Explaining in vivid layman's terms how machines fail and deadly accidents result, this book draws on a wide range of disasters, some famous, some obscure, and combines riveting storytelling with eye-opening findings to show what happens when the reach for new technology exceeds a realistic grasp. Features a new Introduction. Combining captivating storytelling with eye-opening findings, Inviting Disaster delves inside some of history's worst catastrophes in order to show how increasingly "smart" systems leave us wide open to human tragedy. Weaving a dramatic narrative that explains how breakdowns in these systems result in such disasters as the chain reaction crash of the Air France Concorde to the meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, Chiles vividly demonstrates how the battle between man and machine may be escalating beyond manageable limits, and why we all have a stake in its outcome. Included in this edition is a special introduction providing a behind-the-scenes look at the World Trade Center catastrophe. Combining firsthand accounts of employees' escapes with an in-depth look at the structural reasons behind the towers' collapse, Chiles addresses the question, Were the towers "two tall heroes" or structures with a fatal flaw?

"With a new introduction on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers"--Cover. "As seen on The History Channel"--Cover.

Acknowledgments -- Special introduction to the paperback edition -- Introduction : On the machine frontier : new technology and old habits -- Shock wave : high tech on the high seas -- Blind spot : baffled and bewildered inside the massive system -- Rush to judgment : when flagship projects run out of time -- Doubtless : testing is such a bother -- Really bad day : panic and triumph on the machine frontier -- Tunnel vision : go away, I'm busy -- Red line running : humans have a limit, too -- Crack in the system : failure starts slow, but it grows -- Healthy fear : alive and alert at danger's edge -- That human touch : how little errors make big accidents -- Robbing the pillar : slacking off with the high-power system -- Machine man : surviving and thriving on the new frontier -- Disasters, calamities, and near misses cited in the book.