Archive for Author 'Sabu Advani', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Fireship: The Terror Weapon of the Age of Sail

by Peter Kirsch

A fireship doesn’t put out fires, it starts them. This profusely illustrated book is the first to examine the role of this device, from antiquity to the early nineteenth century.

Lotus Esprit, The Official Story

by Jeremy Walton

The Lotus Esprit may have held a record among British sports cars for continuous production—28 years and almost 11,000 copies sold—but pick up an automotive encyclopedia today and you’ll find that this Lotus hardly warrants a footnote.

Lady Lucy Houston DBE, Aviation Champion and Mother of the Spitfire

by Miles Macnair

Picture this: an air force is fighting for its very survival. A private citizen offers to buy her impoverished government several squadrons of fighter planes. The government says—no. This snub kickstarted a chain of events that culminated in Britain developing one of the important aircraft of all time.

Gulf 917

by Ray Gillottti

The 917 story told from a specific angle, that of the John Wyer team whose tech chief really made the car fly. You may have stacks of 917 books already but you’ll not want to miss this one.

Moonshots

by Piers Bizony

Plenty of photos, yes, but this book is really more about the role of photography. Over and over it makes the point that you probably have seen these photos before, but probably not this way.

Rule Britannia, When British Sports Cars Saved a Nation

by John Nikas

No hyperbole, this. The cars may be small but the story is big. Without selling large quantities of relatively affordable cars in export markets after WWII, Great Britain would have remained broken for much longer. How they did it, and how they lost it is the story here.

The Aston Martin Book

by René Staud, Paolo Tumminelli

If it’s specs and serious history you want, this is not the book. But if a car’s shape makes you lightheaded and its “image” excites you, this is the book.

The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird

by Richard H. Graham

A fantastic book about an aircraft everyone should know about, regardless of specialization or interest. You don’t know what you’ve been missing! It made history, and because there is still no substitute for it, may come back.

Gasoline and Magic

by Hilar Stadler / Martin Stollenwerk (editors)

Lovely photos, yes, lots. But they are more than that, if you are inclined to look beyond the surface and parse the authors’ intentions.

The Restoration of Antique and Classic Cars, Vol. 1

by Richard C. Wheatley & Brian Morgan

A classic in the 1960s, this practical how-to book outlines critical steps and considerations. They may not apply the same way today but the book will bring back fond memories to the legions whose copies have long worn out.

The Aircraft-Spotter’s Film and Television Companion

by Simon D. Beck

An indispensable companion when you watch a movie and wonder “What was that??” The book tells you that, and more: who flew it, who built it, where is it, was it real?