this narrator for this book, anyway?

Yes, this review is more about the narration than the story. The TL:DR version is: Loved the book, hated the narration! So anyone who's genuinely interested in a thoughtful, entirely plausible alternate history of nuclear weaponry in WWII, I recommend you read the book and leave the narration alone! I will be making sure never to listen to another book misread by this man, especially one that could have been so well done!

Loved it

One of the best Alternative History stories I have ever read
wonderfully written a great read

Writer has weird ideas about women

The story is low, but entertaining -to a certain extent. The science is pretty sound, the rare action sequences well done. But oh my god, does this feel like it was written in the 70s or 80s. In this novel women exist to either please or help (their) men. Nothing more. And the writer actually really, really believes women would be satisfied with such a life. The weird thing is, all these observations about the feelings and ambitions of women (or lack thereof) are redundant. They could have been left out, and the story wouldn't change one bit.
I get that these ideas were prevalent during WWII and the observations function to add to the authenticity of the world, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work because it's not being told by a character, it's being told by the narrator, by the writer.
It would have been women who built Little Boy if given the chance.

seriously? no creativity

lays out the facts but then never goes into how the world goes from there.

A nuclear physics lesson disguised as Alt-History

I got four hours into "The Berlin Project" hoping that a story would develop. Benford may be an SF grandmaster, but his true desire seems to be going back in time as a Jewish chemist/physicist to jump start the Manhattan Project. The pedantry is a real shame: the premise of developing an early A-Bomb is a good one for alternative history, but I just couldn't bear an hour of discussion about the challenges of enriching uranium in 1939. I'm not kidding. An hour. And that was just one small part.