Lightning Eject: The Dubious Safety Record of Britain’s Only Supersonic Fighter

by Peter Caygill

After an accident in 2009, decades after being withdrawn from service, all remaining private Lightnings were grounded and relegated to museums. This book examines the good and the bad.

The Diaries of Ronnie Tritton, War Office Publicity Officer 1940–45

by Fred McGlade

War needs PR? You bet, just take a look at the news! Tritton faced an uphill battle in his own department but really did succeed in changing how the public sees a side of life neither it nor the people engaged in its pursuit “enjoy” talking about.

The U-2 Spyplane: Toward the Unknown, A New History of the Early Years

by Chris Pocock

Iron Curtain. Cold War. Nuclear winter. The end of the world. It was the U-2 that made it possible to step back from the brink. Anyone with an interest in world affairs and aviation “firsts” should read this.

Rolls-Royce and the Indian Princes

by Murad Ali Baig

Indian Maharajas and Rolls-Royces make for a colorful combination. This little booklet captures some of that in the form of period postcards.

Automotive Climate Control: 116 Years of Progress

by Gene D. Dickirson

How do we stay warm in a car? In the olden days, lap robes and braziers; today, electronically controlled multi-zone systems with memory function that let you drive from pole to pole with only minimal temperature fluctuation inside the cabin. Also covers a/c and ancillary systems.

Contact

by Carl Sagan

Is there anybody out there? Why should we care? The scientific details made Sagan’s novel utterly plausible, even if every reader may have a different take on the grey area where science and religion touch.

Transcontinent 1910: The Automotive Adventures of Two Young Men

by Mark Chaplin

See the USA in your . . . Oldsmobile. From Massachusetts to Oregon. And back. Did they make it? Read about it in the autoists own words.

Atlas Shrugged

by Ayn Rand

This is one of those books one feels one “has” to read to be a card-carrying member of the civilized world—if only it weren’t so intimidatingly long and complex and, well, difficult. Unless you are, as one of the characters in the book, “impervious to thought” this review may change your mind!

X-Planes: German Luftwaffe Prototypes 1930–1945

by Manfred Griehl

Considering that work done in this period by the Germans would find practical application pretty much everywhere after the war and have long-lasting influence, you’d better read this book!

The Onion Book of Known Knowledge

by Joe Randazzo

A parody on life as you know it, or don’t. Or: everything you ever wanted to know about nothing in particular.

A History of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars: Volume One, 1903–1907

by C W Morton

In the Forword, famed early Rolls-Royce collector and restorer Stanley Sears says: “THIS book had to be written and no one is more qualified to do so than Morton.”