Rating: 
Summary: A Crisis in the Text
Review: The only crisis I found with the book is hat the text does not live up to the title. I wanted a bunch of near death airline crashes or near crashes - - the type where the plane ends up in a field in a number of peaces but people walk away. I wanted a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow account. Unfortunately, that was not what this book gave me. It covered a bunch of individual occurrences of problems that happened just short of the crashes I wanted to read about. Don't get me wrong; I am not some sick person who is only interested in death and destruction. I was mostly interested in what happens to the machines that causes their problems and how the pilots and the air traffic controllers handle the situation. I have read a number of other books by this author and found them to be a cut above average. It was just that the author has a rather dry way of story telling and the stories were not edge of the chair types. These two items combined to provide me a book that was less then what I was looking for. He is a much better author for technical and dry reviews of aircraft or reasons for aircraft crashes then tying to excite the reader with near misses. As an example of what I was looking for, if you too are looking for an exciting and interesting book, I would suggest the book Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: A True Story of Tragedy and Triumph by Gary M. Pomerantz. Nine Minutes is a wonderful book that literally blows the doors of this meager offering by Stewart. Overall I was disappointed and would not suggest this book unless you are a true fan of the author.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting...
Review: This book is certainly an interesting one, telling stories of near-fatal accidents. It's fascinating to read what is going on inside the airplane at the time, but does not focus on the technical side of aircraft accidents.
The flip side is that it doesn't get weighted down with technical language or mechanical intricacies, and really adds a human touch to the crews. The professionalism of crews both in the cockpit and in the cabin are detailed and examined, and certainly offers the reader a chance to re-evaluate the attention we pay to these individuals, who sometimes are the difference between life and death.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting...
Review: This book is certainly an interesting one, telling stories of near-fatal accidents. It's fascinating to read what is going on inside the airplane at the time, but I get more enjoyment (if you can call it that) from stories that also encompass more of the technical side of aircraft accidents. The flip side is that it doesn't get weighted down with technical language or mechanical intricacies, and really adds a human touch to the crews who we typically think of only as someone who brings us soda.
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