This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story. In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world. Andrea Hiott’s wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today’s automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford’s Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler’s concept of “the people’s car” would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world’s most huggable automobile. Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, the visionary Austrian automobile designer whose futuristic dream of an affordable family vehicle was fatally compromised by his patron Adolf Hitler’s monomaniacal drive toward war; Heinrich Nordhoff, the forward-thinking German industrialist whose management innovations made mass production of the Beetle a reality; and Bill Bernbach, the Jewish American advertising executive whose team of Madison Avenue mavericks dreamed up the legendary ad campaign that transformed the quintessential German compact into an outsize worldwide phenomenon. Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility—a triumph not of the will but of the imagination.

    She was flagship to Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when he was killed on her quarter deck by a sniper’s bullet in Britain’s hour of victory. Maritime historian and former HMS Victory Keeper and Curator Peter Goodwin tells the story of Nelson’s flagship, giving fascinating insights into how she was built, her anatomy and weaponry, and how a ship of the line in the Georgian navy was sailed, fought and maintained.

    A personal account of a 25 year career with British Rail, from a Signalbox Lad in 1970 at Wigan, through various Signalling and Supervisory positions at London, Liverpool, Northampton, and Crewe, to a Resources’ Controller at Warrington in 1995.

    http://www.amazon.com/NASA-Mission-Pa...

    While many people were amazed by the prospect of travelling by these technological marvels, there were many bewildered others. This book, first published in 1862, provided suggestions for making the most of the journey.

    All the original text is included, along with a wealth of carefully selected examples from the several hundred pages of timetables and advertisements.* Following its bestselling edition of Bradshaw’s Handbook 1863, Old House brings you this fascinating guide to Europe’s rail network on the very brink of the First World War. Published in 1913, it is divided into three sections: timetables for services covering the continent, short guides to each city and notable destination and features, and a wealth of advertisements and ephemeral materials concerning hotels, restaurants and services that might be required by the early twentieth century traveller by rail. It affords a fascinating glimpse of fin de siècle Europe and of a transport network that was shortly to be devastated by the greatest war the world had ever seen.

    This excellent account of one of the most important personalities in early American human spaceflight history describes for the first time how George E. Mueller, the system manager of the human spaceflight program of the 1960s, applied the SPO methodology and other special considerations such as "all-up"testing, resulting in the success of the Apollo Program. Wernher von Braun and others did not readily accept such testing or Mueller's approach to system management, but later acknowledged that without them NASA would not have landed astronauts on the Moon by 1969. While Apollo remained Mueller's priority, from his earliest days at the agency, he promoted a robust post-Apollo Program which resulted in Skylab, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. As a result of these efforts, Mueller earned the sobriquet: "the father of the space shuttle." Following his success at NASA, Mueller returned to industry. Although he did not play a leading role in human spaceflight again, in 2011 the National Air and Space Museum awarded him their lifetime achievement trophy for his contributions.Following the contributions of George E. Mueller, in this unique book Arthur L. Slotkin answers such questions as: exactly how did the methods developed for use in the Air Force ballistic missile programs get modified and used in the Apollo Program? How did George E. Mueller, with the help of others, manage the Apollo Program? How did NASA centers, coming from federal agencies with cultures of their own, adapt to the new structured approach imposed from Washington?George E. Mueller is the ideal central character for this book. He was instrumental in the creation of Apollo extension systems leading to Apollo, the Shuttle, and today's ISS and thus was a pivotal figure in early American human spaceflight history.

    In the centuries since, Witsen’s rather convoluted text has also become a valuable source for insights into historical shipbuilding methods and philosophies during the “Golden Age” of Dutch maritime trade. However, as André Wegener Sleeswyk’s foreword notes, Witsen’s work is difficult to access not only for its seventeenth-century Dutch language but also for the vagaries of its author’s presentation.Fortunately for scholars and students of nautical archaeology and shipbuilding, this important but chaotic work has now been reorganized and elucidated by A. J. Hoving and translated into English by Alan Lemmers. In Nicolaes Witsen and Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age, Hoving, master model builder for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, sorts out the steps in Witsen’s method for building a seventeenth-century pinas by following them and building a model of the vessel. Experimenting with techniques and materials, conducting research in other publications of the time, and rewriting as needed to clarify and correct some vital omissions in the sequence, Hoving makes Witsen’s work easier to use and understand.Nicolaes Witsen and Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age is an indispensable guide to Witsen’s work and the world of his topic: the almost forgotten basics of a craftsmanship that has been credited with the flourishing of the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century.To view a sample of Ab Hoving’s ship model drawings, please visit: http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/AbHo...

    Here is a unique perspective on what is involved in maintaining, operating and restoring this Class A3 Pacific, the first steam locomotive to achieve 100mph. This highly detailed manual, based around 4472’s recent overhaul and subsequent return to main-line operation, also looks in detail at every aspect of its engineering and construction, providing a feast of information and insight.

    It is often said that steam locomotives appear to be living machines, casting a spell over spectators young and old, from lifelong steam enthusiasts to those witnessing live steam for the first time. This extensively illustrated manual provides a fascinating practical insight into the hard work, knowledge and skills required to safely drive a steam loco. The unique Haynes Manual approach, marrying the engaging text with step-by-step photographs and fascinating illustrations, puts the reader firmly on the footplate to experience the raw power and energy of a steam locomotive in action.

    By looking at the whole of the greater London area from Roman times to the present, however, Dr Nick Barratt is not only able to show how areas as far apart as Hendon and Streatham, Ealing and Leytonstone developed over hundreds of years but also to demonstrate the crucial role they played in the creation of the capital. Starting in the first century AD he shows how the villages and settlements of the Thames Valley developed and how they were shaped by their proximity to the city. He describes the first suburbs to sprawl beyond the city walls, and traces the ebb and flow of population as people moved in to find jobs or away to escape London's noise and bustle. And he charts the rapid growth of an urban giant that followed the coming of the railways, the fight to preserve green spaces, the impact of war and immigration, and the very varying nature of London's suburbs today.Illustrated throughout, this is the essential history for anyone who lives -- or has ever lived -- in London.

    

    Ford decided there was no reason why a four-seater coupe couldn't look stunning and go like a rocket (with the right engine), yet be as easy and cheap to run as a Ford Escort. Little wonder that the slogan they used in 1969 to launch it, "The car you always promised yourself," made an immediate impact. The Capri was a hit from day one, and continued to be a favorite until 1986, at which time it had been somewhat overshadowed by the emergence of the Hot Hatchback. Over its lifetime, the Capri was available in a vast array of guises over three distinct "Marks," but all of them had at their heart affordable fun and a surprising degree of everyday practicality. Nothing has ever quite replaced it, but it lives on in the fond imagination of everyone who loved it.