Litteratur

On request of my dear friend Helen, this page will be entirely in English.

During the years I've been researching Chernobyl I've come through few book, some god, some bad and some really great. In this page I will try to summarise them and give a short review of each item.

I've bought most of them on-line, mostly from Adlibris (Swedish on-line bookshop), Amazon and eBay.

I've also crawled the the web extensively in search for more detailed topics such as reactor design and fallout effects. Feel free to contact me personally for more information about this.

Chernobyl : Insight from the Inside
Vladimir. M. Chernousenko
Isbn
364276455X
Published
201112
Edition
Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1991,
Pages
392
Dimensions
Weight 591g
Language
English

Review

Physicist Vladimir Chernousenko is eminently qualified to write on this topic: In 1986 he was appointed representative of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Chernobyl and the "Zone"

Well written and well researched. Language and style is both personal and yet one can see the methodology of a skilled scientist. Chapters about the accident it self, the reactor design, the immediate and long term consequences, as well as quite some research about the health effects of people in both Ukraine and Belarus.

Strikingly insightful description about the system the reactor was born from, all the way from bad reactor design to the constant neglect of rules and regulations, both at the power plant and in the higher levels of the Soviet nuclear industry.
The Legacy of Chernobyl
Zhores A. Medvedev
Isbn
0393308146
Published
199202
Edition
199202
Pages
378
Dimensions
Weight 476g
Language
English

Review

First book I read about the accident after the photo book by Kostin. More or less a must read. Detailed and enthralling description of the accident. Surprisingly critical against the Soviet system given its publication date.
Legacy of Chernobyl
Zhores A. Medvedev
Isbn
0851248039
Published
201108
Edition
Second edition, softvcover
Pages
360
Dimensions
Weight 616g
Language
English

Review

Basically the same content as the previous edition, with the addition of one chapter about the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
The Truth About Chernobyl
Grigori Medvedev
Isbn
0465087752
Published
April 1991
Edition
softcover
Pages
288
Dimensions
Weight 544g
Language
English

Review

This is a first hand description of the accident and a lots of detail surrounding it. A detailed technical description of the plant as well as personal description of the staff working at there.

A brilliant book with a minute by minute description of the events unfolding at the plant at the time of the accident. The author depicts the events in a way it feels you are at the site.
Chernobyl Notebook
Grigori Medvedev
Published
1989
Edition
Available online
Pages
131
Language
English

Review

Grigori Medvedev first wrote his ”CHERNOBYL NOTEBOOK" quite soon after or even during the accident and it's aftermath. This notebook was later rewritten into the book The Truth About Chernobyl.

After extensive searching I found this notebook reproduced by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE. Great details of the all the event unfolding. Only minor differences from the book "The Truth About Chernobyl" which could be a result of differing translations or more polished text.
Isbn
075030670X
Published
May 2000
Edition
Hardcover
Pages
402
Dimensions
Weight 839g
Language
English

Review

This is not a Definitive History. First of all the history has just recently started and Dr. Mould cannot possible neither see into the future nor get old enough to experience it.

Hard to read, or at least the last parts of it, mainly because the author fails to create a personal connection to the accident. As a reader I got lost in dozens of lists, diagram and graphics as the author falls short of bringing all the data together in a way that move the story forward. It simply feels like a bunch of data stacked on top of each other. This could work as in "Chernobyl Insight from the Inside" but Mould fails on this part. I also found the tone pro nuclear in the way he downplays the consequences.
Chernobyl : Confessions of a Reporter
Igor Kostin, Thomas Johnson
Isbn
1884167578
Published
200610
Edition
Hardcover
Pages
240
Dimensions
Weight 1066g
Language
English

Review

Photo book by now legendary Igor Kostin, who despite the claims, actually wasn't the first photographer on site.
Great photographs from both the accident site and the zone throughout the liquidation process.
Published
Independently published on Blurb
Pages
240
Language
German

Review

Photo book available through blurb. Some captions / text in German.
Chernobyl : The Hidden Legacy
Pierpaolo Mittica, Naomi Rosenblum, Rosalie Bertell
Isbn
1904563589
Published
Aprli 2007
Edition
Hardcover
Pages
240
Dimensions
635
Language
English

Review

Photo book with great pictures from both Ukraine and Belarus together with interesting text which shows some different points of view that's not usually found in common media and press.
Isbn
1439220174
Published
January 20, 2009
Edition
Softcover
Pages
64
Dimensions
Weight 59g
Language
English

Review

Short but really interesting description of some of the biggest shortcomings, not only of the RBMK but all nuclear reactors.
Isbn
0312425848
Published
200604
Edition
softcover
Pages
236
Dimensions
Weight 236g
Language
English

Review

A collection of stories told by both people involved in the clean-up operation and their relatives. Written in a poetic language still yet a chilling description of consequences. These descriptions offer a deep dive in the the minds and feelings of those affected by the accident.
The Long Shadow of Chernobyl
Gerd Ludwig , Mikhail Gorbachev
Isbn
3901753664
Published
201406
Edition
Hardcover in box
Pages
252
Dimensions
Weight 2 985g
Language
English, German

Review

Huge photo book National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig. Great photos accompanied by some descriptive texts.
Published
April 2011
Edition
PDF file available one online
Pages
67

Review

Great article that gives a bit more nuanced description of the health effects than usual. The part about IAEA and WHO is particular interesting.

Available on-line here
Ignalina RBMK-1500 : A Source Book
K. Almenas, A. Kaliatka, E. Uspuras
Edition
PDF file available one online
Pages
207

Review

200 pages of reactor design details. It doesn't get any better than this! This is about the Ignalina, a RBMK-1500. Although not the same as the ones in Chernobyl they are in basically the same.
Edition
PDF file available one online
Pages
17

Review

A detailed description of the design flaws of the RBMK-1000.
Chernobyl : The Forbidden Truth
Alla Yaroshinskaya
Isbn
0803299109
Published
August 1, 1995
Edition
softcover
Pages
136
Dimensions
Weight 227g
Language
English

Review

Ukarinan Journalist Alla Yaroshinskaya writes about here encounter with residents of highly contaminated areas but yet not evacuated and about here struggle to make this injustice know to the general public.

The book is a gripping account oh the hardship many of the rural villagers had to endure the years after the accident, before their farm land, several years after the accident, where finally declared uninhabitable.

The story is also a contemporary account of the hardship Ukraine as a country went through.

Language wise the book is a bit odd. It seems it has been first translated to french and then english, leaving some strange translation artifacts.
Chernobyl : Crime Without Punishment
Alla A. Yaroshinskaya
Isbn
Alla A. Yaroshinskaya
Published
201107
Edition
Hardcover
Pages
388
Dimensions
Weight 726g
Language
English

Review

To be read.
chernobyl : Consequences of the catastrophe for people and the environment
Alexey V. Yablokov (Editor), Vassily B. Nesterenko (Editor), Alexey V. Nesterenko (Editor), Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger (Editor)
Isbn
1573317578
Published
201001
Edition
Softcover
Pages
327
Dimensions
Weight 327g
Language
English

Review

To be read.
Isbn
0920862659
Published
1989
Pages
168
Dimensions
20mm x 140mm x 216mm, 0,2 Kg
Language
English

Review

The writer shares both his personal experiences and those from other's. Throughout the interviews of former citizens of Pripyat he takes the reader through their memories. The first hand account of city during the evacuation and the days thereafter is especially interesting for those familiar with all the different parts of the town.

The chapter when he interviews Dr. Gale could best described as adulation – in a bad meaning. This part doesn't add anything to the book and could easily be skipped.
Isbn
0262028271
Published
February 6, 2015
Edition
First Edition edition
Pages
400
Dimensions
680 gram
Language
English

Review

Producing Power is like no other book on this topic!

Sonja Schmid is incredibly well informed in the history of producing power in the Soviet Union. There are no technical details about the accident, the reactor or fission in general. The author do however immerses the reader in the political structures in general and the ones concerning power production in particular. To understand the Chernobyl accident one cannot only look into the actions of the operators or the flawed reactor design. One have to understand the context in which all this happened. This book is an exceptional good start for a better understanding of producing power in the Soviet Union. Very interesting, well written and with extremely well done research – that only a native speaker is able to do.
Chernobyl : Catastrophe and Consequences
Jim Smith, Nicholas A. Beresford
Isbn
3540238662
Published
September 27, 2005
Pages
310
Language
Enlish

Review

To be read.
Isbn
0931933390
Published
1987
Edition
First
Pages
200
Language
Enlish

Review

To be read.
FINAL WARNING : The Legacy of Chernobyl
Robert Peter Gale & Thomas Hauser
Isbn
0446514098
Published
April 1988
Edition
first
Pages
230
Language
Enlish

Review

To be read.
Isbn
002718305X
Published
October 1993
Pages
128
Dimensions
Language
Enlish

Review

To be read.
Isbn
0679408193
Published
April 19, 1993
Edition
1st edition
Pages
362
Language
Enlish

Review

A great book! The author gives a detailed picture of the events during the action accident and it's aftermath. What really makes this book stand out is to what extent the author goes to describe the Soviet union at the time. It's a very detailed and informative description of politics at play as well as personal portraitures of statesmen, scieniticsts and bureaucrats.
Chernobyl : A Decade
Shunichi Yamashita, Sasakawa K. Zaidan, Yoshisada Shibata
Isbn
0444828001
Published
Dec 1997
Pages
634
Language
Enlish

Review

A complication of five years of thyroid cancer studies among children in different regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. More of a encyclopedia than a book to read from cover to cover.
Isbn
0333441982
Published
2 Mar. 1987
Edition
1986 edition
Pages
244
Dimensions
Language
Enlish

Review

To be read.
Isbn
0160359708
Published
1993
Edition
First Edition
Pages
153
Language
Enlish

Review

Isbn
0691151660
Published
February 24, 2013
Pages
304

Review

Isbn
0993597505
Published
April 16, 2016
Edition
edition 1
Pages
256
Language
Enlish

Review

As of my understanding this is a book that came abut after a young man's visit to the zone. The book consists of two interwoven stories separated by 30 years of time. One is about the accident, the other about a young mans trip to the zone. Although they meet and blend in a nice way I personally is more interested in the old story than the modern one.

Nuclear physics is complicated and the author's struggle to get his head around the topic obvious. Unfortunately this gives room for several error in the text. Although the book is entertaining I would not recommend it to a first-time-reader, however tempting the easy going language is. This is a book for someone well familiar with the complex subjet, able to se though the authors shortcomings.
Isbn
978-1541617094
Published
2018-05
Pages
432
Language
English

Review

A book that goes in to great detail picturing the political history och the USSR and Ukrine surrounding the accident, rather than being a detailed description of the accident it self. What’s really interesting is the chapters describing the green movement in Ukraine and it’s role in creating a independent state. There is however some minor errors in technical descriptions, square meters is for instance mixed up with cubic meters. There’s also an error about thickness of the zirconium cladding in the fuel rods. Small, but for a geek as men, noticeable error that unfortunately leaves me with a question if there’s more error in the fields I don not have god knowledge.

Warning: Unknown: open(/tmp/php-sessions/sess_oq6hn0ke7ohvt5odq0s9f18j62, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in Unknown on line 0

Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/tmp/php-sessions) in Unknown on line 0