Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster at the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

 

Title:  Challenger:  A True Story of Heroism and Disaster at the Edge of Space

Author:  Adam Higginbotham

Narrated by:  Jacques Roy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 17 hours and 9 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio. 

 

What real life disaster would you like to read more about?

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke up only 73 seconds into the flight and all seven astronauts on board lost their lives.  This tragedy was a defining moment in many people’s lives.  I remember it happening as a second grader.  We were all excited about the first teacher going to space and then it all went horribly wrong.

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       I listened to this audiobook on a family trip at Christmas and another recent road trip in February.  My husband and I both found it interesting, and it prompted good discussion.

·       The audiobook gives details on each of the seven astronauts as well as other important people and incidents leading up to the disaster.  The history of the space shuttle program was fascinating. 

·       I felt better thinking that the astronauts vaporized rather than learning that they were hurtling towards their deaths and aware for 3 entire minutes.  The search and finding of their remains was horrifying.

·       This audiobook gave me a lot to think about ethics wise. Engineers blew the whistle about how they knew the O-rings had problems with temperature, but the shuttle was sent up anyways.  Human lives seemed to be not valued.  The engineers received accolades from professional societies, but never worked in aerospace again.  Ethics did not pay in this situation.

·       The space shuttle Columbia investigation discovered that many of the findings and items that were supposed to go into place after the Challenger disaster were not put not place.

·       It worried me with current events and seemingly random cuts to the government that we are setting ourselves up for another national tragedy.

·       The epilogue detailed what happened to many of the major players involved in the disaster.

·       Author Adam Higginbotham writes great non-fiction.  I also enjoyed his work, Midnight at Chernobyl.

Overall, Challenger by Adam Higginbotham was a fascinating nonfiction audiobook on the Challenger Disaster that opened my eyes to aspects of the disaster and fall out.  This is a must read for any fans of space flight and/or NASA.

Laura’s Top Fourteen Books of 2019

I am behind on my top books list for 2019, but better late than never, right? I read a lot of outstanding books this past year and had a hard time narrowing my list down to only the top ten, so instead I am doing a top 14 books of the year.  I also noticed most are historical fiction or historical non-fiction books, you can definitely tell my favorite genre. These books were not necessarily books published in 2019, but they were books I read in 2019.  I did not include books that I was rereading, but only books that I’ve read for the first time. They are only in the order of when I read them through the year of 2019.  Click on the titles for the full review of the book.  And now without further ado, my top ten books of 2019.

The Gown by Jennifer Robson – The Gown was one of the first books I read in 2019 and it was one of the best.  It told the riveting story of the women who made Elizabeth II’s wedding gown and was a great look at the bleakness of life in post WWII era England.  

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – I read The Hate U Give as part of the Kewaunee Library book club and I don’t know if any other book has every prompted so much discussion on race and current news topics.  It was an eye-opening novel that gives you a different perspective.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn – The Huntress was set during and after WWII and told the story of three different women.  One is a daring aviatrix flying bombing raids for Russia, the other is a young girl in post WWII America with suspicions about her Step Mom, and the third is the Step Mom who may be more than she lets on with a secret cruel past in Nazi Germany.

Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard – I still keep thinking about this novel.  It was a wonderful book about the relationship between Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln, and his best friend, Joshua Speed.  I couldn’t put this book down. I loved that the story framed Lincoln as the enigmatic lead that both Mary and Joshua loved.  The story was told through their point of view.  It reminded me again why Louis Bayard is one of my favorite historical fiction authors.

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom – This non-fiction book was written in the 1970’s and tells Corrie Ten Boom’s story of her family, faith, and survival after being persecuted by the Nazis for helping Jewish people escape.  It was an inspiring read.

 

Refugee by Alan Gratz – This middle grade fiction read should not be missed by adults.  It is set in three different time frames and tells the story of a Jewish boy trying to flee German on a boat to America, a Cuban girl trying to flee Cuba to America, and a boy trying to flee Syria to Germany.  It gives a great understanding to the plight of a refugee and connects the stories wonderfully at the end.  This is a must read.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See – The Island of Sea Women told a part of history that I sadly knew nothing about.  The Island of JeJu is off the coast of Korea and is a matriarchal society run with its main industry being deep sea diving for fish by the women of the island.  As WWII looms, both Japan and Korea force atrocities on the island that will change their lives forever.  This is an unforgettable story.

 

The Summer Country by Lauren Willig – The Summer Country was another wonderful historical fiction novel that explores race and love.  This was another book I couldn’t put down once I started reading it.  It was a multi-layered Victorian story with a mystery involved.  Set on Barbados, the story dug into what it meant to be a slave and to own slaves in the society.  This novel was a Jane Austen manners novel, mixed with Charlotte Bronte gothic, with a modern look at race relations.  It also includes a Cholera epidemic, which is fitting for this year’s reading.

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham – Midnight in Chernobyl is a fascinating look at what lead up to the incident in Chernobyl and the aftermath.  It is non-fiction, but reads like fiction.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – I loved the mystery, nature, and romance of this novel.  I felt like it was a grown-up version of A Girl of the Limberlost.

The Martian by Andy Weir – Quite simply, The Martian is one of the best science fiction novels I’ve ever read.  The story itself was a fast-paced adventure, and I loved the real science involved.

The Only Plane in the Sky:  An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M.  Graff – The Only Plane in the Sky was the best audiobook I have ever listened to.  It was another book I just couldn’t stop listening to.  It used first person narration to tell the story of 9/11 in real time.  I think this is another must read for all Americans.

They Called Us Enemy byGeorge Takei – My 11-year-old son Daniel and I read this graphic novel together.  I have been a lifelong fan of George Takei loving him in Star Trek and now loving him on social media.  I love that he took the story of his life and has been telling it in person, with a play, and with this graphic novel so that we can take an honest look at our past and see that we did not always treat our citizens right.  Takei’s look at his childhood in the Japanese internment camps is both heartbreaking and eye opening.

The Testaments byMargaret Atwood – I was amazed that Margaret Atwood was able to follow up the unforgettable The Handmaid’s Tale with the Testaments, a novel that continues the story in the world of The Handmaid’s Tale and turns everything you thought you knew upside down.  This was another book that kept me up too late at night.

Other books I loved this year, but didn’t quite make my top 14 included:

• With this Pledge by Tamera Alexander
• Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
• Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
• The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
• White Elephant by Trish Harnetiaux
• Best. Movie.  Year.  Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raferty

For more top reads from the past, check out my lists from 2018, 2017 & 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007.

What were your favorite books of 2019?

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Title: Midnight in Chernobyl

Author: Adam Higginbotham

Read by:  Jacques Roy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 55 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

I’ve just started to watch Chernobyl on HBO and my immediate thought was, how could something like this happen?  Luckily there is a non-fiction book, Midnight in Chernobyl, that explains the details on how exactly an accident like this could happen.

Midnight in Chernobyl was an excellent audiobook.  Jacques Roy was a fantastic narrator.  I enjoyed listening to his voice and his style led me to think I was listening to an old friend telling me the story of Chernobyl.  The book started with an in-depth look at how nuclear reactors worked, and how Chernobyl was built.  It was very interesting to me as an engineer how different the process was in the Soviet Union compared to the U.S.  The focus in the Soviet Union was to complete items on time even if they were wrong and declare victory. If you didn’t complete items on time, you could find yourself exiled to Siberia or executed. Therefore the focus was on speed rather than accuracy. This way of doing things ultimately led to this tragedy.

Midnight in Chernobyl also went into detail into what exactly happened the night of the disaster and the aftermath.  The HBO miniseries started after the explosion had occurred and I was confused.  Luckily, I had already listened to the book so I knew what had happened.  Midnight in Chernobyl gave the human side of things by focusing on several key individuals. There were a LOT of people to remember.  I was happy that the audiobook repeated the entire name of the individual and their role.  This helped a lot to keep track of the action and the final fate of people over time.

The non-fiction book often read like an action novel.  There was one incredible scene where specialists were flying in a helicopter to the scene measuring the radioactivity when the levels suddenly spiked – one of the men shouted, “you have killed us all!”

It was also very disturbing that the USSR kept the secret after the accident and didn’t warn anyone so that Europe was exposed to the radiation outfall.  The way this section was written was lyrically beautiful in nature as it explained the weather patterns and storms that carried the radiation away from Chernobyl across Europe.

This audiobook haunted me.  It was often hard to listen to the toll this took on the workers, fire fighters, and people who lived nearby.  It was an important story that did talk about what caused the incident. Hopefully we can use those lessons to never have another Chernobyl again.

Overall, Midnight at Chernobyl was a great non-fiction book that gives all of the details of the Chernobyl incident.  The book was non-fiction, but read like fiction at times and was very readable (or listenable to me on audiobook). This gives you the “rest of the story” that was not included in the HBO miniseries.