Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham, 5 Stars

[Charlie]

Wow!!!!

I was almost 14 years old when the Challenger disaster happened. And I certainly remember the day and the teacher being on board and something about O-rings being at fault, but honestly that was the sum total of my knowledge.

I had no idea about the whole history of how the space "shuttle" came into being or any of the context that led up to that fateful date.

I won't share too much other than to say, I loved the book and yet felt sick to my stomach the more I read it. The other night after having read it before going to bed, my wife looked at me and said, 'are you ok?' and I shook my head and mumbled, 'yeah...fucking book...', to which she replied, 'no more reading that book before you go to bed'. The author does an amazing job detailing just how doomed the mission was and reminds the reader (not that I needed this reminder) the thin line between gross negligence and willful misconduct not to mention the dark side of politics and how poorly managed bureaucracies, stress, time pressure and fear are all a recipe for poor decision making and catastrophe. And in the end, there were so many little acts of providence and decisions that on a stand-alone basis seemed innocuous but when compounded were tragic.

I highly recommend it, but time when you read it, as it is hard to stomach.

(view spoiler)[ P.S. - I truly wish there is a special place in hell for Larry Mulloy. (hide spoiler)]

[Joy D]

Nice review, Charlie. This is truly a masterful telling of the Challenger disaster. I agree - 5 stars from me, too.

[Charlie]

Joy D wrote: "Nice review, Charlie. This is truly a masterful telling of the Challenger disaster. I agree - 5 stars from me, too."

Thanks. Not sure if you saw, it was confirmed by his family yesterday that Bill Lucas died on Feb. 10th at the age of 102. His obituary was in the NYT.

I was telling a friend about my reading of the book the other day. He texted me later to say his wife knew of the book but decided to watch a documentary of the events instead questioning, 'how one could read an entire book's worth on the disaster and not be totally devasted afterwards.'

[Joy D]

I did not know about his death. Thanks for the info.