Like it or not, Allan McDonald's insider account of the Challenger Disaster is a book for the ages. The early chapters are necessarily tedious which may put off the more superficial or time-pressed reader. Here, I am especially thinking of tech managers who have become so beholden to corporate speak that they are losing touch with their technical grassroots. If you find yourself sliding into this miasma, you will have most to gain from the lessons of this book — as will your employer because any organisation ignores engineering realities at its peril. So take a hit for the team and plough through the minutiae of sold rocket booster design and see what happens when the movers and shakers play God with tried-and-tested engineering principles. But do keep a reference on hand or you may get lost in a whirlwind of acronyms and empirical data. Knowledge that is hard won is best retained and your perseverance in the early chapters will deliver its own rewards. With many unexpected twists ...