Midnight in Chernobyl

By: Adam Higginbotham

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

One of AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of 2019!

The definitive, dramatic untold story of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, based on original reporting and new archival research.

April 25, 1986 in Chernobyl was a turning point in world history. The disaster not only changed the world’s perception of nuclear power and the science that spawned it, but also our understanding of the planet’s delicate ecology. With the images of the abandoned homes and playgrounds beyond the barbed wire of the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, the rusting graveyards of contaminated trucks and helicopters, the farmland lashed with black rain, the event fixed for all time the notion of radiation as an invisible killer.

Chernobyl was also a key event in the destruction of the Soviet Union, and, with it, the United States’ victory in the Cold War. For Moscow, it was a political and financial catastrophe as much as an environmental and scientific one. With a total cost of 18 billion rubles - at the time equivalent to $18 billion - Chernobyl bankrupted an already teetering economy and revealed to its population a state built upon a pillar of lies.

The full story of the events that started that night in the control room of reactor number four of the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Plant has never been told - until now. Through two decades of reporting, new archival information, and firsthand interviews with witnesses, journalist Adam Higginbotham tells the full dramatic story, including Alexander Akimov and Anatoli Dyatlov, who represented the best and worst of Soviet life; denizens of a vanished world of secret policemen, internal passports, food lines, and heroic self-sacrifice for the motherland.

Midnight in Chernobyl, award-worthy nonfiction that reads like sci-fi, shows not only the final epic struggle of a dying empire, but also the story of individual heroism and desperate, ingenious technical improvisation joining forces against a new kind of enemy.

©2019 Adam Higginbotham (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Amazing Book

I am old enough to remember this disaster. However, like many in the West I only gave it passing attention at the time. The author did a great job of putting together an excellent chronology of the events leading up to the disaster, the actual events of the the day, and then the extensive aftermath via great research and interviews. I found the author's telling of the stories of the people involved to be the best aspect of the book. He put a real human face on it. The thousands of people who worked risking and often giving their lives to contain the disaster, are real heroes the world should know about.

A detailed account of the Chernobyl accident

A detailed account of the Chernobyl accident and the aftermath.

I found the story of the individual members a little confusing because of the large number of Russian names. I think this may be easier to follow with text. The story was compelling and I learnt a lot of new details about the accident which I thought I was familiar with before.

The most interesting revelations for me were the details of the design of the reactor and how unstable it was under certain circumstances. I had assumed operator error but there were scenarios where the reaction could become unstable under fairly normal operation. Even the operators knew it was treacherous compared to other reactors that they had worked on.

Coverups, corruption, bad design, bad workmanship all played a part. Over all it is a good read for both pro and antinuclear readers as the dangers are well explained.

Frightening

One of the most frightening books I've ever read. The arrogance and stupidity that lead to so many deaths is almost as scary as the accident itself.

How does an RBMK reactor explode? Lies.

I watched the HBO miniseries that reignited my fascination with Chernobyl. This book is as horrifying, heartbreaking and the courage and heroism of everyday citizens who rose to the challenge given by the very government who lied to them is worth a credit by itself.

Incredible!

this is the best book I've listened to since having audible for two years. I will highly recommend to anyone interested about the details before, during, and after the disaster.

Haunting

This extremely well researched account of the Chernobyl disaster will leave you both haunted and hungry for more at the same time. It is clear from the beginning that Adam Higginbotham did as much research as could be done and wrote this book in a fashion that will give you a complete understanding of how those horrific events unfolded inside the plant. The level of detail goes just far enough to be intruiging, without overburdening the listener with superfluous factoids.

Excellent 👍

Bought this after watching Chernobyl on HBO. Great companion piece, very well read. Highly recommend.

insightful retelling of the disaster

I enjoyed hearing about the disaster which occurred during my senior year of high school through the lens of 30 + years. A tragic story about how communism and corruption created an environment where a disaster was inevitable.

Meaningful analysis of horrid nuclear disaster

Narration: for the most part clear; More varied rhythm would better hold attention; More frequent and varied inflection would
More clearly signpost especially important material; More judicious pauses would enable greater comprehension of essential information, including clearly identifying key events in this narrative.

Content: all the pertinent information is here, but I think omitting repetitive material would ensure more expedient understanding. I would also prefer a more didactic format and less attention given to biographical information, which I find distracting. I want to understand what happened and why, and am minimally interested in the personal lives of the key players.

There is absent a thorough explanation of why PRECISEY engaging the “abort” procedure triggered the explosion. Apparently, the explosion was triggered by the precipitous lowering of coolant material composed of slight amount of catalyst precipitating explosion. Ordinarily this coolant material works fine but in this instance, in combination with mishandling, caused instantaneous, runaway fission. Don’t quote me on this. Hopefully a more knowledgeable reviewer will clarify.

A pointed, well organized précis of this book would probably better serve the needs of a focused audience.

Recommended but not highly.

What a story. The fact that it's real and I live

What a story. The fact that the story is real and I live thoughts it. Wow.