Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

It feels a little weird coming back to the book reviews after writing travel posts the last two days. I still absolutely love writing these, but there was just something exciting writing about Alaska that made it feel a little special. But unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I am back with more book reviews that will hopefully help you find your next read.

First warning of this book is that it is an absolute monster of a book. It’s probably only 370 pages but there is so much information on each page that even for a very fast reader like myself, it took me a very long time to finish this book. I am not fully sure how I came across this book to begin with but found it on my bookshelf and decided to give it a try. My brain almost hurts a little after reading this book with just trying to keep up with everything that was going on.

So what even is this book I have been so vague on telling you about? Midnight in Chernobyl in a non-fiction book following the story of the world’s greatest nuclear disaster. Not a Guinness World Record people want to have. The story spans from late 1970’s to 2016 when the author is talking about his research he did for this book. There are so many details in this book about things I don’t even know how the author got the information, especially since we are talking about the former U.S.S.R who were not very forthcoming with the information they shared with the public. Every detail or fact you could possibly imagine being mentioned/discussed is. From how the nuclear plant was created, to the conversations top Soviet party members had, to what was happening minute by minute after Rector 4 started shutting down. Every single page is filled with hundreds of details.

For me it was almost a little too much detail. There were so many different names to remember and different story lines that I was kind of relieved after I finished it. It’s hard to keep up with. There’s also full chapters about the different science aspects of nuclear power plants that just went over my head the majority (all) of the time. However, if 1980’s U.S.S.R interests you, I think you would find this book worth it. It’s one of the first books written about this catastrophic event that is as close to the full truth as possible without Soviet propaganda getting in the way. It shows what really happened at Midnight in Chernobyl.

Until Next Time, The Library Abroad

Picture Credit: You Should…Read: Midnight in Chernobyl (Marisa Chrysochoou, UConn-Civil and Environmental Engineering) | Humanities Institute