My Hero, OPPENHEIMER | Episode 5 | Everything is Everything

J Robert Oppenheimer was an extraordinary man who dedicated himself to his field and his country -- and faced persecution from the mediocre and the venal.

Welcome to Episode 5 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay tells us the moving story of his hero, Oppenheimer -- and why that resonates with him. Amit talks about building cities and how power can corrode character. Listen in!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00 Teaser and packaging
00:54 Introduction: Christopher Nolan -- An Auteur at Scale
07:13 Chapter 1: My Hero, Oppenheimer
42:48 Chapter 2: Ajay recommends the ultimate book on the atomic bomb
44:51 Chapter 3: Amit recommends a masterpiece that is the biography of a man and a city -- and how power corrupts.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSeenAndTh...
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. Oppenheimer -- Christopher Nolan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenhe...)
8. Arrival -- Denis Villeneuve: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0HO...
9. Blade Runner 2049 -- Denis Villeneuve: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0L5...
10. Blade Runner -- Ridley Scott:    • Blade Runner  
11. Dunkirk -- Christopher Nolan: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0LT...
12. How to Write Well -- Tim de Lisle: https://amzn.eu/d/1RuuGdN
13. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns -- Robert Jungk: https://amzn.eu/d/ih9xcM4
14. The Making of the Atomic Bomb -- Richard Rhodes: https://amzn.eu/d/enRw8JG
15. The enduring legacy of Leo Szilard -- Ashutosh Jogalekar: http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.co...
16. Einstein's Letter to President Roosevelt - 1939: https://www.atomicarchive.com/resourc...
17. Oppenheimer, Nullified and Vindicated -- Kai Bird: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cul...
18. The US Government letter accepting its mistake on Oppenheimer: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/...
19. The Four Quadrants of Conformism -- Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/conformism....
20. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma: https://indiauncut.com/our-unlucky-ch...
21. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan):    • Ep 185: Fixing Indian Education  
22. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia -- Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah):    • Ep 335:  A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs ...  
23. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra -- Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 339: The Poetic Feminism of Paromi...  
24. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin: https://amzn.eu/d/6J3c7jr
25. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron -- Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey):    • Ep 319: Jahnavi and the Cyclotron  
26. Atomic State -- Jahnavi Phalkey: https://amzn.eu/d/gD2BVQ7
27. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro: https://amzn.eu/d/7U7Y6Ck
28. Robert Caro on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/Robert-A-Caro/e...
29. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges: https://kwarc.info/teaching/TDM/Borge...
30. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs: https://amzn.eu/d/3sRCeQd
31. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma: https://indiauncut.substack.com/p/10-...


Produced and edited by Vartika Singh:    / @vartikasingh7  .
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with the sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter images by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina