Archive for Items Categorized 'Technology', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

The Four Geniuses of the Battle of Britain: Watson Watt, Henry Royce, Sydney Camm & RJ Mitchell

by David Coles & Peter Sherrard

Radar, airframes, and aero engines played a key role in this predominantly aerial engagement. This book presents bios and work histories of four of the men in the design offices in the years before the war.

The Evolution of Automotive Technology: A Handbook

by Gijs Mom

Different cultures produce different tech. What?? That’s just one of the points this academic text makes, enlisting 125 years of global automobile history to describe the mutually dependent development of technology and society. From engineering to driver behavior, nothing escapes scrutiny.

Formula 1 2020/2022 – La tecnica/Technical Insights

by Paolo Filisetti

Chicken/egg: some people say it’s the team’s technical director who ought to be on the podium, not the driver. After all, and certainly in the modern era, even the best driver cannot win with poor tech. This book looks at three seasons of challenges/solutions.

Formula 1 Technology: The Engineering Explained

by Steve Rendle

Nothing remains the same for long in something as complex as motorsports. Every now and then you need a solid book to recap how we got to where we are, without which we won’t understand what’s next.

The Diesel Odyssey of Clessie Cummins

by C. Lyle Cummins Jr.

Cummins is not only the name behind the ubiquitous Cummins Diesel truck engine but also a world speed and endurance record holder. Readers with historical awareness will recognize in the publisher’s name a clever homage to Sadi Carnot, the brilliant young French scientist who is considered the father of thermodynamics.

Fundamental Carburetion, From the Gas Tank to the Combustion Chamber

by Dean G. Tryon

EVs may be the future, and fuel injection has been around for decades—but carbs have not gone away! Air and fuel need to come together just so, and a multitude of factors influence the outcome.

Factory Air: Cool Cars in Cooler Comfort, An Illustrated History of Automotive Air-Conditioning

by Allen B. Simons

Would you spend $5K in today’s money on AC in your car? That’s what it cost back in the pre-WWII days, which is what this first of four volumes examines. Hundreds of illustrations, many rare, show Packard, Cadillac, and Chrysler offerings.

American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15

by Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson

Why is this the gun we hear about all the time, and in the worst of circumstances? Who is the fellow who invented it and why? And how did a strictly military tool get into civilian hands? In calm and precise language, the authors report all the factors behind both the ingenuity and the mayhem

Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator

by Keith Houston

Do you love your pocket calculator? You should, but maybe you don’t know why. This witty and scholarly (do those words really go together?) book is as much mathematical as social history.

George Westinghouse, Powering the World

by William R. Huber

His teachers thought he was mentally disabled. He quit college, but he received his first patent at the age of 19. Hundreds more would follow and he became a captain of industry, his 60-odd companies providing paychecks to tens of thousands and changing the world.

Powered by Gibson—From F1 to Le Mans

by Mark Cole

The rubber has barely washed off the roads from one year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and the clock at Gibson is already counting down the seconds to the next one. That’s how it goes when you’re the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance LMP1 and LMP2 powertrains.

Béla Barényi: Pioneer of Passive Safety at Mercedes-Benz

by Harry Niemann

Born into the age of the horseless carriage young Barényi had a knack for engineering and an uncommonly acute awareness of unintended safety hazards—so he built himself a racing sleigh with a padded steering wheel! One of his many innovations may well have saved your life.