Non Fiction Book Reviews #6

THE PINBALL EFFECT:

HOW RENAISSANCE WATER GARDENS MAD THE CARBURETOR POSSIBLE - AND OTHER JOURNEYS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE

by James Burke

How things interrelate is fascinating and no one does it better than James Burke. Such as: George Eastman never found true success in the photography business until he used his process of film on a strip of flexible paper developed by Hannibal Goodwin, and that came about because African elephants were being hunted to death and a new material to make billiard balls needed to be found. Got a headache and need to get rid of it? Be thankful for the polluting of the Thames. Because Isaac Merit Singer's typesetting machine failed he developed a more efficient sewing machine and we have mass-produced, cheap clothes. Herman Hollarith set out to become rich by developing a machine so that the U. S. government could take the census and from that came the personal computer. Because of George Westinghouse our electricity in houses, offices, and factories is AC not DC. Westinghouse made his fortune developing air brakes for trains that saved lives, later he met Nikola Tesla who developed an efficient DC motor. Tesla was also the true inventor of radio. The soda fountain was developed to dispense healthy water would later spawn a billion dollar plus soft drank industry. A delightful exploration into how items are connected together in ways you might never think of. A great read!

PLASTIC:

THE MAKING OF A SYNTHETIC CENTURY

by Stephen Fenichell

Look around you. In your house: your computer and other electronics, your refrigerator, your cooking items; your transportation: car, bus, rail, and plane; your office: all the equipment. Plastic is everywhere. Prophylactics, polystyrene, viscose, Velcro, Saran, cellophane, Tupperware, and more. Stephen Fenichell takes a fresh irreverent look at the substance we love to hate. From the early astonishment at such inventions as celluloid film and waterproof clothing and their impact on society; to the revolutionary, yet practical, proliferation of Tupperware in the '50s, how the zipper was changed by plastic, and how Velcro went from nature to man. Fenichell writes about the social and economic revolutions brought on by the plastic and how scientist, artists, politicians, and buying public have all been molded by plastic. Fenichell writes about the history of plastic, about the scientists and corporations who to rich (or lost money) creating and selling synthetics, and how culture of the twentieth century was changed because of plastic. In this book the product that we are most dependent on is thoroughly examined from its beginnings, to its success, and the environmental impact of that success. A popular cultural book that is both educational and entertaining.

ZIPPER:

AN EXPLORATION IN NOVELTY

by Robert Friedel

Today the zipper is so common that few people realize how complicated the development of the zipper was. In fact, until the advent of current plastics, zippers were uncommon and in the novel Brave New World zippers were a sign of the future! The first patent for the zipper was taken out in 1893, but for the first thirty years it represented no real advantage over traditional fasteners like the hook-and-eye or the old-fashioned button. The zipper was mechanically awkward, liable to rust, liable to snag or burst open, and were so expensive that it would double the retail price on a skirt or a pair of pants. Although from the beginning the zipper had a sex appeal that would be echoed in songs, poems, and popular novels. Robert Friedel traces the history of the zipper from the inventor Whitcomb Hudson who devolved the "Hookless fastener," to the brilliant Swedish engineer who, in his machine shop, developed machinery to manufacture zipper and improve their quality, to the correspondence between Colonel Lewis Walker (booster and financial supporter for forty years) and Wilson Wear (chief salesman for the zipper) and their intense work to bring the zipper to be a common, everyday product. There are many reason why the zipper should of failed and this book examines how it almost did, but didn't. Also included is how the name "zipper" came to be. A story of hard work and the American Dream. Great reading for everybody.

BIRDS OF PREY:

BOEING VS. AIRBUS: A BATTLE FOR THE SKIES

by Matthew Lynn

In less than a hundred years the airplane industry has gone form garage tinkerers to an industry that has grown to be one of the most significant on the planet. In the United States one corporation has emerged to claim almost total dominance of the vast market for jet-liners: Boeing. William E. Boeing fascinating with flying began with an airshow in 1910. In Seattle in 1916 Boeing's first airplane, a wooden biplane, was completed and flown. The two World Wars boosted Boeing into prominence. But it was the 707 that made Boeing an international success. For decades Boeing was virtually unchallenged until the rise of the European Airbus consortium. Airbus is a combination of the French, English, and German airplane manufactures who realized that separately they could not compete with Boeing, but all together they could compete. And so began the struggle between two forces in international business with both overt and covert manipulation of consumer, big business, and governments. With a look at how Boeing and Airbus operate both internally and externally and why the American President Bill Clinton and the late French President Fancois Mitterand were the star salesman for the respected companies. A fascinating account of international corporate intrigue that explores the early history of aviation industry and the ongoing belle between two massive corporations.

AMERICAN STEEL

by Richard Preston

It's hard to imagine but at one time the steel industry in the United States was one of the biggest industries. But all that changed and America's rust belt became a vast wasteland. Then came a company with a plan to stop the decline. In Crawford, Indiana one maverick company has a secret weapon. A machine as long as four football fields that can swallow melted automobiles and spit out sheets of glistening steel. To do this is a diverse collection of hot metal men who toil in fiery blasts of white light to produce steel. Not only to beat Big Steel at its own game, but to bring America's steel industry back home from Japan and maybe restore some of the 300,00 jobs lost in that industry over the past decade. Richard Preston interviews such vivid characters like CEO F. Kenneth Iverson, plant manager Keith Busse, and their hot metal men. And in this book the reader witnesses each stage of the plant's construction to see how American know-how and ingenuity can reign supreme once again. A fascinating account that chronicles the hopes and dreams of a group of people and the hard work they do for it.

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