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

Engines and Enterprise: The Life and Work of Sir Harry Ricardo

by John Reynolds

Ricardo’s education at the privileged schools of Rugby and Cambridge, coupled with his undying love for all things mechanical, propelled him on a career path to become one of world’s leading authorities in engine research and development.

Higher and Faster: Memoir of a Pioneering Air Force Test Pilot

by Robert M. White and Jack L. Summers

US Air Force Major General Bob White (1924–2010) was the man who, in 1961 and 1962, flew the X-15 sixteen times to a speed of 4,094 mph (just short of Joe Walker’s 4,105 mph record) and an altitude of 314,750 feet (59.6 miles), earning White his astronaut wings.

Jochen Rindt: The Story of a World Champion

by Heinz Prüller

In the Clermont-Ferrand paddock during the French GP meeting of July 1970, Jochen Rindt sat with his fellow-Austrian, journalist Heinz Prüller, in the Firestone caravan. They had collaborated on a book four years earlier, and now that Rindt was romping away with the World Championship, they agreed to write another.

James Allison: A Biography of the Engine Manufacturer and Indianapolis 500 Cofounder

by Sigur E Whitaker

You know rearview mirrors, four-wheel brakes, front-wheel drive, and maybe even balloon tires. But do you know that all these things, and many more, can be traced back to one of the businesses that sprang from the fertile mind of James Allison (1872–1928)?

Women Aviators: From Amelia Earhart to Sally Ride

Making History in Air and Space

by Bernard Marck

It is either coincidence or clever planning that this book came out just about the time the movie Amelia (as in Earhart) was released. One can only wish that movie or book will fan the flames of interest in this deserving subject!

Preston Tucker & Others: Tales of Brilliant Automotive Innovators and Innovations

by Arvid Linde

The book’s basic premise is true enough: at all times and in all fields there are those who think outside the box. More often than not they are unlauded, misunderstood, and unrewarded in their own time. Worse, they may be forgotten altogether—hence a book like this.

Something Quite Exceptional: Hugh Easton and the Battle of Britain Memorial Window for Rolls-Royce

by Adam Goodyear

Many aircraft have been, and are, powered by Rolls-Royce engines. In the WWII context it is of course the Spitfire with its Merlin engine that tops the list. It played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain, where, against formidable odds the pilots of the planes it powered turned the tides of war.

The Big Spenders

The Epic Story of the Rich Rich, the Grandees of America and the Magnificoes, and How They Spent Their Fortunes

by Lucius Beebe

Automobile folks couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, first held in 1950. In its early days, one name was inseparable from the event: bon vivant and concours judge since 1954 Lucius Morris Beebe.

My First Car

Recollections of First Cars

by Matt Stone

Right out of the box this book looks as if the people making it had a good time! Clever cover art. Smart book jacket blurbs. On the Impressum page even the editor and designers got to list their own first cars. Drum roll, please.

Tales from the Toolbox: A Collection of Behind-the-Scenes Tales from Grand Prix Mechanics

by Michael Oliver

A professional motorsports writer, Oliver has great affinity for his subject, as befits someone who was only weeks old when he was taken along to F1 races, and he likes to say that he learned his numbers by looking at the roundels on the side of race cars.

Ships and Shipbuilders: Pioneers of Design and Construction

by Fred M Walker

To the uninitiated, “Rina” may sound like the name of the girl next door but RINA, or rather the RINA, is really the venerable Royal Institution of Naval Architects which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2010, which occasioned this book.

My Life and My Cars

by W.O. Bentley

The autobiography ends with a gathering of the Bentley Drivers Club at Bentley’s home in Shamely Green, in 1959; he then was in retirement and had kept close ties with the BDC. The last paragraph of the book is nearly wistful—that of a man looking back over an exciting and distinguished career. There seems to be a smile on his face.

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