An Acceptable Number (Paperback)

Gregg Patten

ISBN 13: 9798246396261

Published by Independently Published, 2026

About this Item

Paperback. This book reconstructs what happened without dramatization, speculation, or moral judgment. Drawing from inspection reports, historical records, and the physical realities of coal mining along Colorado's Front Range, An Acceptable Number examines how reasonable decisions, made under known constraints, converged on irreversible loss.The mine was inspected. The risks were understood. Limits were imposed. Work continued.When failure came, it did not arrive as chaos, negligence, or villainy. It arrived as physics.This is not a story about heroism or blame. It is a structural account of proximity, fire, water, pressure, and time-of how systems designed to function safely within margins can still exhaust those margins without warning.Told in a restrained, archival voice, An Acceptable Number resists emotional instruction. It does not ask the reader to feel a certain way. It asks only that the sequence be understood.The book begins and ends at the memorial plaque that marks the site today, where the names remain fixed and the ground has long since been reused.The acceptable number was ten.It remains ten. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9798246396261

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Acceptable Number (Paperback)
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798246396261
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This book reconstructs what happened without dramatization, speculation, or moral judgment. Drawing from inspection reports, historical records, and the physical realities of coal mining along Colorado’s Front Range, An Acceptable Number examines how reasonable decisions, made under known constraints, converged on irreversible loss.

The mine was inspected. The risks were understood. Limits were imposed. Work continued.

When failure came, it did not arrive as chaos, negligence, or villainy. It arrived as physics.

This is not a story about heroism or blame. It is a structural account of proximity, fire, water, pressure, and time—of how systems designed to function safely within margins can still exhaust those margins without warning.

Told in a restrained, archival voice, An Acceptable Number resists emotional instruction. It does not ask the reader to feel a certain way. It asks only that the sequence be understood.

The book begins and ends at the memorial plaque that marks the site today, where the names remain fixed and the ground has long since been reused.

The acceptable number was ten.
It remains ten.