On a Sea of Glass

The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic

By: Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton, Bill Wormstedt, George Behe - introduction

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

On the night of 14/15 April 1912, a supposedly unsinkable ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest either drowned or froze to death. How could this 'unsinkable' vessel sink and why did so few of those aboard survive?

The authors bring the tragedy to life, telling the story of the ship's design, construction, and maiden voyage. The stories of individuals who sailed on her, many previously known only as names on yellowing passenger and crew lists, are brought to light using rarely seen accounts of the sinking. The stories of passengers of all classes and crewmembers alike, are explored. They tell the dramatic stories of lives lost and people saved, of the rescue ship Carpathia, and of the aftermath of the sinking.

Despite the tragedy, the sinking of the Titanic led to untold numbers of lives being saved due to new regulations that came into force after the tragedy. This book is an accurate and engrossing a telling of the life of the White Star Line's Titanic. Made special by the use of so many rare survivor accounts from the eyewitnesses to that night to remember, the narrative places listeners in the middle of the maiden voyage and brings the tragic sinking to life as never before.

(P)2024 Tantor

The information available.

It is like a textbook in which there is a lot of information to be had, unfortunately it is like a textbook where it drones on and on and be quite boring, but you have to listen or you might miss something.

detailed, however

that wasn't the kind of detail i was expecting. if you want to know what every able bodied seaman had done for each life boat, a very good listen

Fantastic

Great story and listen. Don’t be deterred by the length: 8 hours of appendices at the end!

Engrossing Narrative, Informative, and Surprisingly Entertaining

What begins as a bland, boring and detailed account of the Titanic’s history and construction, quickly becomes an incredibly engrossing narrative. Once we set sail and meet the passengers and crew, it’s just so good. Every second of the tragedy is retold from many different first hand accounts, so that not one is given more favor or credibility. There’s no drama, love stories, or useless nonsense told in some accounts. Everything seems completely relevant and too important not to include. Obviously at 800 pages it covers a ton of information, and yet as stated previous it all seems relevant and necessary.

Narrator is perfect for this project as well. The calm, high school teacher like voice, gives the book the perfect tone. None of the passengers seemed to be one bit worried until the very end, even the final minutes, so the lack of a serious, deep voiced narrator works incredibly well.

Very detailed

In-depth. Well done, but digested more easily in small chunks for me. What a tragedy.