REVIEW: Chernobyl 01:23:40

Chernobyl 01:23:40
Author: Andrew Leatherbarrow

On April 26, 1986 the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (officially named the Vladmir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant) exploded during a test, releasing huge amounts of radiation and contamination into a large section of Ukraine. The USSR fought to control the contamination while striving to prevent the accident becoming an embarrassment to the communist nation.  I was a senior in high school at the time. I remember the initial news stories stated that an unknown nuclear event of some type had been traced to the soviet union by European nuclear scientists based on increased radiation picked up by monitoring equipment. It took days for the USSR to admit there had been an accident. As more details slowly came out, it became a frightening tale of emergency workers dying of radiation and thousands of people permanently evacuated from their homes. I have always been curious to know more about the causes and aftermath of the accident. I've seen many, many photos of the abandoned city of Pripyat and watched documentaries about the accident and clean-up efforts, effects on wildlife in the exclusion zone around the accident site, and the long-term effects on the estimated 2.1 million people who still live in areas contaminated by the accident. I enjoyed the recent 4-part HBO miniseries on Chernobyl and wanted to read more. That's how I came across this book by Andrew Leatherbarrow.

Leatherbarrow was also interested in the accident, its causes and effects, but found most books and information to be too technical for those outside the nuclear field to fully understand. He spent years researching and wrote about what he learned, publishing it online for free download. He carefully edited his work based on reader input....and later published his findings in book form. He presents an interesting and factual account not only of the Chernobyl accident, but also gives facts about the history of nuclear energy, other accidents that have occurred and the safety of nuclear power versus other forms of energy production. He talks in depth about a tour he took to the site in 2011.

I listened to this book on audio. Narrated by Michael Page, the audio is about 6.5 hours long. Page reads at a nice pace and brings the narrative to life. I enjoyed this entire book! I found the author's research and presentation of the facts to be sound and very interesting. I also enjoyed his personal account about his trip to Ukraine to tour the exclusion zone. After listening to this account, I want to watch the miniseries again because I think I have a greater understanding of the events now.

I learned a lot from this book, not only about the accident but about nuclear power in general. Very informative and enjoyable! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about Chernobyl.