Customer Reviews

The Riddle of the Titanic

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book at an airport thinking it would be a light read, not so, there is simply so much information to take in - which really works against the book, I might add.

In essence it pieces together various eyewitness accounts of the tragedy, and looks at the two enquiries launched on both sides of the Atlantic.

There are two authors to this book, one whom advocates a conspiracy theory that the Titanic was swapped with her sister ship the Olympic for the purpose of insurance fraud, the other certainly believes none of it.

Whatever the truth is, it seems likely that there was some measfeasance on the part of the White Star Line and it makes very interesting reading peering into it's ultra complicated ownership structure which veiled the true owner, JP Morgan.

What works against the book is its difficulty to read, it just does not flow properly and I found myself skipping pages which seemed to repeat the same information over and over again.

In the preface of this remarkable book, the two joint authors agree to disagree about an astonishing hypothesis - that the "Titanic" which sank in 1912 was in fact the sister ship "Olympic", switched for sinister reasons. A far fetched notion, but certainly worth considering in the light of recent evidence. The book also contains a thorough analysis of the two Boards of Inquiry, and reconsiders the case against Captain Lord in great detail. A provisional passenger list is imcluded, and copious footnotes and references make this an essential book for those who thought that James Cameron's film told the full story

As a Marine Officer i feel disgusted to read such a lot of nonsense, misunderstandings and a totally wrong idea on the practical navigation and life at sea.The idea of a substitution of Titanic by Olympic is absurd,those ships were not nice and small toys,but huge stuff,and with a lot of people on board.
It is also insulting the description of the figure of Master,who did all his best according His experience,the Company policy and sea tradition.I talked with many mariners all over the world,none of them would have acted differently from Smith.Furthermore my copy was plagued by a ludicrous italian translation,according which ,for instance,Olympic became a "oil tanker" after the conversion to "oil firing".Forget this book.

Half Baked Theories, shocking mistakes and the authors own admitted statement that most the book is bad facts and myths. As an enthusiast since 6 and a being mentored to be a Titanic Historian - I only recommend this book if you have absoulotley NOTHING else to do. A majority of the first half is some bad evidence on the Titanic/Olympic switch - if you want the truth looki at the A deck promenade, Titanics was enclosed and the Olympics open at the time of the sinking. This and Marc Shapiro " Total Titanic" are the worst of Titanic books

This book is the worst and most stupid kind of conspiracy writing. The idea of the "Titanic" being swapped for the "Olympic" is patent nonsense, and quite impossible for a number of reasons.

One of the authors, Dan van der Vat, also wrote a book about Albert Speer, trying to show he was guilty in the holocaust, and ended up convincing me of his innocence.

Investigative journalism already has a bad enough name. Books like these make it worse.