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A review by svjak
Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster by Andrew Leatherbarrow
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This is a fantastic account of what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. Probably one of the better books I've read on the subject. Leatherbarrow doesn't shy away from the technicalities of what happened and talking about the reactor in depth, but he also doesn't come across as a textbook using jargon only students of nuclear chemistry would understand. This book is very much right down the middle.
The first half of the book is focused on recounting what happened in 1986. What exactly went wrong, why did it get as bad as it did despite the safeguards in place, how did the scientists and crew at the plant not realize what was happening, what happened to the people who were tasked with cleaning up the disaster, what happened to the town of Pripyet? Leatherbarrow goes over so much in a short amount of time. It's very concise and straight to the point. It's also very clear Leatherbarrow has done his research and knows what he's talking about in relation to the reactor, from how he describes the inner workings of the reactor to how it blew apart from the pressure of the steam build-up (not from a nuclear explosion.) That was something that I really appreciated seeing.
It might be difficult to understand if you don't know anything about RBMK reactors or what happened because a lot of the content in this book is a step up from the very basic stuff. My best advice is, read this anyway. And if you find yourself struggling to understand the details when he starts talking about the reactors, go watch a few youtube videos that break it down visually so you can see with your eyes what he's talking about. It's worth the extra effort.
The second half of the book tells the story of Leatherbarrow's trip to Pripyet and the Chernobyl power plant, including very haunting pictures and stories of the cleanup. Understanding the technical side of it and then following it up with a sort of journalistic exploration of these places so many decades later really works to put the scale of this tragedy into perspective.
This was a very well written book on the Chernobyl disaster, and I expected no less after learning that Andrew wrote this book for himself, to simplify the technical jargon in a way he could understand. This book made it's rounds on reddit amongst people familiar with the disaster (i.e. nuclear chemists, historians, etc.) prior to being released, and was edited based on feedback from those people. And I think that really shows when you look at the details in this book.
This is by far the best book I've read on Chernobyl. You can get more technical if you want to start looking into scientific analyses of what happened, but as a book, this is the best one I've read.
The first half of the book is focused on recounting what happened in 1986. What exactly went wrong, why did it get as bad as it did despite the safeguards in place, how did the scientists and crew at the plant not realize what was happening, what happened to the people who were tasked with cleaning up the disaster, what happened to the town of Pripyet? Leatherbarrow goes over so much in a short amount of time. It's very concise and straight to the point. It's also very clear Leatherbarrow has done his research and knows what he's talking about in relation to the reactor, from how he describes the inner workings of the reactor to how it blew apart from the pressure of the steam build-up (not from a nuclear explosion.) That was something that I really appreciated seeing.
It might be difficult to understand if you don't know anything about RBMK reactors or what happened because a lot of the content in this book is a step up from the very basic stuff. My best advice is, read this anyway. And if you find yourself struggling to understand the details when he starts talking about the reactors, go watch a few youtube videos that break it down visually so you can see with your eyes what he's talking about. It's worth the extra effort.
The second half of the book tells the story of Leatherbarrow's trip to Pripyet and the Chernobyl power plant, including very haunting pictures and stories of the cleanup. Understanding the technical side of it and then following it up with a sort of journalistic exploration of these places so many decades later really works to put the scale of this tragedy into perspective.
This was a very well written book on the Chernobyl disaster, and I expected no less after learning that Andrew wrote this book for himself, to simplify the technical jargon in a way he could understand. This book made it's rounds on reddit amongst people familiar with the disaster (i.e. nuclear chemists, historians, etc.) prior to being released, and was edited based on feedback from those people. And I think that really shows when you look at the details in this book.
This is by far the best book I've read on Chernobyl. You can get more technical if you want to start looking into scientific analyses of what happened, but as a book, this is the best one I've read.