Book Reviews of 102 Minutes : The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

This was an emotional book to read not only because of the tales of courage and bravery but also because there were design flaws in the building that probably contributed to the deaths of more people. A very good read!

This was an absolutely amazing book. Not just because of the true-life accounts of many who survived (or, in many cases, didn't), but mostly because the authors pull no punches in telling the story of 9/11/01.

This isn't a book that bashes the government, both local and national, but it does tell both the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. While I was uplifted and encouraged by so many examples of human kindness, I was devastated to read that so very many deaths could have possibly been avoided, if there had just been better communication between political-minded departments.

Also, the fact that so many shortcuts were taken in building the World Trade Center, simply to create more rentable space, shows just how far people will go to make a buck. It saddens me that so many lives might have been saved if there were more staircases, if they had been spread out more, if they had had proper fireproofing.

If you're interested at all in the story that is 9/11, then this is a must-read.

having been a native NY'er and now in NJ for 32 years,the Twin Towers were a part of my lndscape of life.i remember the place i was when i saw the second building was hit...i watched it on TV as many of you did.
this book in no way "cheapens" what happened that day. the heroics of the professionals and regular folks is a highpoint.
you will find out many things that went wrong. communications is what went wrong.please read this book and you will understand.

great accounts of people inside the trade centers that got out and others who didn't. Sad, but well worth the read.

A hard read, but a fascinating of a tragedy.

Very good REad

A book that reveals the structural deficiencies that led to the early collapse of the twin towers. Both an historical analysis of the building of the towers and a heart-wrenching account of the human toll that resulted from political and economic decisions made decades before.

The authors do not look to place blame on anyone but the terrorists for the deaths of those innocents killed in the airplanes or the towers' impact zones, but fact by fact they show how early decisions made by politicians, contractors, and Port Authority administrators during the planning and building of the twin towers doomed almost everyone who died after the initial impacts. Through interviews of survivors and witnesses, Dwyer and Flynn reconstruct the routine pre-attack busyness of people planning for meetings, arriving at their desks, going for coffee and making the hundreds of simple daily decisions that, on this day, are of far greater consequence. The authors provide personal histories and more current details of the lives of those connected to the towers through work or rescue, making the outcome all the more poignant to the reader.

While non-fiction, the account reads like the taut human drama that it is and you may well find yourself reading into the night, hoping against hope that different decisions will be made and lives will be saved. In the end, the reader is left with the impact of the realization that this was the wretched reality of 9/11 and nothing he or she or anyone else does from this day forward can change it. While we may never comprehend the disturbed minds of those who would purposely fly airplanes into buildings, Dwyer and Flynn have provided us with information that helps us understand why the buildings collapsed so quickly and why so many were lost who could have been saved. Highly recommended.

Really good - filled in some gaps in my understanding of the event.