Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster by Allan J. McDonald
The author was a senior manager in the booster team who cooperated more fully with the investigation than NASA or his company’s bosses would have preferred. Mostly accounts of meetings, hearings & coverups with plenty of technical details. 3/5
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson
A quick tour though the rise of various financial concepts like insurance, bonds, stock markets, bubbles, etc. Nice quick intro and some well told stories. 4/5
The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe by Angela Kelly
An authorized book from the Queen’s dresser. Some interesting stories. Behind-the-scenes on typical days and regular events Okay even without photos. 3/5
Second Wind: A Sunfish Sailor, an Island, and the Voyage That Brought a Family Together by Nathaniel Philbrick
A writer takes up competitive sailing after a gap of 15 years, training on winter ponds in prep for the Nationals. A nice read. 3/5
Spitfire Pilot by Flight-Lieutentant David M. Crook, DFC
An account of the Author’s experiences as a pilot during the Battle of Britain. Covering air-combat, missions, loss of friends/colleagues and off-duty life. 4/5
Wild City: A Brief History of New York City in 40 Animals
by Thomas Hynes
A Chapter on each species. Usually information about incidents they were involved in (see “Tigers”) or the growth, decline, comeback of their population & habit. 3/5
Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth by Gordon L. Dillow
A history of the field and some of the characters. Covers space missions, searchers, discovery, movies and the like. Interesting throughout. 4/5
The Long Winter: Little House Series, Book 6 by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The family move into their store building in town for the winter. Blizzard after blizzard sweeps through the town over the next few months and starvation or freezing threatens. 3/5
The Time Traveller’s Almanac Part 1: Experiments edited by Anne and Jeff VanderMeer
First of 4 volumes of short stories. 14 stories, many by well known names (ie Silverberg, Le Guin). A good collection. 3/5
A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits—Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More by Paul Hirsch
Details of the editing profession & technology. Lots of great stories 4/5
My Scoring System
- 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
- 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
- 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
- 2/5 = Disappointing
- 1/5 = Did not like at all
