Having graduated from the military academy at the age of 28, recent front-line soldier A.D. Zharikov served for some time in the General and other headquarters, and then was sent to a nuclear test site in the Semipalatinsk region, where he headed one of the scientific groups. A direct participant in those top-secret events, a retired colonel, writer, and author of many books, tells truthfully and fascinatingly about how atomic and hydrogen bombs were prepared and tested in the strictest secrecy, about outstanding nuclear scientists and ordinary workers at the test site who risked their health and lives. , laureate of literary prizes named after A. A. Fadeev, K. M. Simonov and P. N. Vasilyev, veteran of the Great Patriotic War A. D. Zharikov. For the general reader.