Dear Great Book Guru,  I was so disappointed last week when the Sea Cliff Civic Association's Progressive Dinner had to be canceled because of Snow Storm Nemo. Well, at least we have the Beach Committee's Pub Crawl to look forward to next week- Friday, February 22.  You don’t have to drink to enjoy this event- it is just great fun walking around the Village , meeting up with friends, snacking, chatting, and supporting a great cause: our Beach! But I do have some free time and would like to have a good book to read over the weekend. Any recommendations?  Pub Crawler

Dear Pub Crawler, Yes, I plan on gathering a group of friends and visiting all the restaurants on the Pub itinerary. But I hope you will find time to read a book I just finished:  BOMB by Steve Sheinkin.   It is the fascinating and frightening history of the race to build and steal the first atomic bomb.   Sheinkin  focuses on three major players: Harry Gold- the  timid salesman from Philadelphia who was a Soviet spy bent on stealing the American blueprints  for the bomb,  J.Robert  Oppenheimer- the brilliant, much conflicted leader of the Manhattan Project that developed the bomb, and Knut Haukelid- a Norwegian resistance fighter who, despite tremendous obstacles, successfully sabotaged German attempts to create the bomb.  The physics and politics of the bomb are factually presented here, but there is also the sense  you are reading a fast-paced espionage novel.  Relatively short, clearly written, and well-illustrated, this book works for both the novice and the enthusiast.