Sunday, October 20, 2013

102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers By Kevin Flynn, Jim Dwyer

A minute-by-minute description of 9/11 spanning across 300 odd pages. The 102 minutes is the duration of time between when the first tower was hit and when the last tower fell. There are many things to know about what happened in that short span of time and there are many things that fascinate the reader - like how many had that day as the last working day, how many got into the elevator at the nick of time and were saved, how people had got down and were advised to go back to office only to see the oncoming second flight and thereby death, how some of them were so lucky and determined to live, how ironically people who volunteered to rescue died while the rescued escaped their own deaths, etc. Some of the stories are extremely moving and inspiring. Although a must-read book, it lacked some of the punch which a book with a story like this can deliver.