Trapped Under the Sea: One Engineering Marvel, Five Men, and a Disaster Ten Miles Into the Darkness by Neil Swidey

4.01 AVERAGE

emco_0's review

3.5
informative sad tense medium-paced

nancyadelman's review against another edition

5.0
In July 1999, Americans’ attention was focused on the sudden death of JFK, Jr., his wife and a family member in a plane accident. Few news stories reported on the equally sudden deaths of deep sea divers who perished in a totally preventable tragedy 420 feet down under Boston’s harbor and nine and a half miles out during that same month. This is the focus of author Neil Swidey’s book, “Trapped Under the Sea” which is a thorough examination of the tragedy, the events leading up to it, and the people whose lives were forever changed by it. In this book, Swidey explains the reasons for the building of a tunnel ten miles under Boston Harbor and the engineering required for such a project and does so in such a language that the casual reader with no engineering background can understand. He also explains the science of deep sea diving and the risks taken by those people who put their lives on the line everyday as part of their job. Swidey writes in a manner that is logical and understandable without going on so long that he bores or talks down to the reader. This book is highly readable and as intriguing as any thriller on the market. At some point the book became so real to me that I had difficulty putting it down, the sure mark of a well written book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, particularly anyone who has an interest in the Boston area or deep sea diving. I received this book for free from Blogging For Books for this review.

brg1998's review against another edition

4.0
Very well researched and written. He really got to know the people he wrote about and helped the reader to get to know them as well. It was an interesting and sometimes infuriating look at the corporate butt covering and finger pointing that affect the workers whose job it is to execute the job no matter how poorly planned it may be. It did drag a little at times. I’m not sure there needed to be an entire chapter on the history of PTSD (and if it wasn’t an entire chapter it did feel like one). It was a distraction more than an enhancement to the book. Otherwise, I really enjoyed (probably not the best word to use about a book dealing with tragedy) the story and getting to know about the lives of the people involved.

christinelangill's review against another edition

3.0
informative slow-paced
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rschaffer_36's review

4.0
informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
Covered all the major players in the disaster without it feeling like the book was trying to blame one person or entity. All the background into the divers lives was interesting. Enjoyed the emphasis that often it's the manual labor that pays the price for the mistakes if big companies and designers.

mikebravo's review against another edition

5.0
"Trapped Under the Sea" by Neil Swidey

This book is about a team of divers doing what nobody has done before. Traveling 450 feet under the ocean and 9 miles out to sea, removing plugs for a brand new sewer tunnel. The author tells an amazing story about what happens to the team that goes into the tunnel and not all of them come back out, and the aftermath that ensues. He also goes into detail about the big companies that where behind the project and how their egos got into the way of the safety of the divers.

I couldn't put this book down! It's an easy, fast pace read. The way the author wrote this book made you feel like you where part of the team down in the tunnel yourself. When they were feeling claustrophobic, I found myself breathing heavily. The author went into great detail during the lawsuit and the tragedies that followed the crew after the tunnel catastrophe, all the while telling everyone's story from dealing with drugs and alcohol, to bank robberies and recovery.


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I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.


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angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

3.0
Pretty good. Better than okay. But the actual event was fairly short in the scope of the book. Also, I was interested in the apparent scuba aspect of the story and the event is not really an underwater event per se. Don't want to ruin anything for potential readers but this does not take place "in" the water. So overall above average but lacking in areas.

leeleemarg's review against another edition

5.0
emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

mpapomeroy's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

egrace13's review against another edition

5.0
challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced