Very readable and to date definitive account of the sinking of the Titanic that, apparently, both James Cameron and Julian Fellowes relied upon when it came to making their movie and TV series respectively. Living here in Ireland with both Belfast and Cobh (formerly Queenstown) making the most of their Titanic claims to fame in the run up to the centenary—Belfast actually having one, it being where the ship was built, but Cobh neglecting to mention that Titanic never docked there but instead waited off shore for smaller boats to bring new passengers onboard—my favourite bookshop has a full corner completely devoted to a vast array of Titanic titles, both fiction and non-fiction. The bookseller suggested that if I wanted to read something I stick with this, the only book that not only doesn't sensationalize the event but actually makes it seem smaller (if that makes sense) and one of very few written by someone who interviewed a larger number of survivors at length. The real take-away from this book is how short a time the sinking of Titanic took; how quickly she disappeared into the sea. Lord cuts through all the myths, the legends, the rumours that became fact, and presents a simple account of the events of April 14/15 1912. Recommended.