The Truth About Chernobyl

As a native Russian, I want to thank the author, Grigory Medvedev, for a honest and professional overview of Chernobyl disaster. His incredibly deep insight of human characters who were in touch with Chernobyl fire filled my heart with a great sorrow because they paid a high price of their health or lives. The book made me reevaluate my vision of our 20th century where still exists a nuclear power. Who will be the next victim of whose deadly mistake? Who must step in to shield others? What kind goverment promoted Chernobyl?

This book is essential for anybody to read in order to help all nations in organization of a prevention mechanism against such deadly mistakes.

As the book claims- a minute by minute account of the great tragedy. Being a fan of nuclear psysics this book has taught me a lot not only about physics but of the Russian culture, secretive cover-ups and human suffering. If you want to know everything there is about this Chernobyl and not be bored, then this is the book to get.

This book describes the accident and events leading to the accident in great detail. Anyone interested in human factors as they relate to loss prevention should find this book an excellent resource. The accident was caused by a long series of very serious human errors. The author also compares the Chernobyl accident to the Three Mile Island accident. In spite of the difference in design of the two nuclear plants, the sequences of events leading to the two accidents were strikingly similar

I really enjoyed this book. As a teenager with a morbid interest in nuclear accidents like Chernobyl, Medvedev gave a perfect amount of detail and information while making his account readable. This book is very well-written, which I didn't expect when I checked it out. It reads almost like a novel rather than like a non-fiction book. However, like others have said, it doesn't give a lot of definition for things like nuclear measurements (I must admit, I looked for a glossary when I saw the word "roetgen").

All in all, a great book and a pleasant surprise.

I read this in 1988 or 1989--well before it was published in the old Soviet Union, likely even an early draft. The copy I read nearly 20 years ago was smuggled out of the Soviet bloc, and circulated around the US nuclear industry, where I used to work. I have since misplaced my originals in moves, and plan to buy this book this week.
The paper brings you to great awareness, and lets you understand what really went on before-hand, as well as the containment of the accident. The paper lists the radiation units in Sieverts, so you have to do some conversions to be able to understand/relate to western standards, exactly what the levels of exposure were. Very harrowing, and makes you have tremendous respect for those who died to secure the reactor site.