Here is Stanley Praimnath, who worked for a Japanese bank on the 81st floor of the south tower. I suspect that you, like me, will read this book in a single suspenseful sitting, even though we know the ending. In this heart-stopping, meticulous account of the minutes between the first plane crash and the collapse of the north tower, Dwyer, a reporter at The New York Times, and Flynn, a special projects editor for the paper, unflinchingly place the reader in the minds and hearts of the people who actually confronted our worst fears. Or we can confront the reality of the horror head-on, thanks to '102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers,' by Jim Dwyer and Kevinįlynn. And then we get a grip on ourselves, look for reassurance in everyday reality and hope that our imaginations will eventually release us.

Or descending a darkened stairwell when a rumble began somewhere above us. Or pressed against a window that wouldn't open. What would we have done had we been in the World Trade Center that brilliant late-summer morning? What was it like? How did it feel? The scenarios compete for our attention, one worse than the next: we could have been trapped on the windswept roof, 107 floors above ground, flames leaping up from below. And then there is all we didn't know and didn't see, the stuff of imagination, of fantasy, of dreams or more likely of nightmares. 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., is surely a defining moment, the precise recollection of where we were, what we saw, what we knew etched into memory.

102 MINUTES The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers.

102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer