Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Check out if you like doomsday nightmares and uncovering government secrets.

The Chernobyl nuclear energy disaster occurred in 1986. They are still monitoring effects from it today, and will be for decades to come. If you want a whole picture story that makes you think, and gives you nightmares about the reality of some societies, this is it.

I read this hoping to learn more about how the explosion happened and was treated with enough good science and research to satisfy my curiosity, and enough good writing to keep me entertained. I even came away with one more item to put on my list of “Ways I Do Not Want to Die.” The book includes diagrams and does a great job in explaining the technicality behind how things came to be and why. I am a science-y person, and I followed along easily. Something I didn’t expect, however; is being brought more personally into the story. The author interviewed many survivors and family members from the disaster and included their stories. So expect to feel some feelings ranging from mournful to indignant.

If you want video cues with your reading, HBO has a drama series based on the incident called Chernobyl, and there are a few documentaries about the disaster out there as well. Anything relating that we have on DVD to check out you can find here.

As for me, all my family members have been told to read this, and I definitely recommend it to you all too.