Lawrence Beesley (1877–1967)

This has been excellent. I first heard about it on wikipedia on a titanic writeup. It is the written testimony of an individual who survived the sinking of the titanic. The writer does a really good job of telling the events as he remembered them. He tries to be fair, and is very good at telling the information without fanfare, and from the perspective he saw it from, which was the titanic was brand new and "unsinkable". Several times he says "remember, we weren't reacting to the history show more that we have now, which is that the titanic sank. She was a brand new ship." He was able to convey a lot of the leadership confusion that resulted from not having someone specifically responsible for removal of passengers in an emergency...maritime practice was that the captain was responsible. He describes things that happened as natural consequences to the situation. He is able to convey why people did what they did, and also brings in the testimonies given from the investigations into the incident. I highly recommend the book because it is very well written, and because he brings in a unique perspective. I cannot say enough good about this book, that's how much I liked it! show less

Why I don't read non-fiction ....

But seriously, if this had been more of a non-fiction novel (see In Cold Blood) I may have piled through it as the Titanic is a subject that generally I find quite interesting but this one was just a little too slow.

My dad's grandfather owned a copy of this book from the actual year it was published. Such a wonderfully written story, but under terrible circumstances.

274. The Loss of the SS Titanic Its Story and its Lessons, by Lawrence Beesley (read 9 Aug 1946) On Aug 8, 1946, I said: "Reading book about the sinking of the Titanic. Poorly written." On Aug 9 I said: "Finished Titanic book. Not enough information in it, and poorly written."