"What Went Wrong" was a good look at some of the nasty disasters that Mother Nature has inflicted upon us and those we have inflicted upon ourselves. There were quite a few disasters that I had never heard of and thus it was interesting to learn about them. But I was surprised that the Chernobyl Disaster and the Bhopal Gas Leak were only covered in a brief paragraph, especially since they are prime examples of humanity royally screwing up. Also, I would have liked to see work place accidents, such as construction accidents, granary fires, and fires such as the Iroquois Theatre Fire and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. In addition, shipwrecks were not covered as thoroughly as they should have been. I understand not focusing on the "Titanic", since there were hundred upon hundreds of books covering that disaster in spades. But the "Eastland" disaster or the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald would have been entries. In fact, a special subsection could easily have been just about the Great Lakes, since they have traditionally been BIG claimers of sailors' lives.

However, I was very pleased with the section on airplane accidents, which had short entries on major crashes over the decades which helped lead to safer flying. There were nastier accidents that they could have focused on, but this section had a nice compilation of ones with low body counts and those with major loss of life. The "Nature's Fury" section was the better of the two. Though I do think that there were a few more floods that should have been added. Or maybe they should had a section on man-caused floods in the "Man's Error" section.

In conclusion, I found the books well done and interesting. There was elements to apply to all types of interested readers, from the disaster junkie (which I consider myself to be) to those focused on the science of accidents. ( )

"What Went Wrong" was a good look at some of the nasty disasters that Mother Nature has inflicted upon us and those we have inflicted upon ourselves. There were quite a few disasters that I had never heard of and thus it was interesting to learn about them. But I was surprised that the Chernobyl Disaster and the Bhopal Gas Leak were only covered in a brief paragraph, especially since they are prime examples of humanity royally screwing up. Also, I would have liked to see work place accidents, such as construction accidents, granary fires, and fires such as the Iroquois Theatre Fire and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. In addition, shipwrecks were not covered as thoroughly as they should have been. I understand not focusing on the "Titanic", since there were hundred upon hundreds of books covering that disaster in spades. But the "Eastland" disaster or the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald would have been entries. In fact, a special subsection could easily have been just about the Great Lakes, since they have traditionally been BIG claimers of sailors' lives.

However, I was very pleased with the section on airplane accidents, which had short entries on major crashes over the decades which helped lead to safer flying. There were nastier accidents that they could have focused on, but this section had a nice compilation of ones with low body counts and those with major loss of life. The "Nature's Fury" section was the better of the two. Though I do think that there were a few more floods that should have been added. Or maybe they should had a section on man-caused floods in the "Man's Error" section.

In conclusion, I found the books well done and interesting. There was elements to apply to all types of interested readers, from the disaster junkie (which I consider myself to be) to those focused on the science of accidents. ( )

"What Went Wrong" was a good look at some of the nasty disasters that Mother Nature has inflicted upon us and those we have inflicted upon ourselves. There were quite a few disasters that I had never heard of and thus it was interesting to learn about them. But I was surprised that the Chernobyl Disaster and the Bhopal Gas Leak were only covered in a brief paragraph, especially since they are prime examples of humanity royally screwing up. Also, I would have liked to see work place accidents, such as construction accidents, granary fires, and fires such as the Iroquois Theatre Fire and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. In addition, shipwrecks were not covered as thoroughly as they should have been. I understand not focusing on the "Titanic", since there were hundred upon hundreds of books covering that disaster in spades. But the "Eastland" disaster or the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald would have been entries. In fact, a special subsection could easily have been just about the Great Lakes, since they have traditionally been BIG claimers of sailors' lives.

However, I was very pleased with the section on airplane accidents, which had short entries on major crashes over the decades which helped lead to safer flying. There were nastier accidents that they could have focused on, but this section had a nice compilation of ones with low body counts and those with major loss of life. The "Nature's Fury" section was the better of the two. Though I do think that there were a few more floods that should have been added. Or maybe they should had a section on man-caused floods in the "Man's Error" section.

In conclusion, I found the books well done and interesting. There was elements to apply to all types of interested readers, from the disaster junkie (which I consider myself to be) to those focused on the science of accidents. ( )

"What Went Wrong" was a good look at some of the nasty disasters that Mother Nature has inflicted upon us and those we have inflicted upon ourselves. There were quite a few disasters that I had never heard of and thus it was interesting to learn about them. But I was surprised that the Chernobyl Disaster and the Bhopal Gas Leak were only covered in a brief paragraph, especially since they are prime examples of humanity royally screwing up. Also, I would have liked to see work place accidents, such as construction accidents, granary fires, and fires such as the Iroquois Theatre Fire and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. In addition, shipwrecks were not covered as thoroughly as they should have been. I understand not focusing on the "Titanic", since there were hundred upon hundreds of books covering that disaster in spades. But the "Eastland" disaster or the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald would have been entries. In fact, a special subsection could easily have been just about the Great Lakes, since they have traditionally been BIG claimers of sailors' lives.

However, I was very pleased with the section on airplane accidents, which had short entries on major crashes over the decades which helped lead to safer flying. There were nastier accidents that they could have focused on, but this section had a nice compilation of ones with low body counts and those with major loss of life. The "Nature's Fury" section was the better of the two. Though I do think that there were a few more floods that should have been added. Or maybe they should had a section on man-caused floods in the "Man's Error" section.

In conclusion, I found the books well done and interesting. There was elements to apply to all types of interested readers, from the disaster junkie (which I consider myself to be) to those focused on the science of accidents. ( )