Book: Underground

by Haruki Murakami. Full title = Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. Incredibly interesting examination of a terrorist attack. Murakami includes 60 interviews converted into narratives of survivors of the gas attack, ranging from those who nearly died, to those who stopped to help, to some of the family members of the deceased. The second part includes about a dozen interviews with the Aum cult, the cult who orchestrated the attack, though none of the members interviewed were involved with the attack. Interspersed are critical analyses of the larger themes present in the accounts.

Recommend: Rather disturbing, at times greatly depressing, but a fascinating view of both psychology and perspective. Murakami hits dead on with non fiction.