#midnight in chernobyl

[teeth--thief]

How reliable would you say "Midnight in Chernobyl" by Adam Higginbotham is?

Depends on what kind of information from it you want to rely on. I've actually talked a bit about it in this post already, so I'll just reiterate some key things =)

Technical information: mmmmm no, not really. I mean, it's not all wrong, but there are enough things that warrant at least an eyebrow raise that I'm just going to say: the author is not a nuclear physicist, and nobody should treat him as such. His technical word is no gospel as the reactor is not his chapel.

Information about the people involved: Yes. Usually, books about Chernobyl just throw the age (sometimes even a wrong one, too) and information such as "He had a 'stache.'" Like, okay, who didn't? Give me something else to work with, I'm stuck with this guy for the next 3 pages. In Midnight, almost everyone has a face and a voice, if you will, and I really like that. I think for anyone who would have perhaps lost interest in the story, if it was just dry, technical information, it's a real lifesaver and something that actually makes them want to learn more about everything and everyone.

Note: Higginbotham has the Dyatlov Is (kind of, at least) Bad Disease, and so he describes this innocent (yes, I know, some may be shocked by this statement) guy as... um...

(...) narrow Siberian eyes that even in photographs seemed to glint with malice.

God, I hope someone will describe me this menacing when I die, too. Let's get back on track now...

Overall, he gets all the important (non-technical) bits right, and that's all that counts, really. The dates are correct, and so are the names, places, and general things that happened. It's a great starting point for doing more in-depth research. If you want the real technical deal, then INSAG-7 is probably your best choice.

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" by Adam Higginbotham

[urmomreadsbooks]

books I've read in 2023 so far:

A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions by Sheena Boekweg: I loved this book. It's very feminist and I liked how Elsie didn't really end up with anyone at the end. Also trans and aspec representation, I will love Mira with all my heart because I feel her-9/10

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo: AGH. I loved this book. It's not only about lesbian awakening but it talks about the red scare and space travel and I loved all of it.-9/10

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham: this one's nonfiction, I enjoyed it but it had a lot of technical terms in it that I didn't really understand. It read like a novel for the most part though, I liked it.-7/10

It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano- I felt obligated to read this one because it's about a flute player in a marching band, and I'm a flute player in a marching band. I wasn't a huge fan at first but I ended up really liking it.-8/10

[tbookblurbs]

Midnight in Chernobyl - Adam Higginbotham

4.5/5 - Dense, but well-worth the read; does an excellent job of capturing not only the disaster and its immediate aftermath, but the context that allowed it to happen in the first place

This book does a fantastic job of walking the reader minute-by-minute through the Chernobyl nuclear disaster as it took place. It gives a broad overview of the scientific reasons for the disaster, as well as what possible political and societal failings are woven into the disaster.

I can't speak to the accessibility of the science sections - I am an engineering and physics student, so my level of "Oh, this makes sense," is a little different from the average person. That said, I do think that Higginbotham does an excellent job of showing the flaws in the Soviet system from an interpersonal level that contribute to the crisis. Their handling of the power plant construction and the disaster that followed could act as a textbook example of what not to do in a crisis.

Chernobyl is something of a morbid fascination of mine. Nuclear energy in general is something I know a lot about (I'm happy to talk more about it) and Chernobyl is the nuclear's reigning PR disaster, even including Fukushima. Reading about all the nitty-gritty details of what went wrong was honestly enough to make me go blind with rage at times. I repeatedly had to put the book down because I was so frustrated with the officials' actions. There was such a blatant disregard for human life, as well as disrespect for the power of a nuclear plant, that loss of life and widespread radiation sickness was almost inevitable.

[tea-and-thrillers]

Book Review: Midnight at Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Midnight In Chernobyl: The Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham was infuriating. Every detail was perfectly laid out in a play by play format and it was easy to follow along. As someone that was born after the Chernobyl disaster, this book really opened my eyes to every nuance that led up to the disaster and the aftermath. I’ve always been incredibly interested in…

[elinsreadingcorner]

Currently Reading: 'Midnight in Chernobyl' by Adam Higginbotham

Midnight in Chernobyl is one of my unfinished reads. It’s about the nuclear plant, reactor 4, that exploded in Chornobyl in the 1980s. Higginbotham retells the story of firefighters, officials, workers at the plant, and more by describing how the event unfolded. I’ve been reading this book for about two years, or maybe more. It seems to be a book I can only read outside. The book is heavy,…

[iphigeniarising]

This took me out

[anne---dromeda]

--01/11/23--

was busy yesterday oops 🤭

⭐ day 10: what subject related book would you recommend?

tbh I don't read a lot of books about physics, but I've always had an interest in Chernobyl, so I'd recommend Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. it's super well done, explaining how nuclear reactors work, how Chernobyl happened, the containment, and the trial afterwards.

⭐ day 11: do you have any hobbies or special talents?

my biggest hobby outside of school right now is D&D! I'm in two campaigns, one where I play a halfling monk named Faucet, and the other is a homebrew class for an alchemist named Charlotte <3

[marisatomay]

Chernobyl (2019) … now that’s television

[aesfocus]

Make Me Choose; anthology or deep dive nonfiction

[acesammy]

wild when you go down the rabbithole of fixation only to emerge like 3 weeks later deeply educated on a topic that will be of no use to you in the future

[teeth--thief]

Hi. Your previous anonymous speaker, again. I’m reading Midnight in Chernobyl, as I’m fortunate enough to have found a copy. Notes? Thoughts? Thank you, again. I liked your last reply much.

- R

Welcome back R, so glad to see you! I'm happy you liked my reply ♡! I shall continue replying for as long as you'll continue asking.

It's probably the best English language book about the disaster out there. As I've mentioned in my previous post, it does a great job showing the people involved as, well, people, which a lot of other books fail to do. It does repeat certain myths and misinformation, though, mainly when the source is Medvedev, so I guess that's on him. Everything is on him. We (me) hate Medvedev in this household.

> One of my least favourite things it repeats is that there was some kind of a disagreement in the control room. There were calm conversations and the closest thing to an "argument" was when, allegedly, Dyatlov snapped and told Akimov to hurry up because he was taking too long looking over the test program during the beginning of the shift. Nobody reported anything else - if they did, it would have most definitely been used against Dyatlov himself during the trial - and yet, seemingly neither Akimov's nor Toptunov's testimonies said anything about being forced to do anything or getting yelled at by the Deputy Chief Engineer.

It is unclear to me why this kind of narrative persisted even after people realised the operators weren't at fault and that Medvedev had it out for Dyatlov for some reason. Drama is what makes things interesting and it's easier to say "oh, well, the operators did not agree to XYZ, actually" when you don't want to blame them, I suppose. But you might as well be perfect obedient and be innocent and the same time - after all, it's not like any of them were exactly planning making the reactor go boom that night...

> It's not clear why there was a power drop to begin with. Higginbotham says that the SIUR "made a mistake", while Dyatlov and a few others say it was an equipment error. RBMK is a beast of a reactor, reportedly hard to control when the power is low and an inexperienced SIUR, which Toptunov was, would probably have problems keeping up with everything. If it was the case of the SIUR messing up, then it's not as simple as the author presents, you don't just miss one step and it all goes to shit, you actively have to not recognise and/or not be fast enough with your actions. But that's nitpicking, it's not that relevant.

> The fuel channel caps never jumped or at least were never actually SEEN by anyone to have been jumping, my god. Perevozchenko was in the control room when it was "going on". That Chernobyl Guy made a really good (and fun!) video on the topic if anyone's interested. Love that guy, he's doing a great job!

> I'm pretty sure that the description of the control rods and the positive scram effect (and the purely technical, nuclear bits) is not that accurate. I'm going to be very careful with both of these because pure physics is outside of my comfort zone and will actually recommend you do your own research on both of these, if you're interested, from the fear that I might start sounding like Medvedev (without proper education)

Other than that, it's really really good! It includes some relevant pictures, which is always nice (I'm looking at you, Kate Brown's book), it covers a great time duration - from before Prypiat to after Chernobyl. And the author interviewed a ton of people, we have to give him that.

All in all, I absolutely need to reread this book again because my memory of it is a little foggy and I'll report back to you in case something of importance will come up!

[esperantoauthor]

I guess this month we're hyperfixating on Soviet nuclear disasters, huh?

[cidnangarlond]

I hope I'm your Chernobyl mutual

[arsonwizard]

of course the first known victim of man-made radiation was because of thomas edison

[eurosleaz]

finished one book and then quickly started another (the damnation game by clive barker)