Various incidents with 15 year old Laura now studying to become a school teacher while being courted. The family farm progresses and town grows. 3/5
Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years (1972-1986) by David Hitt and Heather R. Smith
Covering up to and including the Challenger Disaster. Largely quotes from astronauts and people involved. Interesting seeing how missions quickly went to routine. 3/5
A history of the forces that led to the Atlas program from the end of the War to 1954. Covers a wide range of led-up rocket programs, technical advances and political, cold-war and inter-service rivalries. 3/5
A memoir of the author’s life and career from 16 to her mid 20s. Mixture of story, information about meat (including recipes), the butchery trade and meat industry. 3/5
A history of the iPhone and various technologies that went into it. Plus some tours of components and manufacturing. No cooperation from Apple so some big gaps but does okay. 4/5
Lots of examples of where Maths went wrong. From Financial errors and misbuilt bridges to failed game shows. Mix of well-known and some more obscure stories. Well told. 4/5
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
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
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
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
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
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
Mainly following Paul Tibbets and the 509th Composite Group plus some on the ground in Hiroshima. Has “minute-by-minute coverage of the critical periods”. 3/5
Alternate timeline SF. A meteorite hits the US. The Space program accelerates so humans can escape earth. Our hero faces lots of sexism & other barriers to becoming an astronaut. 3/5
The family move to De Smet, South Dakota. The railroad and then a town is built about them over a year. A good entry in the series, some gripping passages. 3/5
Based on 142 interviews. A lot of summaries of findings with quotes for interviewees and people’s blogs. Last chapter has some policy push but a little lights 3/5
Just a a 6 hour long quick spin though history. First half suffers a bit with lists of Kings although there is a bit more colour later in. Okay prep for something meatier 3/5
A bit of a mix. It covers the legacy of Apollo but the best bits are chapters on the Computers, Politics and other behind the scenes things. A compliment to astronaut and mission orientated books. 4/5
A very tightly written thriller about a fictional 1963 plot to assassinate Frnch President Charles de Gaulle. Fast moving, detailed and captivating 5/5
Memoir from the first officer in charge of the US Navy’s Top Gun school. A mix of his life & career, the school and US Navy air history (especially during Vietnam). Excellent 4/5
75% about Big-wave Tow-Surfers with chapters on Scientists and Shipping industry people mixed in. Competent but author’s heart seemed mostly in the surfing. 3/5
I did a big twitter thread of the YouTube channels I am following. Below is a copy of the tweets. They are a quick description of the channel and a link to a sample video.
Lots of pop-Science and TV/Movie analysis channels plus a few on other topics.
I should mention that I watch the majority of YouTube videos at speed 1.5x since they usually speak quite slowly. To Speed up videos click on the settings “cog” and then select “Playback Speed” . YouTube lets you go up to 2x
Chris Stuckmann reviews movies. During normal times he does a couple per week. Mostly currently releases with some old ones. His reviews are low-spoiler although sometimes he’ll do an extra “Spoiler Review”. Usually around 6 minutes long. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Movie Review
Wendover Productions does explainer videos. Air & Sea travel are quite common topics. Usually a bit better researched than some of the other channels and a little longer at around 12 minutes. Around 1 video per week. The Logistics of the US Census
City Beautiful is a channel about cities and City planning. 1-2 videos per month. Usually around 10 minutes. Pitched for the amateur city and planning enthusiast Where did the rules of the road come from?
PBS Eons does videos about the history of life on Earth. Lots of Dinosaurs, early humans and the like. Run and advised by experts so info is great quality. Links to refs! Accessible but dives into the detail. Around 1 video/week. About 10 minutes each. How the Egg Came First
Pitch Meetings are a writer pitching a real (usually recent) movie or show to a studio exec. Both a played by Ryan George. Very funny. Part of the Screen Rant channel but I don’t watch their other stuff Playlist Netflix’s Tiger King Pitch Meeting
MrMobile [Michael Fisher] reviews Phones, Laptops, Smart Watches & other tech gadgets. Usually about one video/week. I like the descriptive style and good production values, Not too much spec flooding. A Stunning Smartwatch With A Familiar Failing – New Moto 360 Review
Verge Science does professional level stories about a range of Science topics. They usually are out in the field with Engineers and scientists. Why urban coyote sightings are on the rise
Alt Shift X do detailed explainer videos about Books & TV Shows like Game of Thrones, Watchmen & Westworld. Huge amounts of detail and a great style with a wall of pictures. Weekly videos when shows are on plus subscriber extras. Watchmen Explained (original comic)
The B1M talks about building and construction projects. Many videos are done with cooperation of the architects or building companies so a bit fluffy at times. But good production values and interesting topics. The World’s Tallest Modular Hotel
CineFix doesn’t a variety of Movie-related videos. Over the last year only putting about one or two per month and mostly high quality. A few years ago they were at higher volume and had more throw-aways Jojo Rabbit – What’s the Difference?
Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) does tech reviews. Mainly phones but also other gear and the odd special. His videos are extremely high quality and well researched. Averaging 2 videos per week. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review: Attack of the Numbers!
How it Should have Ended does cartoons of funny alternative endings for movies. Plus some other long running series. Usually only a few minutes long. Avengers Endgame Alternate HISHE
Screen Junkies does stuff about movies. I mostly watch their “Honest Trailers” but they sometimes do ‘Serious Questions” which are good too. Honest Trailers | Terminator: Dark Fate
Half as Interesting is an offshoot of Wendover Productions (see above). It does shorter 3-5 minutes weekly videos on a quick amusing fact or happening (that doesn’t justify a longer video) United Airlines’ Men-Only Flights
Red Team Review is another movie and TV review channel. I was mostly watching them when Game of Thrones was on and since then they have had a bit less content. They are making some Game of Thrones videos narrated by the TV actors though Game of Thrones Histories & Lore – The Rains of Castamere
Signum University do online classes about Fantasy (especially Tolkien) and related literature. Their channel features their classes and related videos. I mainly follow “Exploring The Lord of the Rings”. Often sounds better at 2x or 3x speed. A Wizard of Earthsea: Session 01 – Mageborn
The Nerdwriter does approx monthly videos. Usually about a specific type of art, a painting or film making technique. Very high quality How Walter Murch Worldized Film Sound
Real Life Lore does infotainment videos. “Answers to questions that you’ve never asked. Mostly over topics like history, geography, economics and science”. This Was the World’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park
Real Engineering is a bit more technical than the average popsci channel. The especially like doing videos covering flight dynamics. but they cover lots of other topics How The Ford Model T Took Over The World
CGP Grey makes high quality explainer videos. Around one every month. High quality and usually with lots of animation. The Trouble With Tumbleweed
Lessons from the Screenplay are “videos that analyze movie scripts to examine exactly how and why they are so good at telling their stories” Casino Royale — How Action Reveals Character
Lindsay Ellis does videos mostly about pop culture, Usually movies. These days she only does a few a year but they are usually 20+ minutes. The Hobbit: A Long-Expected Autopsy (Part 1/2)
A memoir of a senior White House staffer, Speechwriter & Presidential adviser. Lots of interesting accounts with and behind the scenes information. 4/5
A Star Trek parody from the POV of five ensigns who realise something is very strange on their ship. Plot moves steadily and the humour and action mostly work. 3/5
The book covers less than a year as the Ingalls family build a cabin in Indian territory on the Kansas Prairie. Dangerous incidents and adventures throughout. 3/5
A book about the post-Challenger Shuttle missions. An overview of most of the missions and the astronauts on them. Lots of quotes mainly from the astronauts. Good for Spaceflight fans. 3/5
Ways that people, organisations and governments can start looking ahead at the long term rather than just the short and why they don’t already. Some good stuff 4/5
Some interesting insights although everything being about New York and very left-wing politics of the author muddle the message. Worth a read if you are into the topic. 3/5
The story of the 1949 Mann Gulch fire that killed 13 smoke jumpers. Misses a point due to lots of talking to maps/photographs but still a gripping story. 3/5
The secret British operation to bug German POWs to obtain military intelligence. Only declassified in the late 1990s so very few personal recollections, but an interesting story. 3/5
