Product Description

Provides historical scientific record of the events leading up to and the aftermath of Chernobyl. Includes eye-witness records and an extensively illustrated documentary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1148570 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
...a detailed reference book and moving account of the events surrounding this tradegy...an excellent book, highly recommended. -- The Invisible Light, December 14, 2000

A strong contribution to understanding the Chernobyl catastrophe, the background against which it happened, the heroism of the emergency accident workers, and the radiation effects on surrounding human populations, food supplies, ground water, and forests. At a time when there is a danger of forgetting, this book provides a timely reminder that the unimaginable actually happened at Chernobyl.
-Professor John Surrey

A truly monumental assembly of all that we have learned about the disaster, and a compendium of lessons which we forget at our peril.
-Professor Roger Berry

It is readable to someone like myself who is not an expert in the field. The photographs, diagrams, and glossary of terms all helped to explain the scale of the disaster and the aftermath.
-Kate Sanders, British Institute of Radiology Library Manager

People in other countries begin to forget the disaster and so Chernobyl Record is very important because it reminds them of the effects the catastrophe had on Belarus and its people. It is a useful source of impartial information on Chernobyl and its consequences.
-Inessa Pleskachevskaya, First Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in UK

This book contains a comprehensive collection of facts, widely researched and well referenced, reflecting the autho's deep interest in the subject matter. No other similar concise account of the Chernobyl aftermath … is known to be available from elsewhere. The book offers a wealth of information, also to those generally well familiar with Chernobyl, and attracts the reader to open it and read it over and again. This book certainly belongs on the bookshelf of everybody interested in the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe and to persons professionally involved in work on nuclear and radiation safety.
-Dr. Frankz-Nikolasu Flakus, formerly Senior Officer of the International Atomic Energy Agency

This book contains a comprehensive collection of facts, widely researched and well referenced, reflecting the authos deep interest in the subject matter. No other similar concise account of the Chernobyl aftermath … is known to be available from elsewhere. The book offers a wealth of information, also to those generally well familiar with Chernobyl, and attracts the reader to open it and read it over and again. This book certainly belongs on the bookshelf of everybody interested in the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe and to persons professionally involved in work on nuclear and radiation safety.
-Dr. Frankz-Nikolasu Flakus, formerly Senior Officer of the International Atomic Energy Agency

Customer Reviews

Very Informative, But Hardly Definitive
I approached Dr. Mould's book "Chernobyl Record" with some trepidation, as I read some reviews that characterized it as unabashedly pro-nuclear. However, I did not really detect such a bias. Some claim that Mould downplays the effects of radiation, but I don't see how. He uses plenty of data to support his claims, and he hardly glosses over the horrible effects of radiation. But I think I am more apt to believe his claim that Chernobyl was the "greatest psychological disaster in history," in that many of the effects in people outside the exclusion zone and the Kiev area were psychosomatic, tied to their fear of the effects of radiation. I am not trying to downplay Chernobyl's consequences, which are huge, but compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, its effects were less in magnitude and scope. However, even if some effects are only psychological, these too are quite sad and often as bad as the physical effects. The accident has led to economic problems in Ukraine, including high unemployment, and the displacement of a large number of people, and these factors all lead to a high rate of depression and alcoholism among many Ukrainians, including the survivors and liquidators.

"Chernobyl Record" provides an excellent inroduction to the Chernobyl accident, explaining all of the necessary terminology on radiation and nuclear reactors. However, it does kind of speed through the accident itself, and for in-depth accounts of the actual accident, one will have to look elsewhere, such as Grigori Medvedev's The Truth About Chernobyl. It is to books such as Medvedev's that one will also have to turn to for a detailed account fo the heroism of many of the firefighters and operators involved in cleaning and containing the accident.

The photos (both in color and black and white) in Mould's book are quite invaluable as well, including many of the interior of the Sarcophagus, the town of Pripyat, and of radiation victims from Chernobyl.

The biggest problem with the book is that Mould concentrates primarily on the aftermath and consequences of the accident. This information is quite helpful and relatively up-to-date (2000), but some of the data on the effects on wildlife and foodstuffs are less interesting than the human aspects of the story. However, concluding with V. Legasov's "Testament" was an excellent way of bringing the human element back into focus.

Overall, then, this book will prove indispensable for anyone interested in Chernobyl. However, as it was published in 2000, it is already outdated, since the effects of Chernobyl continue to be studied and there are plans to bulid another structure over Unit No. 4 and the Sarcophagus. Chernobyl still awaits its definitive history, but it is sad to think that so many people have forgotten Chernobyl. There are several lessons in nuclear safety to be learnt from the accident that can be extracted from this excellent book. Nuclear power is not something to be taken lightly, and this book is a sobering reminder of that fact.

Chernobyl Record by R.F Mould
A very informative book, well written.
Amazon delivered it 10 days earlier than promised. Well done!