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Fire on the Horizon

The Untold Story of the Explosion Aboard the Deepwater Horizon

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Fire on the Horizon

By: Tom Shroder, John Konrad
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
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About this listen

""A phenomenal feat of journalism. . . . I tore through it like a novel but with the queasy knowledge that the whole damn thing is true."" —Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm and War

Blending exclusive first-person interviews and penetrating investigative reporting, oil rig captain John Konrad and veteran Washington Post writer Tom Shroder give the definitive, white-knuckled account of the Deepwater Horizon explosion—as well as a riveting insider’s view of the byzantine culture of offshore drilling that made the disaster inevitable. As the world continues to cope with the oil spill’s grim aftermath—with environmental and economic consequences all the more dire in a region still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina—Konrad and Schroder’s real-time account of the disaster shows us just where things went wrong, and points the way to a safer future for us all.

Americas Disaster Relief Engineering Social Sciences State & Local United States
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I believe that there is no ‘absolute truth’ when it comes to a book or a film about an event like this.

It is well documented that many people, involved in the same horrific situation, will have different recollections of the same event. Therefore the truth for one will be different than that of the truth for another.

I have watched the film Deepwater Horizon and I have watched the 60 minutes interview (2010:Blowout:The Deepwater Horizon Disaster) with Mike Williams (plus other shorter interviews)

With that as my background information for comparison I have to say that that feel this book is pretty damned accurate. There are a few discrepancies towards the end between interview and movie, but nothing to get in a tiz about.

The author wasn’t on Deepwater Horizon at the time, but is/was a veteran in his field and provided an in-depth account of how an oil rig is built and manoeuvred into position. Plus lovely little extras on how oil is formed. (Not by dinosaurs apparently, which is what I was thought)

There are lots of details for the lay person to deal with but the author explains them well and I felt this very informative and when he gets down to the nitty gritty of this dreadful situation he comes across as well informed and very knowledgeable.

The narrator is excellent and I recommendation this audiobook.

So touching

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At times, this book reads like a textbook and is difficult to stay engaged with.

Too Technical to Enjoy

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If you edited out about half of this book; the bits about the education of the people on the rig, their families and private lives, leaving an interesting exploration of the issues which caused the disaster, you would have a good book. As it is, it's too 'soap-opera' for something as horrendous, like a bad disaster movie. I suggest you look for 'Fire in the Night, the Piper Alpha Disaster, by Stephen McGinty (on Kindle) to see how such an awful event can be handled....and narrated....with gravitas and sensitivity.

Thin soup, this book. Very thin soup

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