I was instantly gripped by this book and finished it really quickly...which means I MADE time to read it...which means I really liked it :-)! It was definitely sad and frustrating because you knew what the end result would be, but I still found it fascinating. The author pieced together information from multiple sources and is able to offer a great look at what was happening inside the tower during the whole morning, really shedding new light on the tragedy of Sept. 11th. I loved that the chapters were set up by time (8:46am to 11am). I think it is a great tribute to both the victims and the survivors of that day and I definitely recommend it!

I went through a period of reading books and memoirs from those personally connected to the September 11th attacks. Stories of this book have stuck with me, and I imagine always will (as they should). Triumph and heartbreak, joy and hurt, and so many emotions in between.

This is not an easy book to read, but it is a very powerful one. I had previously read the absolutely excellent '[b:The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|110890|The Looming Tower Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|Lawrence Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320471617s/110890.jpg|2567720]' which leads all the way up to that fateful day. This book, conversely, focuses purely on what happened during that 102 minutes - but in doing so draws together strands of history that led to making the catastrophe even more tragic than it perhaps had to be. Hearing the voices of those who lived and died in the towers during that day is very powerful, but so to is the narrator's clear and in my opinion very brave criticism of the issues that led to a higher loss of life.
One thing to note is that you can find a list of those who died at the back of the book. I, personally, referred to this whenever I read about a new person in the narrative because it didn't seem quite right to read it as a story in which you waited to 'find out' who lived and died at the end - it isn't a 'story,' after all.
Overall, a very informative, incredibly well-done and emotively powerful look into the 102 minutes of 9/11 and well worth a read if it's a topic that interests you.

this book made my heart ache. the only thing i didnt like is i felt the author was trying to take sides. its easy to look bck at a situation and see what could be done differently and i think its unfair in such an unusual crisis to lay blame.

This book delivered. It really helped you feel the chaos that others felt, and also helped you understand what happened. All the information we all wanted watching the TV back years ago, when all we got was videos of crashes & smoke and reporters with nothing to say. I will suggest to anyone who reads this to bookmark the page before the notes that lists those mentioned in the book that were lost. I didn't know it was there until about a hundred pages in, and kept wondering if the people I was reading about made it or not. Once I found the page I referred to it constantly. Not everyone will want to read it that way, but I found it helpful.