Titanic's Last Secrets

By: John Chatterton, Richie Kohler, Brad Matsen

Narrated by: Henry Leyva

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

Why did Titanic sink as quickly as it did? Two of the greatest wreck divers in the world, the heroes of Shadow Divers, solve the mystery of history's greatest wreck. Titanic's Last Secrets peers into the lives of scientists, financiers, adventurers, and industrialists to bring listeners a thrilling and revelatory work of history and contemporary adventure.

©2008 Hachette Audio (P)2008 Brad Matsen

Critic Reviews

"In this expertly written account, Matsen...does what would seem impossible: he tells us something new about the Titanic disaster." ( Publishers Weekly)

Not much diving but interesting story

I got this book the second I saw the names of the Shadow divers in the description. As a diver I really enjoyed Shadow divers and was expecting a similar book in this one. I was pretty dissapointed when I realized this wasn't what the book was about. However, once I got over that Chatterton and Kohler dissapeared after the first hour I found it pretty interesting. Titanics myth and what really happened that cold night almost a hundred years ago, and what led up to it, was a good listen. Fortunately the divers return in the last hour and I got some diving stories after all! As long as you buy this expecting a good history lesson about Titanic and not a diving book you should be ok!

Loved It

I was almost afraid of listening to this book.

I didn't want to be disappointed after listening to "Shadow Divers", which is another Chatterton, Kohler story, which is one of my all time favorite audiobooks.

I was pleasantly surprised. The book intertwines the story of the Titanic from plans to sinking along with the current day story of diving to explore its mysteries.

The reader is the only detraction in this audiobook. He reads it like a "B" Actor in a bad movie (and a poor B-actor at that). This wasn't enough; however, to downgrade the rating.

A definitive recommendation!

Only one secret that I could find

I think the audiobook was good, and the reader did a great job, but I was let down by the actual book content. Forget secrets, I only heard one secret (though it may be worth it to you to find out what it is) and the rest of the book seemed to be a speculative and imagined journey (though based on some interesting hard facts) through the building, boarding, and sinking of the Titanic and the trials that followed. I guess this just wasn't what I expected. I can find plenty of books that try to paint a picture of the Titanic's last journey. I was hoping to find more substantive information about the discoveries made by the authors. But truth be told they could have written an article about their find and been done with it. They don't have much, so they had to add a lot more fluff so they could sell a book and make up for the costs accrued in their expensive wreck diving.

Titanic account sandwiched by Shadow Divers

If you're looking for another adventure with the "Shadow Divers", be warned that a good chunk of this book is actually an account of the facts surrounding the Titanic.
This having been said, the whole account about the tragedy is also very interesting and deserves five stars.

Riveting, pun intended.

I found all the mechanical engineering storied fascinating. Kohlers diving stories are always worth the listen.

short on adventure

spends most of the time on retelling the events around titanic. Hard to accurately differentiate between facts and speculation on the authors part