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  • Chernobyl 01:23:40

  • The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster
  • By: Andrew Leatherbarrow
  • Narrated by: Michael Page
  • Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (223 ratings)
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Chernobyl 01:23:40 cover art

Chernobyl 01:23:40

By: Andrew Leatherbarrow
Narrated by: Michael Page
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Summary

At 01:23:40 on April 26th 1986, Alexander Akimov pressed the emergency shutdown button at Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor. It was an act that forced the permanent evacuation of a city, killed thousands, and crippled the Soviet Union. The event spawned decades of conflicting, exaggerated, and inaccurate stories.

This book, the result of five years of research, presents an accessible but comprehensive account of what really happened - from the desperate fight to prevent a burning reactor core from irradiating eastern Europe, to the self-sacrifice of the heroic men who entered fields of radiation so strong that machines wouldn't work, to the surprising truth about the legendary "Chernobyl diver", all the way through to the USSR's final show-trial. The historical narrative is interwoven with a story of the author's own spontaneous journey to Ukraine's still-abandoned city of Pripyat and the wider Chernobyl Zone.

©2016 Andrew Leatherbarrow (P)2016 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Chernobyl 01:23:40

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting content but terrible delivery

Any additional comments?

If you are interested in Chernobyl then this is certainly an interesting listen, but for me it was really spoiled by the terrible narration which I found really annoying, especially as the guy couldn't really pronounce Chernobyl! Repeatedly hearing cheer-knob-eel becomes pretty frustrating in the end.The description of the guys visit to the exclusion zone struck a chord with me as it turns out he visited just months after I was there myself the first time round, and its interesting to hear his take on things.It also brings together some interesting information and facts from other sources, but as the author states many books on the Chernobyl disaster contain the odd 'fact' which is not 100% accurate, I think this is also true of this book too, but it does not detract from what I found to be an otherwise good book.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting story

Interesting story but I had to check that it wasn't being narrated by Apple's Siri.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

More a biog of the author than an account of the disaster. Fine if you like that sort of thing. I'm simply tieved that it was included rather than paid for.
(The other book by the same author, Melting Sun, is great)

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • M
  • 09-02-17

Very interesting and well read

I don't know what some people are on about when they review these books and go on about the person reading it rather than the book.
I am glad I ignored all those folks, this book is very interesting and the delivery is excellent.
a great story written by a guy who has done a lot of research.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Dull and tedious

Pitched as a factual account of what happened. Sparsely pepped with facts and padded with so much junk that the timeline and facts are lost in the tedium.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great read/listen

for his first book it's great, well written and thought out. enjoyed every chapter. interesting facts and story's that have been researched well. The author is also objective and non-biased.

recommend to anyone interested in this disaster or any atomic one and even man made

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing book-every engineer should read it.

Amazing book-every engineer should read it - especially if working in AI. It highlights both the technical and human causes of the disaster. It also presents the history factually with many different, often contradicting, sources.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Informative and entertaining

A great look at this disaster mixed with knowledge you can only get by seeing the place first hand. The writer is unbiased and provides some chilling detail and insight. His passion is clear and keeps your attention.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

a good book

enjoyable lision well wrote learned a lot there not many books on this subject a good book

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Chilling in a word

Well written book captures the story and atmosphere of the time I guess and gives an idea of what to expect if we start chucking nukes around.

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