Best of
Transport
2018
Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US Transit
Christof Spieler - 2018
Nearly all of them are talking about expanding. Yet discussions about transit are still remarkably unsophisticated. To build good transit, the discussion needs to focus on what matters—quality of service (not the technology that delivers it), all kinds of transit riders, the role of buildings, streets and sidewalks, and, above all, getting transit in the right places. Christof Spieler has spent over a decade advocating for transit as a writer, community leader, urban planner, transit board member, and enthusiast. He strongly believes that just about anyone—regardless of training or experience—can identify what makes good transit with the right information. In the fun and accessible Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US Transit, Spieler shows how cities can build successful transit. He profiles the 47 metropolitan areas in the US that have rail transit or BRT, using data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. The best and worst systems are ranked and Spieler offers analysis of how geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning. He shows how the unique circumstances of every city have resulted in very different transit systems. Using appealing visuals, Trains, Buses, People is intended for non-experts—it will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective. While the book is built on data, it has a strong point of view. Spieler takes an honest look at what makes good and bad transit and is not afraid to look at what went wrong. He explains broad concepts, but recognizes all of the technical, geographical, and political difficulties of building transit in the real world. In the end,Trains, Buses, People shows that it is possible with the right tools to build good transit.
Endeavour: The Ship and the Attitude that Changed the World
Peter Moore - 2018
Britain was consumed by the impulse for grand projects. In 1768 the Royal Navy bought a Whitby collier for an expedition to the South Seas. No one could have guessed she would become the most significant ship in the history of British exploration. Her name was Endeavour.Endeavour was a ship with many lives, famously carrying James Cook on his first great voyage to the Pacific islands. She was there at the Wilkes Riots in London and witnessed the bloody birth of the United States. A Polynesian priest, botanists, the first kangaroo to arrive in Britain and Hessian soldiers were just a few amongst her many passengers. According to Charles Darwin, she helped Cook add a hemisphere to the civilised world. NASA named a space shuttle after her. Yet to others, she was a toxic symbol, responsible for the dispossession and disruption of societies.For the first time, Peter Moore tells Endeavour’s complete story, exploring the different lives of this remarkable ship -- from the oak that made her to her rich and complex legacy.
Our Great Canal Journeys: A Lifetime of Memories on Britain's Most Beautiful Waterways
Timothy West - 2018
The two iconic actors have spent many of the happiest days of their life together enjoying the calming pleasures of watching land and nature unfold before them at four miles an hour.In 2014, Tim and Pru took to the canals of Britain and beyond with a television crew and a brief to record their best-loved trips along the most beautiful waterways they could find. Little did anyone guess that their seemingly light-hearted travelogue, and the story of their lives that it revealed, would transcend the program's gentle façade, becoming something entirely more powerful. From the outset, the reflective undertones of the possibilities of later life, and the realities of Prunella's dementia, struck a chord with viewers around the country. Now in its seventh series, the show has been described as "beautiful and meditative" by the Guardian, "touching" by the Independent and "a hymn to the possibilities of later life'"by the Telegraph, there is no finer, nor more thought-provoking, travelogue on British television.In this handsomely presented book, Timothy West tells the story of the couple's life and travels. Illustrated throughout with beautiful photography, Our Great Canal Journeys recounts their storied careers as actors while recording their remarkable journeys along some of the world's most scenic waterways. Beyond this, however, it explores with sensitivity the trials, but also the joys, of ageing, and how Prunella's struggle with dementia has both changed, and yet failed to change, their lives together.By turns humorous and poignant, Our Great Canal Journeys is at once a beautifully observed ode to a unique, magical method of travelling the world, and a warm meditation upon love, learning and life.
Rockets: Defying Gravity
Anne Drozd - 2018
These gorgeously illustrated graphic novels offer wildly entertaining views of their subjects. Whether you're a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty-year-old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you!This volume: In Rockets we explore the 2,000 years that rockets have been in existence. We dive into Newton's Laws of Motion—learning all about gravity, force, acceleration, and the history of rockets made in the past and rockets to be made in the future!
Disney Treasure Island, Starring Mickey Mouse (Graphic Novel)
Teresa Radice - 2018
His dream is suddenly realized when a mysterious man known only as "The Captain" takes up residence at Jim's family's inn, has the boy on the lookout for "the cat with one hind paw," and tells frightening stories of wild places, disappearances, and the wicked sea-faring pirate, Blot! After finding a treasure map in the captain's wooden chest, Jim, friends, and a hired crew set out on an ocean voyage looking for the island that hides the fortune. But trouble strikes as they reach land: a gang of scheming pirates, hidden among the crew, forces Jim and his friends to flee for their lives! The race is on, as they rush to find the location of the treasure, make it back to the ship, and out to sea--before the pirates capture them and force them all to walk the plank!
Lost Railway Journeys: Passenger Journeys that Time Has Erased
Anthony Lambert - 2018
Through stunning images, Lost Railway Journeys evokes the romance and drama of these journeys, taking the reader as close as they can possibly get to this lost world of dining cars, sleeping cars, station porters and international rail travel. Organised by continent, all of these routes have stories to tell and the lost journeys are captured in the old postcards and posters that accompany photographs drawn from collections and archives across the world.
Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places
Jason Lee Beske - 2018
The dynamics that powered sprawl have all but disappeared. Instead, new forces are transforming real estate markets, reinforced by new ideas of what constitutes healthy and environmentally responsible living. Investment has flooded back to cities because dense, walkable, mixed-use urban environments offer choices that support diverse dreams. Auto-oriented, single-use suburbs have a hard time competing.Suburban Remix brings together experts in planning, urban design, real estate development, and urban policy to demonstrate how suburbs can use growing demand for urban living to renew their appeal as places to live, work, play, and invest. The case studies and analyses show how compact new urban places are already being created in suburbs to produce health, economic, and environmental benefits, and contribute to solving a growing equity crisis. Above all, Suburban Remix shows that suburbs can evolve and thrive by investing in the methods and approaches used successfully in cities. Whether next-generation suburbs grow from historic village centers (Dublin, Ohio) or emerge de novo in communities with no historic center (Tysons, Virginia), the stage is set for a new chapter of development—suburbs whose proudest feature is not a new mall but a more human-scale feel and form.
Gemini Flies!: Unmanned Flights and the First Manned Mission (Springer Praxis Books)
David J. Shayler - 2018
Kennedy committed the United States to landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. With just a handful of years to pull it off, NASA authorized the Project Gemini space program, which gathered vital knowledge needed to achieve the nation’s goal. This book introduces the crucial three-step test program employed by the Gemini system, covering:
The short unmanned orbital flight of Gemini 1 that tested the compatibility of launch vehicle, spacecraft and ground systems.
The unmanned suborbital flight of Gemini 2 to establish the integrity of the reentry system and protective heat shield.
The three-orbit manned evaluation flight of Gemini 3, christened ‘Molly Brown’ by her crew. A mission recalled orbit by orbit, using mission transcripts, post-flight reports and the astronauts’ own account of their historic journey.
The missions of Project Gemini was the pivotal steppingstone between Project Mercury and the Apollo Program. Following the success of its first two unmanned missions and the exploits of Gus Grissom and John Young on Gemini 3, NASA gained the confidence to plan an even bolder step on its next mission, as described in the next book in this series on Gemini 4.
The Science of Supercars: The technology that powers the greatest cars in the world
Martin Roach - 2018
With an introduction by David Coulthard.
This is the definitive story of the science behind the art of supercar design. Featuring bespoke technical illustrations from F1 insider Neil Waterman and contributions from the biggest names in the supercar world, including:
Adrian Newey - legend of Formula 1 design
Gordon Murray - creator of the McLaren F1
Achim Anscheidt - chief designer of the Bugatti Chiron
Tony Hatter - Porsche design guru
Horacio Pagani - founder of Pagani
Nigel Mansell - Formula 1 world champion
Christian von Koenigsegg - founder of Koenigsegg
And many, many more.From the earliest supercharged monsters to the complex machines of today, The Science of Supercars traces the evolution of the supercar through the technology that powers it.