102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer

Nov 09, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an absolutely amazing book. Not just because of the true-life accounts of many who survived (or, in many cases, didn't), but mostly because the authors pull no punches in telling the story of 9/11/01.

This isn't a book that bashes the government, both local and national, but it does tell both the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. While I was uplifted and encouraged by so many examples of human kindness, I was devastated to read that so very many deaths could have possibly...more

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Sep 25, 2009 Robynne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll tell your right off - this is a hard book to read. I've actually been working on it for a couple of weeks, but because of the subject matter was only able to handle so much at a time. The authors did an excellent job of pulling together a multitude of accounts and putting them into the timeline of what happened in the Twin Towers on 9/11. They weren't overly dramatic or graphic, but gave a true to life history of what happened there from the inside out, rather than the outside in. I gained...more I'll tell your right off - this is a hard book to read. I've actually been working on it for a couple of weeks, but because of the subject matter was only able to handle so much at a time. The authors did an excellent job of pulling together a multitude of accounts and putting them into the timeline of what happened in the Twin Towers on 9/11. They weren't overly dramatic or graphic, but gave a true to life history of what happened there from the inside out, rather than the outside in. I gained a much greater understanding of what happened that day, especially the *people's stories*, not just the bare facts.

I felt like I needed to read this book, even though it was difficult, because I owed it to those who went through it, if that makes sense. And this only covered a small portion of those who were inside, because we happen to have transcripts or emails or messages or accounts from those they talked to. The majority did not have a voice, but through reading all the other accounts, we can see what they went through as well. It is both heart-wrenching and inspiring.

The only complaint I would make is that I think they put a little too much emphasis on the "fault?" of the builders, the rescuers, etc. and their shortcomings (i.e. building for rentable space rather than safety, very poor communication amongst police/fire etc.) Hindsight is 20/20, and we need to look objectively at what happened there to make sure we're more prepared for something like this in the future. Shortcomings and problems should be fixed, policies adjusted, communication worked out, etc. These are incredibly important points that need to be explored. However the reason this happened was because terrorists hijacked planes and wanted to kill Americans. That is where the true fault lies, and this account spent much more time comparatively on the builders, rescuers, etc. and their "blame" vs. the terrorists who actually caused this to happen. Maybe they just assume the terrorists actions are a given to the reader?

I highly recommend this if the subject matter interests you - it is incredibly informative and gives a first-hand perspective, but be prepared for a tough read.(less)

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Vicki G I know someone really well who survived the Tower, but he was burned so extensively that he has to use special gloves - that the Republican government...more
Jun 01, 2012 12:10pm

April Lyn I am about 80% done with the audiobook version of this book... and I would agree with your review. I know that I won't be giving it 5 stars, though, p...more
Sep 23, 2012 08:25am

Sep 22, 2008 Theo rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: any american

Shelves: history, favorites

7 years after the event, I finally dug within myself to find the courage to read this book. I don't think I WANTED to know what happened inside The Towers...it was just TOO close. I was right about that...I didn't want to know. And yet the tying together of this multitude of perspectives to provide a clear picture of the events of those most devastating 102 minutes in our nation's history was done so skillfully as to present an incredibly clear picture of the events. That being said, I can't say...more

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Sep 22, 2008 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, memoirs-biography

Oh

My

Goodness

I would put a spoiler alert on this, except that everyone already knows how this story ends.

I almost didn't make it through the book. I originally started reading it because of the technical explanations it had for all the things I never understood fully: the lack of communications, the faulty design of emergency exits in the towers, the layout of the buildings, the timing of the events, and so forth. However, the personal stories of the people involved are interspersed throughout...more

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Feb 02, 2008 Rick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Extraordinary account of what went on inside the Twin Towers from the first impact on September 11th to the fall of the North Tower 102 minutes later. The authors, two veteran New York reporters, do nothing to embellish or dramatize their account. The prose is spartan, free of useless or striving adjectives or adverbs, and free of any kind of assist the reader with authorial insights into personal courage, dramatic ironies, or embellishments of the action. The authors trust the reader and trust...more Extraordinary account of what went on inside the Twin Towers from the first impact on September 11th to the fall of the North Tower 102 minutes later. The authors, two veteran New York reporters, do nothing to embellish or dramatize their account. The prose is spartan, free of useless or striving adjectives or adverbs, and free of any kind of assist the reader with authorial insights into personal courage, dramatic ironies, or embellishments of the action. The authors trust the reader and trust the self-evident power of the story to just capture it in a straightforward way. Their only editorializing comes in the book’s conclusion, stressing the fact that the tragedy included key failures to apply lessons learned from previous disasters, particularly the failure of the two key responders, New York’s police and fire departments to solve some of their communication problems, both from a command and control situation and from an updated technology to ensure successful communication of key information between those outside and those inside the towers. The authors make the point that perhaps as many as 200 firefighters lost their lives simply because they were unaware that a command had been issued to evacuate the towers because collapse was imminent and that the defensive response of Guiliani and others that are trying to suppress this fact because, in their view, it somehow diminishes the courage and efforts of the rescue workers, is wrong-headed and false. We need to learn from this to take better precautions to ensure maximum safety in the future and nothing diminishes the intent of the rescuers. The book also highlights the heroism of many civilian and Trade Towers employees, particularly Frank DeMartini and Palbo Ortiz, who were responsible for saving scores of otherwise trapped civilians and who continued to climb into the fire to help others. It’s an amazing story start to finish, inspiring and insightful, and a direct challenge to the complacency of officials who think knowing the details is somehow a threat to our view of the heroism of the first responders. It is a ridiculous, perhaps self-serving excuse for official ignorance.(less)

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Mar 04, 2009 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

this is the book I'm reading for English non-fiction. It's really interesting and I love it so far. It's a bit depressing though, but if you are interested in this type of stuff, I'd read it. It really tells you more about
9-11 than anyother news report!!

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Dec 19, 2011 Michael Flanagan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book as others have mentioned was hard to read. A mixture of pure horror and truly amazing personal sacrifices mixed with amazing tales of survival. I read this book in two sittings it was such a compelling read even though the end is known.

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Feb 17, 2013 Lynne Colley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn

It's tough to read a book about a disaster when you know how it turns out. This is the story of the 9/11 disaster at the World Trade Center. The authors did a good job of re-creating what must have happened from the time the first plane hit through when the last tower fell. (the 102 minutes referenced in the title). The authors also did a good job of naming people. . those people because individuals, not just statistics. So many of those above the crash s...more

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Jan 17, 2013 THRILLHO rated it 2 of 5 stars

Too repetitive and disjointed which is a shame because there were lots of interesting facts I learned by reading this, but I think it should've been edited better and concentrated more on the timelines of victims and survivors instead of repeating how the building wasn't as indestructible as it was thought to be and how unorganized the rescue efforts were. These things were understood immediately. There was no need to repeat them so much. When a book's title states that it's about the struggle o...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Christina Boyle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Title: 102 Minutes, The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

Authors: Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn

Publisher: TIMES BOOKS, Henry Holt and Company, New York

Date of Publication: 2005

Number of Pages: 353

Amazing! This book is about the tragedy of 9/11/2001 and the events that took place during 102 minutes. It was one hundred two minutes from when the North Tower (1 World Trade Center) was struck by a hijacked airplane, to when both the North and South Towers crashed to the g...more
Title: 102 Minutes, The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

Authors: Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn

Publisher: TIMES BOOKS, Henry Holt and Company, New York

Date of Publication: 2005

Number of Pages: 353

Amazing! This book is about the tragedy of 9/11/2001 and the events that took place during 102 minutes. It was one hundred two minutes from when the North Tower (1 World Trade Center) was struck by a hijacked airplane, to when both the North and South Towers crashed to the ground. “Should we stay here or should we evacuate?” was the question floating in everyone’s head. The book explains how the 1993 bombing in the basement of the North Tower (1 World Trade Center) marked the area for terrorists. It also explains why communications between police and fire weren’t as strong as they should’ve been in both 1993 and 2001.

I was very young when the 2001 attack happened and I believe that these two authors haven’t specifically intended for my generation to be the audience, but that this book is directed towards anyone and everyone who wishes to read it. I think that the books purpose is to inform people about what occurred on September 11, 2001 from the inside looking out.

Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn interviewed hundreds of people to piece together what happened inside and outside during those dreadful one hundred two minutes. Kevin Flynn and Jim Dwyer both work for The New York Times and this is their most recent book. Jim Dwyer is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and has been the co-author of Actual Innocence and Two Seconds Under the World, he is also the author of Subway Lives. Kevin Flynn was The New York Times police bureau chief on 9/11.

The authors did a great job in informing their readers about the devastation on 9/11. There are diagrams in the book to help give a visual aid of the impact zones. This book is very useful and helpful to learn about the attack and its aftermath. As I mentioned before, there were many interviews and eye witness accounts of that day. 102 Minutes, The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, doesn’t relate directly to me and my personal life, but when I was reading the book, I felt like I was there in the lobby, stuck in the elevator, and on the very top floor. Something I think ties me to the attacks is that there was a firefighter who died when the twin towers fell, with the same name as my dad, who is also a firefighter. That connects me to the events and teaches me to keep my loved ones close.

One thing not elaborated on in the book was the other two planes hijacked, the book mentioned them but didn’t say anything else about what happened to them. Overall, I would give this book four and a half out of five stars, I loved it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to know about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
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Apr 04, 2012 Rachael rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book after watching the numerous documentaries on the 10th anniversary. At the time of the attack on the World Trade Centre, I was only about 11, so didn't have a great understanding or interest (as terrible as that is) on what was going on.
The documentaries fascinated me, and when I found this book I knew I had to read it.
It is a tricky book to place, part of me couldn't put it down, and part of me was so appalled with the words I was reading, that I didn't want to know what happe...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

After the events of 9/11 I read quite a lot of books written by people involved in the events, cleanup or building of the World Trade Center. Then for quite a few years I didn't read anything more. With the tenth anniversary of those terrible attacks there were obviously books being re-released and catching my eye.

This book tells the tales of those that were in the towers from the time the first 'plane struck to the the falling of the North Tower. Needless to say this is a moving book. It seems...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

The last moments of Kevin Cosgrove’s life were presented as the Government’s Exhibit P200017 in the case of United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui. Originally labeled the “20th hijacker,” Moussaoui was eventually tried as part of a conspiracy to launch a second wave of attacks against the United States, following September 11, 2001.

Exhibit P200017 is a split-screen video: on the right side of the screen is the South Tower of the World Trade Center; on the left side of the screen, you see the trans...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Jenn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, us-national-history, sad-thought-provoking

It was just another Tuesday morning. I was just rolling out of bed after sleeping in. I made my way to the tv in the living room before i got myself a bowl of cereal. The today show was just coming back from commercial break and I heard Katie Couric's voice saying that what was being displayed on the tv screen was a live shot of what appears to be a small aircraft had just hit one of the Twin Towers.

I looked and stopped pouring my breakfast out. I sat on the sofa and was looking at smoke pouring...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Dina rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 17, 2011 Kerfe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Not only did I know this book's story and ending before I started, but it was my second reading of "102 Minutes." Still riveting and emotionally draining, ten years have not diluted the impact.

Are there any lessons to be learned? Have changes been made? The book is a good counterpart to the 9/11 Commission Report.

The chaos and lack of coordinated effort and communication between different agencies in the city and throughout the nation was staggering, as the Commission also concluded. The details...more Not only did I know this book's story and ending before I started, but it was my second reading of "102 Minutes." Still riveting and emotionally draining, ten years have not diluted the impact.

Are there any lessons to be learned? Have changes been made? The book is a good counterpart to the 9/11 Commission Report.

The chaos and lack of coordinated effort and communication between different agencies in the city and throughout the nation was staggering, as the Commission also concluded. The details in this minute by minute recounting of that morning in Lower Manhattan only serve to reinforce the impact of those conclusions.

Who is in charge today, what is the chain of command, how will those involved find out what's going on and what to do? Probably, once again, from their cell phones and computers (if they work).

Has safety and the well being of humans started to triumph profit? Can you believe I'm even bothering to ask that question? The World Trade Center was an accident waiting to happen. The building code is still geared to profit, not safety. And they are building yet another building too large to evacuate or defend from disaster.

I guess one should expect businesses to care about money before human life, safety, well-being, but the hope in a democracy is that government and the laws it enacts will look out for its citizens and equalize the equation of profit and people a bit. Instead they seem to want to govern us "like a business", to treat us like products. Money and more money for the lucky few, too bad for the rest of us, especially if we are not profitable enough.

And yet the book was not entirely depressing. The popular press made heroes of the firemen, the police, and certainly some cut through the chaos and did amazing things. But many "ordinary people"--the workers in the buildings, the real heart of its existence--performed heroically way beyond the call of duty, without thought of their own safety or what might be in it for them, putting others first. As "102 Minutes" makes clear, we don't have to invent heroes--they are right next to us, they can even BE us. Integrity, doing the right thing, helping others, is not for sale.

Every decision, every minute, every little thing was important to the survival of each person who was in, or might have been working or visiting, Lower Manhattan and the WTC on September 11, 2001. Each action was magnified and rippled out to push against other actions and people. Decisions made years, decades, before collided with those made that day.

For a few days, maybe even weeks, everyone seemed to remember that, and lived and acted with a little more consciousness of their connection. Ten years later, unfortunately, our leadership, and most of the rest of us, have lost that thread.(less)

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Jun 21, 2010 Lara rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was a Tuesday like any other. I rose after my normal snooze delay, always thankful for a few more minutes of rest, and got ready for work. My daily routine was uneventful. This morning was different, though. Unlike other weekdays the television remained off, freeing me from the usual background chatter of morning news anchors as I dabbed on some mascara and brushed my teeth. I relished the empty house and the total silence. I got in the car, buckled myself in and made a point not to turn on t...more It was a Tuesday like any other. I rose after my normal snooze delay, always thankful for a few more minutes of rest, and got ready for work. My daily routine was uneventful. This morning was different, though. Unlike other weekdays the television remained off, freeing me from the usual background chatter of morning news anchors as I dabbed on some mascara and brushed my teeth. I relished the empty house and the total silence. I got in the car, buckled myself in and made a point not to turn on the radio as I embarked on my 45 minute commute into the the office. A few minutes into the ride my cell phone rang, jolting me out of my quiet fog and into a day that would forever live in infamy.

I can't tell you much else about that day except that it was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, and after that jarring phone call asking if I knew what was going on, the silence of the day was instantly shattered. I, along with our nation, was glued to the radio while in the car, in front of the computer at work and the television at home. It seemed that time stood still, or rather, needed to be rewound so that we could understand what was happening. We learned that American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center at 8:42 a.m. Surely it was a pilot error or some kind of horrible mistake. But when 16 minutes later, at 9:02 a.m., United Airlines flight 75 crashed into the South Tower (followed by American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and the crash of United Airlines flight 93 near Shankesville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.) it was clear this was no accident. This was a calculated, premeditated terrorist attack with aims to do severe and everlasting damage.

I am sure that for many of us the events that immediately unfolded became a blur. New York Times writers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn bring clarity to the day by recounting every single moment of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center starting at 8:42 a.m. when the first jet crashed into Tower 1, until 10:29 a.m. when the second tower fell. 102 MINUTES: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FIGHT TO SURVIVE INSIDE THE TWIN TOWERS is a significant body of work in capturing heroic and heartbreaking moments within and around the World Trade Center that fateful day.

Through countless interviews with survivors, families, city, state and federal officials, and research and review of phone and e-mail records, Dwyer and Flynn tell the stories of the day from the voices of the people who lived it, and those who ultimately did not. At just under 4oo pages, readers are exposed to the harrowing events of the crashes and the aftermath of challenges facing the World Trade Center's occupants due to the communication breakdowns between city agencies and the structural issues with the towers themselves.

I was fascinated reading their detailed account of the World Trade Center towers which were massive in their size and reach, yet ill-equipped to sustain the crash of a jumbo jet, despite building plans and agencies that said otherwise. They were built to maximize rentable space over safety, each with only three stairwells for 110 floors, four million square feet of office space and 20,000 occupants (versus the Empire State Building's nine stairwells for 102 floors, 2.25 million square feet and 15,000 occupants). I was baffled that infighting between NYPD, NYFD, NY Port Authority and other rescue agencies trumped necessary disaster recovery training and processes that clearly had a negative impact on the ability to share information. Rescue teams were unable to communicate which stairwells were clear and free for use, or that helicopters needed to be released to rescue tenants on the roof that couldn't descend past the floors consumed with wreckage, or even more crucial... when it was clear for folks to go back upstairs and back to work, to stay put and wait for help or when a total evacuation was necessary.

It's evident there were a number of mistakes attempting to clear out the towers. 102 MINUTES seeks not to point fingers at the failures, but to shed light on opportunities to do differently knowing what we now know. What they uncover through their research is important, vital even. It should be required reading for all of us, but most especially those in positions to impart change in the way we approach disaster and recovery efforts during an attack or high-rise fire.

And despite the harrowing events of September 11, I found myself utterly captivated by this book. My heart swelled reading the stories of humanity and generosity amongst strangers in a window of time--not even two hours!--that was fraught with terror and uncertainty. 2,749 people died in the attacks and 4,400 were injured. Dwyer and Flynn do not claim to have collected all the stories, but they have created an enduring record. As they share in their own words:

No single voice can describe the scenes that unfolded at terrible velocities in so many places. Taken together, though, the words, witnesses, and records provide not only a broad and chilling view of the devastation, but also a singularly revealing window onto acts of grace at a brutal hour.

102 MINUTES encourages us to carry on their legacy--even those we didn't have the pleasure to meet--and to never forget them.(less)

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Jun 13, 2009 Christopher rated it 5 of 5 stars

The 102 minutes of the title refers to the moment the first plane hit the towers until the second tower fell.

It is well researched and tells the harrowing tales of both survivors and those that died.

A few stories that stand out:

-A 30something year old guy who was doing temp work took one of the express elevators down prior to the attacks and was jumping up and down in the elevator when the first plane hit. The elevator dropped but the safety catch kept him from plummeting to his death. However,...more

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Apr 28, 2009 Glenn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book a couple of years ago, but am adding it to my list because it is one that I highly recommend. It is incredible how thoroughly these writers recreated those heartbreaking minutes between the collision into the first Twin Tower, and the collapse of both towers, using documents, interviews, e-mails, phone conversations, text messages, etc. I felt I was inside the buildings watching the whole thing unfold. I learned a lot, too--not only about the human beings dealing with the disast...more

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Apr 07, 2009 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book I have read about the attack on 9/11. I was a first year law student in Houston, Texas on 9/11, and I recall getting to school without any knowledge of the attacks. I found out from a classmate who was listening to his radio very intently. I still did not grasp what had occurred. Sitting in contracts class at 9:00 a.m. central time, I watched my neighbor's computer screen on cnn.com in horror. Still, it seemed like so much chaos and no one knew what exactly had happened --...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, american, history, non-fiction

Very early on in this book the authors make a statement that comes partly as a shock, partly as a revelation:
"... simply to declare that the hijackers alone killed all those people gives them far more credit as tacticians than they are due. The buildings themselves became weapons... so, too, did a sclerotic emergency response culture in New York that resisted reform...
" At least 1,500 people in the trade centre - and possibly many more - survived the initial crashes but died because they were un...more Very early on in this book the authors make a statement that comes partly as a shock, partly as a revelation:
"... simply to declare that the hijackers alone killed all those people gives them far more credit as tacticians than they are due. The buildings themselves became weapons... so, too, did a sclerotic emergency response culture in New York that resisted reform...
" At least 1,500 people in the trade centre - and possibly many more - survived the initial crashes but died because they were unable to escape from their floors or elevators whilst the buildings stood. Those people were not killed by the planes alone any more than passengers on the "Titanic" were killed by the iceberg. With 102 minutes in the north tower, and 57 minutes in the south, thousands of people had time to evacuate, and did. Those who did not escape were trapped by circumstances that had been the subject of debates that began before the first shovelful of earth was turned..."
The men who made decisions governed by financial profit rather than safety when the World Trade buildings were designed, emerge as the real villains of the drama. They reduced the number of escape routes so that they had more space to rent out. They used untried technologies that were never tested for their effectiveness in fire and heat. The terrorists may have been the final catalyst for the deaths on 9/11 but it was these money-grubbing faceless bureaucrats who were the real killers. We see how chances to improve safety were squandered after the 1993 bombing, how faults in communications between the Fire brigade and the Police were never overcome... We also discover how the role of civilians in the saving of lives was played down in order to cover up the squandering of firemen's lives.
This is a powerful book that unfolds the drama, the frustration, the tragedy and the sacrifice with the clinical precision of a scalpel. We watch the events unfold with the same horror we first saw them... but this time there are names attached to those who struggled for survival in the twin towers and we are in there with them, breathing in the fumes and feeling the heat... and fear. Individuals make decisions that lead to life or death, others are saved by coincidence and accident. If this was fiction would we believe it?
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Mar 24, 2011 Lorenzio Phillibuster Fireworks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In all, 2,749 people were killed at the trade centre.

Reading this book had my heart racing, and made me feel anxious and tense the entire time. I was overwhelmed with sadness, with dread but also with pride. Pride for the courage and strength and sheer force of will shown by over 14, 000 men and women inside the Twin Towers. Pride for all the rescue workers who tried so hard to rescue the building and its many occupants.

This book follows the events of 9/11 from 8:30am, when people were arrivi...more In all, 2,749 people were killed at the trade centre.

Reading this book had my heart racing, and made me feel anxious and tense the entire time. I was overwhelmed with sadness, with dread but also with pride. Pride for the courage and strength and sheer force of will shown by over 14, 000 men and women inside the Twin Towers. Pride for all the rescue workers who tried so hard to rescue the building and its many occupants.

This book follows the events of 9/11 from 8:30am, when people were arriving at work, to 8:46, when the AA Flight 11 struck the north tower, when UA Flight 175 struck the south tower at 9:02, to the collapse of the south tower at 9:59 and the collapse of the north tower at 10:28. It discusses the damage caused by the two planes, but also the design flaws, failure to adhere to building codes and failure of technology and communication that contributed to the collapse and the high number of fatalities.

More importantly, however, this book brings out the humanity of this tragedy. It gives stories of courage, of bravery, of strength and of love. The stories of Abe Zelmanowitz who stayed with his friend, wheelchair bound Ed Beyea, waiting at the top of the stairs for assistance. Abe Zelmanowitz and Ed Beyea died in the collapse of the tower. Or the stories of Frank De Martini, Pete Negron, Carlos DaCosta and Pablo Ortiz, each a father of two, who helped break open lifts and clear rubble over several floors, freeing over 70 people and died while attempting to rescue more.

102 Minutes provides extraordinary detail of how the 12,000 survivors escaped as well as the last day, hour, minutes and seconds of the 2,749 men and women who perished. Each of the 12,000 survivors and the 2,749 dead are all someone's sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers and friends and this book's most powerful message is that so many of those that died spent their last moments saving, loving and caring for one another with their thoughts never straying far from loved ones. (less)

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Nov 10, 2009 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, non-fiction, 2009

This book looks at the attacks from the point of view of those inside the two towers and their fight for survival. It also covers the technical aspects of the building structure, the codes that that they were built to and some of the communication issues that hindered the rescue process. It made me think, what would I have done in the same situation? Do I really know the evacuation process and routes in the buildings I work in? What would I need to be able to do to help a co-worker with a disabi...more This book looks at the attacks from the point of view of those inside the two towers and their fight for survival. It also covers the technical aspects of the building structure, the codes that that they were built to and some of the communication issues that hindered the rescue process. It made me think, what would I have done in the same situation? Do I really know the evacuation process and routes in the buildings I work in? What would I need to be able to do to help a co-worker with a disability?

For those who say there is too much finger pointing – if we don’t learn from the areas which failed or the inadequacies in the building code how can we ever move forward and limit the impact if something like this ever happens again. Those who died deserve better from us.

The most emotional part is the last chapter - obviously becuase we know the ending and we can put two and two together on what happened to those who hadn't made it down by a certain point. But I honestly don't think this book was as emotionally charged as others I have read. Horrible things happen to innocent people all around the world, this wasn't an isolate occurance. For me the book kept it's emotional disatance because I don't think it ever points out that someone was dead or about to die - you weren't given such an intimate look, which suited the style and purpose of the book.

There are some extraordinary stories of what others did to help people they didn’t even know escape inside the building (in some cases losing their own lives in the process), would I be that willing? Or would I be so blinded by fear that I couldn’t move? (A reasonable response if you ask me).

Yes, the deaths would have never occurred if the terrorists had never run into the buildings, but how many lives could have been saved by better communication with emergency personal, improved safety procedures and accurate structural codes? The real question is however how many of these lessons have been implemented to protect other high rise buildings built to the same code? How many of us have thought about what information we should be finding out and becoming familiar with so we could cope better in an emergency? What have we learnt as individuals from this without ourselves being impacted in such a horrible way as the survivors, rescue teams and families of those in the world trade centres?

A good read if you weren’t personally affected by the terrorist attacks and if you want to become more aware of what can happen inside a building when emergencies occur.
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Feb 01, 2013 Massimo Foglio rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-inglese

Bello e interessante, ma un vero e proprio pugno nello stomaco.
Gli autori sono bravissimi a portarci dentro le torri e renderci partecipi dei drammi personali e collettivi delle persone intrappolate o in cerca di una via di fuga.
Una lucida analisi dalle conclusioni scomode e sconvolgenti.
Le conseguenze sono andate ben al di la' dell'obiettivo dei terroristi, grazie anche ad una organizzazione a dir poco ridicola dei soccorsi ed all'avidita' e spregiudicatezza dei costruttori, che sacrificarono i...more

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Dec 18, 2008 Sheryl Rogener rated it 5 of 5 stars

by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn

Published by Times Books

Henry Holt and Company, LLC

ISBN 0-8050-7682-4

Why revisit the scene of so much pain, horror, and devastation? Why retell a story already permanently etched in most American's minds and hearts?

What if the loss of life on 9-11 could have been drastically reduced? What if the people who built the towers built in ways that actually exacerbated the terrorist strike? How did cheaper building materials and less escape routes enable the terrorist stri...more

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Oct 21, 2009 Lindsay S rated it 4 of 5 stars

102 Minutes is a very sad but interesting book. From the begining of the book to the end of the book it gives details on what is going on in the Twin Towers. It also shares the perspectives of people who were in the building when it was struck, and survived. I cannot relate to this book, because I was no where near this tragedy. But this book does a good job at making you seem like you are right there when it is happening. Throughout the book they show dialog between people who are stuck in the...more

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Jul 19, 2011 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

Everyone is familiar with the horrific events of 9/11. Whether or not we knew someone working in the towers or who was part of the rescue team, we were all impacted by this senseless tragedy. In the book 102 Minutes, Baker & Flynn offer a non-sensationalized account of what happened to the thousands of employees and hundreds of rescue personnel who thought it was a normal workday. Working from interviews with rescuers and survivors, the authors offer a thoroughly researched - and incredibly...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Jaime rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has changed me. It will stay with me forever. To hear the voices of those who were inside the towers was an emotional experience but one I was privileged to have had. The authors did an incredible job of handling the subject matter with respect and including sources and notes to support the stories and claims. I especially appreciated the list in the back of the book that allowed me to see whether or not the person whose journey I was following survived the day. I also appreciated the...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Bruce rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hate to trash such an enormous amount of reporting, but facts badly strung together do not improve the result by being more numerous.

The reporters' downfall here was the ill-chosen decision to tell the story of the "102 Minutes" in chronological order. All the jumping around from person to person and tower to tower prevents the development of any personalization, any real emotional impact.

There's some interesting background information on the building of the towers and the development of fire...more I hate to trash such an enormous amount of reporting, but facts badly strung together do not improve the result by being more numerous.

The reporters' downfall here was the ill-chosen decision to tell the story of the "102 Minutes" in chronological order. All the jumping around from person to person and tower to tower prevents the development of any personalization, any real emotional impact.

There's some interesting background information on the building of the towers and the development of fire safety laws, and the authors endlessly review, repeat, reiterate the failures of the police and fire departments of NYC to institute any means of interdepartmental communication during a crisis. (Did I mention that the cops and firemen don't like each other? Don't talk to one another? Can't communicate? Did you hear that?)

But other reporters have covered these topics as well, so even these tidbits don't rescue the book.

I can't impune the writers' reporting abilities. They put a ton of work into this book, yet there's barely any background and only the thinnest family and occupational information about any of the dozens of the people who fade in and out of the reporting. The writers really needed an editor to tell them their chronological structural gimmick was going to drain all the energy out of their storytelling.

With all the interviews they did, surely they must have found a few people who could have served as the backbone of their narrative. Selecting a few representative lives and fleshing them out and following them throughout the ordeal would have been a much preferable approach. The chronology could still have been preserved to some extent, both within the separate individuals' stories and by presenting the series of single-thread chronicles in an order that took readers through the crisis more or less in the order things happened.

Yes, there would have been a great deal of chronological overlap, returning, with each shift to a new person, time and again to before the first plane and then ending, well, as needed for each individual.

Perhaps the writers felt this had been done in countless newspaper and magazine and TV pieces about this or that hero or victim. Well, yes, and there's a reason for that. The confusion caused by leaping around among more than 100 different people is thus avoided.

The only justification for the "102 Minutes" structure would have been a book about the towers', well, structure, and how the planes' impact and the subsequent fires led to their collapse, minute by minute, without trying to include the human stories as well. But that's not what this book attempts to do. It wants to tell human stories, but it approaches them like 52 pickup: Dozens of separate individuals' stories jumbled into confusion by the slavish adherence to the minute-by-minute chronology.

I'm giving this book just one star because there have been so many better attempts to capture the horrors and heroism of that day, readers shouldn't waste their time with this one. It's frustrating: All those hundreds of hours of dogged, basic reporting frittered away by poor editing decisions.(less)

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Sep 18, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

If there were 1/2 stars I would give this 4 1/2.

I can remember what I was doing, where I was on Sept. 11, 2001. I remember watching the scenes unfold on the Today show, something I watched religiously in the mornings as I got ready for work. It seemed unfathomable to see the attacks play out on national TV, and honestly it was hard to believe that the footage we saw, was not some horrible scene from a movie.

At the time, I worked for a big satellite company and so every conference room had a tv w...more If there were 1/2 stars I would give this 4 1/2.

I can remember what I was doing, where I was on Sept. 11, 2001. I remember watching the scenes unfold on the Today show, something I watched religiously in the mornings as I got ready for work. It seemed unfathomable to see the attacks play out on national TV, and honestly it was hard to believe that the footage we saw, was not some horrible scene from a movie.

At the time, I worked for a big satellite company and so every conference room had a tv we could watch the coverage on. I remember spending most of the day, glued to the tv. And in the days after the attacks, I scoured the internet for info, more about the people that were affected, who and if they found survivors, how this could all happen. I repeatedly went to memorial sites online, to read the countless stories of family members who still considered their loved ones, missing. Memorials to a sister, brother, mother or father they would never see again.

It was the human aspect of the story, that I became consumed with, as a read. Stories of people who could be friends of mine, people I had gone to school with, someone who could have been a neighbor if I had lived in NY, going about their daily routine, only to have life changed forever.

IN the years since the attacks, while the thoughts crossed my mind every September 11th, the stories of the people in those buildings, their descriptions from family, their survival, faded from my memory. It was a tragedy I felt so far removed from as someone on the west side of the US, so far away from New York.

As the 10th anniversary neared this year, I again became entranced with the stories, the progress of what was occurring at Ground Zero. So I picked up this book in the hopes of remembering those stories, and finding out more about the people, the community, the city that was affected by the devastation of that day.

As many said, this book was hard to read at points. It was a reminder of so many who we lost on that day, and no matter how much you wanted the end to be different, we all knew the outcome before we started the book.

I appreciated the indepth accounts not only of the towers building, code laws, but so much about the towers and debate on them than I ever knew. I also appreciate the details accounts of different floors, different mindsets of those affected, as well as the details of that day. Its hard not to feel like you are in there with them..cheering and hoping that they get out.

I knew this book was going to be tough to finish, but definitely glad I read it. (less)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/177187.102_Minutes?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316130129l/177187.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/177187.102_Minutes?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer[/url]

102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

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