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

Rating:
Summary: We know the ending - now read the story.
Review: 102 minutes = less than two hours. This is the time between when the first plane struck the World Trade Center North tower -then the South tower, which then fell less than an hour later - and then finally, when the North tower came down. 102 minutes. Less than 2 hours.

I read about the struggle to survive inside the North and South towers during those 102 minutes. The hardest part of reading is knowing how it ends, and yet somehow hoping for a "happy ending" that was not to be. The authors captured the heroism, the desperation, the will to survive and the mistakes made during the design that kept many entombed in a burning building.

I recommend it - for the heroism, for the selflessness and for the frustration of mistakes made in the design and changing of the building code. I'm saddened by the lack of communication that frustrated those who went up to save others, while knowing that they might never come back down. I'm horrified by those who thought it better to flee the fire and smoke, opting instead to tumble many, many stories to a certain death.

Many recall where they were when Kennedy was assassinated. I wasn't yet born. But I remember where I was when the Challenger exploded -- right there, on an honors school field trip to Cape Canaveral. People on TV had a better understanding before we, the viewers on scene, did. Hard to believe that many in the North tower didn't know that the other tower had collapsed, while we, the viewers, stood motionless and numb, helpless in
those moments.

I'll always remember where I was when I saw the second airplane hit the South Tower. I doubt any of us knew or believed it possible that the towers would fall. Not even bin Laden, who planned the attack, thought it would happen. And yet, in 102 minutes, the towers were gone.

Rating:
Summary: Survivor of 9/11
Review: As a survivor of that day, I was on the 98th floor of Tower 2 this book says it all. This is a gripping, well told, accurate account of the horror of many many lives. The authors put into words what so many of us could not for those frightening and unbelievable 102 minutes. A must read for all Americans.

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Summary: The real heroes are revealed
Review: Finally the story is told about how civilians helped to rescue so many of their fellow workers on that terrible day. Days after 9/11, we were led to believe that the only heroes were the NYFD and the NYPD. Now we see that there were other heroes, the office workers who risked their lives to save others, who stayed when they could have run, who died because they didn't want to leave others alone. I would love for someone to tell me why a man paralyzed from the neck down was left to die on the 27th floor? Over and over it was written how firefighters stopped at that floor, spoke to the man, told the man's co-worker to leave and then walked off. Why wasn't this man carried to safety?

Rating:
Summary: One of two books on 9-11 that I recommend...
Review: For those of us who watched the horror from afar, it's important to have this real perspective. The authors did a very good job of respectfully giving the accounts in a way that really have us "being there". The other book I've read that does this is the one about Rockaway Beach - a community perspective about 9-11 and the crash of American Airlines Flight #587. It's called Braving the Waves. These books give me the feeling that if I could do anything after 9-11, it is to become more involved in my community both at home and at work.

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Summary: A magnificent compilation..
Review: I started this book last night and finished it today. Couldn't put it down...
The writers did a superb job of compiling interviews, emails and transcripts into a engrossing form.

The individual stories are riveting, deeply sad, and as you read each paragraph you are plagued by the voice in your head saying, "what would I have done?" Simple everyday choices made the difference between life and death.

The lack of preparedness, building codes, communication flaws, and greed are maddening, frustrating and disturbing.

Rating:
Summary: This book made the events real.
Review: I was unsure if I wanted to read a book on this subject. I'm glad I did. I couldn't help but wonder what I would have done. Would I have evacuated? Would I have gone back to my desk? It's frightening to think.
I thought seeing the towers missing from the New York skyline made what happened real. It wasn't until I read this book and learned names and places that it became real. The photographs in the book made a wonderful addition and cemented names and faces in my mind.
The only drawback I saw to this book was that I found it very confusing. Going from one tower to the other, from floor to floor. But overall, I would highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Harrowing and Powerful
Review: September 11, 2001 was a horrific day. 102 Minutes is a powerful recounting of the events of that day, specifically, the 102 minutes between the time when the first plane hit the first tower and when the second tower (first hit) collapsed. Reading 102 Minutes is a moving, emotional experience. There were many times when I had to put the book down briefly, to think about what I had just read. The book tells the story of the people in the buildings, some who made it out, others who unfortunately did not. It is the detailed account: some of the details saved lives, others ended them. Ultimately, 102 Minutes is a heartbreaking read, full of more "if onlys" than "thank goodness." I found myself hoping against hope that many of the people I read about would make it out of the building when their location told me they would not, which made the story that much more heartbreaking. 102 Minutes is a powerful book. I urge you to read it, if your heart can stand being broken, again.

Rating:
Summary: an amazing, enlightening experience
Review: the authors have written an authentic thriller despite knowing the outcome. they clearly describe how many lives were lost due to structural shortcuts, poor communication between police and fire department and lack of coordination of efforts. they describe many acts of heroism individually and in groups. it is ocvious the terrorists were responsible for the damage to twin towers but had there the buildings been build different plus had there been proper preparedness loss of life could have been cut by possibly two-thirds. hard to put down and well researched.

Rating:
Summary: It's 9/11 and this time you are in the towers.
Review: Trite maybe, but true: I read this book in one day-- I could not put it down. Adjectives like "gripping" or "amazing" just don't do justice to this treatment of that horrible day. You are transported back to 9/11 in New York, and this time you are on the inside. Via the detailed, interwoven accounts of that day, from the eyes and ears-- all the senses-- of those who experienced it first hand, YOU are now trapped above the crash zone in Tower 1 waiting for help, calling loved ones; YOU are trapped in an elevator stopped between floors; YOU are in Tower 2 before the second plane hits, wondering if you should stay in the building or leave (the plane didn't hit your building, so, as some officials on the scene are saying, it's safe to stay, right?); YOU are a fire department leader trying to lead amidst the chaos when working communication systems are all but non-existent.

The book also discusses the other thing that contributed to the destruction and death that day (besides the sociopathic fanatics who commandeered the planes): bureaucracy. Actually, better said, "bureaucracies": those involved with building codes and public safety from the time the towers began to rise in lower Manhattan in the 1960's to the day of the disaster; and those involved directly in the day-to-day operations of a huge metropolitan city government and its police and fire departments. As another reviewer pointed out, this is not said to disparage the heroic efforts of those public servants who rushed into harm's way that day, hundreds losing their lives as a result. It is a warning about the dangers of societal institutions that become overgrown and unmanageable, entrenched in outdated traditions or protocols, and, most importantly, victims of egos and turf battles at odds with the common good.

Finally, you will probably feel overwhelmed at times, as I did, by the vast number of people-- the names-- to keep track of (which is understandable and proper that they are detailed), as the authors deal with hundreds of life-and-death dramas occurring in a relatively short 102-minute window of time. Also, I highly recommend cutting out the page facing Page 1 and having it next to you as you read. It is an illustration of the towers and its environs, highlighting the impact zone of each tower, as well as the times of the four major events that frame the book's chapters-- the two plane strikes and the falling of the two towers. (Other such illustrations are included and are equally as helpful.) It became an excellent "at a glance" reference that helped navigate the various floors and distinct impact zones as the action switches back and forth between the two towers.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful tribute to the victims and survivors.
Review: Written with compassion, dignity and absolute authority, this wonderful book is an apt tribute to all of the people, living and dead, who experienced the horror of that day. It also sounds an alarm for the planners and creators of super-structures meant to house thousands of workers and visitors. While perhaps no sane person could have predicted what occurred on 9/11, the reality of the times we now live in requires that any and all steps need to be taken in order to minimize the chances for results similar to what occurred on that day. This book leaves no doubt that mercenary decisions made nearly 40 years ago contributed greatly to a situation in which people who should have escaped did not. We all know what happened from an outside perspective. Now read this book if you want to understand what hell is like from the inside.