Product Description
Combining captivating storytelling with eye-opening findings, Inviting Disaster delves inside some of history's worst catastrophes in order to show how increasingly "smart" systems leave us wide open to human tragedy.Weaving a dramatic narrative that explains how breakdowns in these systems result in such disasters as the chain reaction crash of the Air France Concorde to the meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, Chiles vividly demonstrates how the battle between man and machine may be escalating beyond manageable limits -- and why we all have a stake in its outcome. Included in this edition is a special introduction providing a behind-the-scenes look at the World Trade Center catastrophe. Combining firsthand accounts of employees' escapes with an in-depth look at the structural reasons behind the towers' collapse, Chiles addresses the question, Were the towers "two tall heroes" or structures with a fatal flaw?

Amazon.com Review
Inviting Disaster, by technology and history writer James R. Chiles, is an unusual book: it appeals to the macabre desires that keep us riveted to highway accidents, while knowledgeably discoursing on the often preventable mistakes that caused them. At its heart are colorful stories behind more than 50 of the most infamous catastrophes that periodically chilled the advance of the industrial age. There are both those well remembered (the 1986 Challenger explosion, for example) and those now largely forgotten (a 1937 gas explosion at a Texas school that killed 298). But along with lively depictions of these deadly devastations and white-knuckle calamities--the U.S. battleship Maine, Apollo 13, and Three Mile Island among them--Chiles offers an informed analysis of the unfortunate chain of events that brought them about. And by grouping like incidents to show how fatal "system fractures" eventually developed through a combination of human error and mechanical malfunction, he also suggests how we might sidestep such tragedies in the future. In so, doing he fashions these spectacular accounts of failed planes, trains, ships, bridges, dams, factories, and other conveyances and facilities into a cautionary tale about technological progress. --Howard Rothman

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 36 reviews)

Examining the incipient causes of failure by PGCP LLC Robert Sansone (Bolton, CT USA)

5 Stars
August 07, 2009
Mr. Chiles writes in a manner so easily digested that the the book is a total pleasure to consume. He brings the reader into a dissection of events that is concurrently educational, fascinating and entertaining. Simply one of the best books on the market for understanding how the causes of failure often have seemingly unconnected incidents in their past which become the true incipient causes for the ultimate disaster. I have used this book to train insurance engineers to look at risk from a different perspective; to more thoroughly seek out the incipient causes of failure; to encourage them to provide deeper examinations in their assessments of risk at operating entities (in an effort to prevent/avoid failures); and to overall improve their professional development. This is a must read for professionals as well as for the casual reader's sheer enjoyment. If one could award 6 stars on a scale of 1 -5, this book truly merits it.

Great Resource by M. Crisp (Las Vegas, NV)

5 Stars
March 28, 2008
Excellent collection of information about failed quality assurance programs and human performance errors. Disasters discussed cover a wide range industries from construction to space exploration. If you are researching what causes disasters, this is the book.

Interesting Stories, Important for Engineers but Hard to Distill Lessons From by Dianne Roberts (Los Angeles, California United States)

4 Stars
December 29, 2007
This is an interesting book consisting of a large number of engineering disasters and near misses. Each is treated with a brief investigative story explaining what happened and generally why. Most of the disasters are very large, such as the Piper Alpha and Bhopal and thus are the most dramatic and hard hitting. The Concorde on the cover is not a prominently examined example however, which was slightly disappointing to me being an aerospace engineer. For the lay reader this is an elucidating set of stories that many will find intriguing. For the practicing engineer it is more a reminder of the importance of safety, considering failure paths, incorporating safety systems, designing within the constraints of human capability squarely in mind, etc. However it really is a book from a pop-interest TV show. Although subtitled "Lessons from the Edge of Technology" the lessons are the simplest kind that would be discovered on a 1 hour TV episode with commercials, such as after the Piper-Alpha incident revealing: sea water and electronics don't mix. It's not a good theoretical or reference source for learning about safety in engineering design, but is a good motivator for learning why it is important for engineers and regulators to know and implement such things.

If you prefer depth over breadth, you won't like this book. by Frank H (Denmark)

3 Stars
April 23, 2007
Chiles gives a vivid journalistic account of various accidents and disasters. The writing style is easy and popular -he clearly intends to reach a broad audience. He generally does this job well. The main weakness of the book is the absence of an overarching framework, or theory if you like, that could help the reader assimilate all this information, structure it, identify some concepts or themes that recur. Or at least explain to the reader why Chiles found this particular selection of accidents so interesting that they deserve mention in his book. Chiles is quite candid about this lack of purpose: "When I began this project some friends asked what anybody could boil out of the huge variety of technological disaster we've seen. I didn't know." (p277). Therefore, the title's promise of "Lessons [learned?] from the edge of technology" never really materialises. The stories are told well, but the lessons remain fragmented and fuzzy. The book is not particularly useful in actual accident prevention work. While generally well written, at times, particularly in the second half of the book, Chiles goes an association or two too far. More than once, I was left in a mild state of confusion. Other reviewers have also mentioned this problem. The book gives a fragmented account of various disasters. If you prefer depth over breadth, you won't like this book. If you are interested in a popular account of various disasters, you may enjoy it. But why not spend your time better reading truly fantastic books on the subject of learning from [bad] experience. Read Henry Petroski's To engineer is human, Aaron Wildavsky's Searching for safety, Daniel Maurino's Beyond aviation human factors, or some of the books by James Reason, Trevor Kletz or perhaps Scott Sagan. There is plenty to choose from.

Essential reading for modern life by Conrad Heiney (Newport Beach, CA United States)

5 Stars
August 05, 2006
This book and Charles Perrow's "Normal Accidents" are required reading. We live in and around complex and dangerous technologies which fail for known reasons. Understanding the lessons Chiles presents will help you understand your world and survive it better, whether you're an engineer or just a potential victim.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies by Charles Perrow (Author) Normal Accidents analyzes the social side of technological risk. Charles Perrow argues that the conventional engineering approach to ensuring safety--building in more warnings and safeguards--fails because systems complexity makes failures inevitable. He asserts that typical precautions, by adding to complexity, may help create new categories of accidents. (At Chernobyl, tests of a new safety system helped produce the meltdown and subsequent fire.) By recognizing two dimensions of...
	The Logic Of Failure: Recognizing And Avoiding Error In Complex Situations by Dietrich Dorner (Author) our modern world, even though it was appropriate to older, simpler times. Working with imagination and often hilarious computer simulations, Dietrich Dorner provides a compass for intelligent planning and decision-making that can sharpen the skills of managers and policy-makers everywhere.
	To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design by Henry Petroski (Author) The moral of this book is that behind every great engineering success is a trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular) engineering failures. Petroski covers many of the best known examples of well-intentioned but ultimately failed design in action -- the galloping Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which you've probably seen tossing cars willy-nilly in the famous black-and-white footage), the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel walkways -- and many lesser known but equally ...
	Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Vintage) by Edward Tenner (Author) In this perceptive and provocative look at everything from computer software that requires faster processors and more support staff to antibiotics that breed resistant strains of bacteria, Edward Tenner offers a virtual encyclopedia of what he calls "revenge effects"--the unintended consequences of the mechanical, chemical, biological, and medical forms of ingenuity that have been hallmarks of the progressive, improvement-obsessed modern age. Tenner shows why our confidence in technological...
	The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA by Diane Vaughan (Author) When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. In The Challenger Launch Decision, Diane Vaughan recreates the steps leading up to that fateful decision, contradicting conventional interpretations to prove that what occurred at NASA was not skulduggery or misconduct but a disastrous...