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

The Man with the Golden Typewriter

Edited by Fergus Fleming

His first James Bond thriller was still only a draft but Ian Fleming could smell he was on to something—so he treated himself to a gold-plated typewriter. It was an auspicious start to a long life in letters, which is what this book by his nephew surveys. The words he wrote weren’t always golden, nor was the whole of his life.

S.F. Edge, Maker of Motoring History

by Simon Fisher

When it came to speed, wether it was bicycles or powerboats, he was on the cutting edge of all the new happenings of this time, as a competitor, a manufacturer, an agent for other makers, and also as a promoter and sponsor. His personality matched his achievements. Ah, drama.

Harold Edgerton: Seeing the Unseen

by Ron Kurtz, Deborah Douglas, Gus Kayafas (editors)

Thanks to the use of strobes and flashes, Edgerton’s Speedray photos, as they were nicknamed, gave visual evidence of laws of nature that had only been theorized upon before but not been observable. This book offers a look at the science and the man.

Sea to Shining Sea, Racing From the Wild West to Daytona

by Ken Clapp with Bones Bourcier

Predominantly known as NASCAR’s man on the West Coast, pioneering race promoter Clapp looks back to the days of yore, when it all got started and what it grew into.

Jim Crawford, Lessons in Courage

by Kevin Guthrie

A team boss of his once called him the bravest driver he ever knew. Also a wonderful human being. What, you never heard of the Scot who loved the Indy 500?? Here’s a book to fix that.

Boost! Roger Bailey’s Extraordinary Motor Racing Career

by Gordon Kirby

Bailey’s professional life spanned more than five decades and included such a variety of positions—mechanic, team boss, official, administrator—that you think you’re dealing with more than one person. No wonder his nickname was Boost!

Herbert Müller – “…alles zu langsam!”

by Födisch and Roßbach

If you followed racing in the hairy 1960–80 era you could not have failed to notice this Swiss driver. This biography is deep in the best sense. The reason it was written is to commemorate the saddest of occasions.

Betrayed: Secrecy, Lies, and Consequences

by Frederic H. Martini

Being a POW is hard enough. Not being believed afterwards, and even being denied disability benefits is worse. Having someone who knew of your plight but didn’t help be hailed as a hero is . . . well . . . this book will make you question who the good guys are.

Rick Mears—Thanks: The Story of Rick Mears and the Mears Gang

by Gordon Kirby

Few drivers have won the Indy 500 four times. Mears has—and more than once did he get within reach of another win. He spent his entire 15-year career with one team, and remained there longer than that after his retirement. What makes him so unusual?

I Kept No Diary

by F.R. (Rod) Banks

If your motor requires high octane fuel it probably has high compression. Banks is the man who championed this technology—and a thousand other things—which is probably why he had no time to keep a diary. He was 80 when he wrote this book, and still working!

Jacky Ickx: His Authorised Competition History

by Jon Saltinstall

The quiet and contemplative Belgian who thought he wanted to be a gardener discovered he was a versatile and successful racer on two and then four wheels. He contested over 570 races in a decades-spanning career, and here is a suitably big book for this big life.

Drawn Out, A Seriously Funny Memoir

by Tom Scott

Comic relief . . . you know you want it. Political commentator and cartoonist, satirist, scriptwriter, playwright, raconteur, provocateur, all-round funny man. He won New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year—seven times! (Ok, it’s a small country.)

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