Books

The Chernobyl accident fascinates me, so I'm reading Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. I have read INSAG-7 (a couple of times), so I think I have a decent layperson understanding of the accident. INSAG-7, however, is primarily a mechanical document, and I wanted to learn more about the human aspect of the operators. I have to admit, I'm disappointed, but it's not the fault of the book, since I set my expectations incorrectly. Apparently, Higginbotham interviewed many people involved in the accident over a decade, and I was hoping this was a more journalistic book with quotes and facts and figures. Instead, Higginbotham set out to tell the story of the accident, and that's how the book reads. This is a fine approach, just not quite the one I wanted to read. While I've caught a few errors, the book is well researched. It does irk me that he cites Grigori Medvedev in his work, since Medvedev's book is known to have inaccuracies. At the very least, Midnight in Chernobyl is far more accurate than the HBO miniseries.