Voices from Chernobyl

This book really got to me , it's one of the most heart-wrenching reads I've had this year. The author did an amazing job gathering stories from a diverse array of people affected by the disaster. Svetlana Alexievich deserves credit for bringing the scale of the Chernobyl tragedy to international attention for the first time, inspiring others to share their experiences and shed light on this dark part of history.
While the book offers invaluable insights into the personal experiences of those affected by the Chernobyl disaster, it leans more towards being a historical and biographical narrative rather than a strictly scientific or informative account. It's important to know that some of the initial beliefs regarding radiation and contamination depicted in the book are outdated and downright wrong, given recent scientific advancements. So it's best approached as a history and biography book rather than a comprehensive scientific analysis.
As for people on the GR reviews getting upset about others (the regular people who were interviewed) not understanding the dangers of radiation, it's important to remember the circumstances. firstly, there was a lack of information about the disaster and the gov was hush hush about it and lastly even experts were uncertain about the risks, protection measures, mitigation strategies and even the theoretical details. So it's understandable why many normal people were “ignorant”
4/5

Like a lot of people I was fascinated by the HBO miniseries, Chernobyl. This is one of the books that the creator used in his research. The first account is one of the first people we see in the show. It's just heartbreaking. So many stories are just heartbreaking, but so many have a lot of hope too. It's so interesting. People are resilient after all.