accidents

Describes what went wrong with the Space Shuttle focusing on the political and policy failures leading up to the Challenger disaster.

Details the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia, as well as its tragic final flight.

Describes nuclear fission and how nuclear reactors work and discusses accidents at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and other power plants. Also examines measures taken to prevent similar disasters in the future.

Stephen Venables chronicles his struggle to survive after he fell more than 300 feet on a remote Himalayan mountain, breaking both of his legs and leaving him semi-conscious.

Presents short stories in which adventurers find themselves on the brink of death from hypothermia, drowning, mountain sickness, avalanche, scurvy, heatstroke, falling, predators, the bends, cerebral malaria, and dehydration.

Draws from the recollections of climbing guide Anatoli Boukreev and other survivors to tell the story of the worst disaster in the history of Mount Everest which occurred on May 10, 1996, when twenty-three climbers from two commercial expeditions were caught in a killing storm while attempting to reach their high-altitude base camp.

Recounts the circumstances surrounding the 1963 implosion of the United States nuclear submarine Thresher, which was the country's first loss of a nuclear submarine.

Discusses the design, development, and brief commercial usage of dirigibles, from 1912 to the crash of the Hindenburg in 1937.

First-hand survivor stories and photographs describe a number of environmental disasters around the world including massive oil spills and chemical leaks, how they are caused, and efforts to limit accidents in the future.