Archive for Items Categorized 'Biography/ Autobiography', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O’Brien

by Alex Vernon

“Vietnam made me a writer,” says O’Brien. This meticulously researched literary biography explores the life and journey that turned “happening-truth” into “story-truth.” If these terms don’t mean anything to you, all the more reason to read this book.

Lamborghini – The Man Behind the Legend

written and directed by Robert Moresco

A terrible movie—don’t get your hopes up. We review it because, well, it was a slow day on the ranch.

Ed Pink, The Old Master

by Ed Pink with Bones Bourcier

There was a time, before crew chiefs, when engine builders were as famous as the star drivers because they saw to every aspect of a car’s performance. Having built thousands of engines, at 92, Pink finally called it quits and finished his biography instead.

Leo Villa’s Bluebird Album, with 3D Images

by David de Lara with Kevin Desmond

The Leo Villa of the title spent almost his entire working life with the Campbell family of speed freaks, first Sir Malcolm Campbell and then his son Donald who between them held 21 land and water world speed records.

William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909–1913  

by Michael L. Bromley

Impressively documented re-appraisal of oft-maligned president, with special emphasis on autos. At an important early stage, Taft, in the face of opposition, articulated a national interest in the auto industry and the social advances of widespread motorization.

Lee Noble, Supercar Genius

by Christopher Catto

Noble Automotive started out building kit cars and did it so well that soon enough customers asked for complete cars. Of the many models over the decades are some that moved the needle so decisively that established automakers had to do some hard thinking. This is the first book to tell the full story.

Daredevil at the Wheel: The Climb and Crash of Joan LaCosta

by Tony St. Clair

She really did set the women’s speed record, in 1926—and she really did get arrested for armed robbery, in 1929. This is a wild story, exceedingly well researched and compellingly told.

Robert and John Pitcairn: Titans of Rail, Oil and Glass  

by William R. Huber

The story of industrialization and transportation in America would be incomplete without the brothers Pitcairn, and their circle of peers and friends. Things they did and ideas they had affect lives still today.

Amateur Racing Driver

by T.P. Cholmondeley Tapper

In the 1930s he became the first internationally known racing driver from New Zealand and had a promising start but a short career, making a greater name for himself as a skier and also found his way into aviation.

Flying Boat Pilot in War and Peace, Disaster and Survival

The Extraordinary Life of Captain M.J.R. ‘Roly’ Alderson

by Mark Alderson

From learning on an Avro Lynx biplane—six months after Lindbergh’s solo Atlantic crossing—to leading BOAC’s “Comet Development Unit” this book covers the whole arc of aviation development.

Forever Young: Six Lost Talents of Motor Racing

by Wagstaff, Marriott, Saltinstall & Banks

A tribute to drivers who were on their way to a promising career but died doing what they loved before seeing it fully blossom.

Joe of All Trades, From a Formula 5000 Championship to an Island Paradise 

by Joe Wright with Gordon Campbell

During the 1960s and 1970s it was not uncommon to find New Zealand race mechanics among all the top racing teams around the world. Wright was one of the most successful and this is his autobiography.

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