>>>Speaking of historic machines, anyone read "Soul of a New Machine?"

Excellent story.
There are similar books in other disciplines that are equally worth 
reading, even if you are not involved i that industry. I'll cite 
several here - names are inexact in several cases. if anyone is 
especially interested, and Google doesn't help, ask and I'll refine 
the titles.

Engineers (and many others) are unlikely to regret having spent the 
time taken to read these books.

"The ??macleans?? Story" - Brylcreem, toothpaste and more. 
Fascinating.
More a business development story than an engineering one but useful 
and fun.

The IBM 360 story. Also fascinationg.

"The Sun, the Stirling Engine and the drive to save the world" (title 
is a pun). Excellent story very much in the vein of "soul of a new 
machine". Set in Sunpower as they strive to produce a 10 kW plus solar 
dish driven Stirling engine for a contract.

"Ignition! - An informal history of liquid rocket propellants"
An utterly superb read, even if rockets are only of very vague 
interest. DON'T buy the overpriced, print-on-demand reprint with the 
shonky pictures. OK to read I guess. Libraries will hage the original.

The Boeing 747 story - with a complete history from day one to the 
747.
Well worth reading.

"The seven sisterss"    The oil giants story. Far less target friendly 
than the above, but worth the read.

Different but ...
"Try anything twice".
?? Young. Autobiography of the man who wrote "Rommel" before anyone 
else thought to.
Unbelievable (but probably mostly true).




        RM

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