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

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

by Robin Jones 

His career reads like fiction. A 2002 BBC poll voted him no. 2 of the “100 Greatest Britons”—143 years after his death! No “15 minutes of fame” for this fellow, but have you heard of him?

Politicians, the Press, and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War, 1914–1919

by J. Lee Thompson

Think of this WW I-era press baron as a British version of Citizen Kane. He used both his personal interests and his political machinations—and his money—to champion early automobility and aviation.

Senna

directed by Asif Kapadia 

F1 fan or not, anyone who likes a big story well told ought to watch this documentary of a supremely skilled, courageous, enigmatic, controversial race driver who paid the ultimate price for doing what he felt he was put on this Earth to do.

Terry the Tramp: The Life and Dangerous Times of a One Percenter

by K. Randall Ball

Becoming an outlaw biker is not a choice you make, or is it? Maybe remaining one is. Terry still is a member, after 42 years, having been ousted as president of his club and gone to jail. Why?

Eric Gill: Autobiography

Introduction by Fiona MacCarthy

You’ve seen a Land Rover? A Rolls-Royce? Ever wondered about the crisp lettering of the logos? Wonder no more—Eric Gill’s your man.

Porsche and Me

by Hans Mezger with Peter Morgan

If you own a Porsche, or even just like them, and don’t know Mezger’s name: off with your head! Here, by his own hand, at last, the story of Porsche’s great engineer.

Why Not? The Story of the Honourable Charles Stewart Rolls

by David Baines

From ballooning to motor racing to seeing to it that Great Britain should have the capability of building a truly great car, Rolls did a whole lot more than he is remembered for today.

The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit

by Michael Cannell 

This book explores the cost of winning. Of the two top contenders, one died and the one who won no one seemed to care about.

Fall of Eagles, Airmen of World War One

by Alex Revell

By portraying the men at the controls, and using their own voices real and imagined, this book hits a nerve that dry stats do not.

They Started in MGs: Profiles of Sports Car Racers of the 1950s

by Carl Goodwin

Cheap, quick, easy to fix and modify, the MG TC really was the one car that can be said to have launched sports car racing in America. You’ll be surprised at who all cut their teeth on this little machine.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work

by Matthew Crawford

“Knowledge worker” vs. “blue collar.” Apples/oranges. Is one “better” than the other? Crawford says yes, but is it?

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed

by Frédéric Brun

To an American reader a book written from a foreigner’s perspective about a quintessential American icon is often as revealing as it is disconcerting—the two being different sides of the same coin.

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