Status Updates From Время, вперед!

as interesting as a book about one day of pouring concrete can be i suppose

This is a classic of the time. The initial chapters and the final chapters were very effective at dropping the reader into the frantic energy of the first five year plan, but the middle section where the actual pouring of the flagstone occurs was a bit of a drag. So 4.5 stars for the intro and outro, 3 stars for the middle.