Book picks similar to
TUPOLEV TU-16 BADGER by Yefim Gordon


aircrafts
aviation
cold-war
cold-war-warsaw

Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51


Phil Patton - 1998
    It is the airbase where test flights of our top-secret experimental military aircraft are conducted and --not coincidentally--where the conspiracy theorists insist the Pentagon is hiding UFOs and aliens. This is Dreamland--or Area 51. For Phil Patton, the idea of writing a travel account of a place he couldn't actually visit was irresistible. What he found was a world where Chick Yeager and the secret planes of the Cold War converged with the Nevada Test Site and alien landings at Roswell. A think tank for aviation engineering, Dreamland can be seen from a summit outside the base's perimeter, a hundred miles north of Las Vegas. On Freedom Ridge, groups of airplane buffs gather with their camouflage outfits and binoculars. These are the Stealth chasers, the Skunkers, guys with code names like Agent X and Zero, hoping for a glimpse of the rumored raylike shapes of planes like Black Manta and " the mother ship." The most mysterious craft is Aurora, the successor to the legendary U-2, said to run on methane and fly as fast as Mach 6. Scanning the same horizon, the UFO buffs are looking for the hovering lights and doughnut-shaped contrails of alien aircraft. Are they looking at something sinister and mysterious? Imagined? Or more terrestrial than they think? Dreamland shows how much we need mystery in the information age, and how the cultures of nuclear power and airpower merge with the folklores of extraterrestrials and earthly conspiracies.Patton found people who found themselves in the mysteries of the place. John Lear, the son of aviation pioneer Bill Lear--who gave his name to the jet--served as a pilot for the CIA's Air America, but back home, he became fascinated by UFOs and eventually believed in it all: the underground bases, the alien-human hybrids, the secret treaties. But was he a true believer, or part of a disinformation campaign? Bob Lazar seems to know when the saucers will come, and has made three clear sightings at night along Dreamland's perimeter, but is his story real, or a vision of what's possible? Dreamland is an exploration of America's most secret place: the base for our experimental airplanes, the fount of UFO rumors, an offshoot of the Nevada Test Site. How this " blackspot" came to exist--its history, its creators, its spies and counterspies--is Phil Patton's tale. He tunnels into the subcultures of the conspiracy buffs, the true believers, and the aeronautic geniuses, creating a novelistic tour de force destined to make us all rethink our convictions about American know-how--and alien inventiveness.

My Five Cambridge Friends


Yuri Modin - 1994
    Written by their KGB controller--their protector, confident, and link to Moscow--this book offers unique insight into the true characters and intrigues of the legendary British spies. Illustrated.

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy


Lawrence Freedman - 1981
    It has now been rewritten, drawing on a wide range of new research, and updated to take account of the period following the end of the cold war, taking the story to contemporary arguments about missile defense.

Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman's Eye View of the Activities on the Island of Guadalcanal


John B. George - 1947
     It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. John B. George’s wonderful account of his early overseas experiences as a rifleman in the Guadalcanal campaign presents the viewpoint not of a brass hat, but instead of doughboy who saw the conflict from the ground. He begins with the story of his early years in the 132nd Infantry of the Illinois National Guard, training on the ranges in various ranges across America, before he and his regiment were inducted into the United States Army just months before the terrible events at Pearl Harbor. George and his regiment landed on Guadalcanal just one day after the invasion had begun and were thrown quickly into the action to secure the beachhead and defend Lunga Point. Being a crack shot George records the many hours that he spent hidden in the bush sniping at his enemies if any opportunities arose. What makes this memoir different from others is the fact that George not only uncovers the conflicts that he witnesses and took part in but he also gives extensive information about the tactics that the U.S. military implemented as well as in depth descriptions of all the weapons that they used along with those of their enemies. “Johnny George is a fine officer and an able Infantryman. As a leader he was always capable and aggressive; as an individual rifleman he never lost an opportunity to kill or harass the enemy.” Colonel George F. Ferry, Commanding Officer of 132nd Infantry Regiment. John B. George served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1947 in the Pacific and China-Burma-India theaters and held the rank of lieutenant colonel. After this he went to Princeton and later joined the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Institute as a consultant, lecturer, and writer on African affairs. His book Shots Fired in Anger was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 2009.

Instrument Flying Handbook


Federal Aviation Administration - 1980
    Most FAA Knowledge Exams’ questions are taken directly from the information presented in these texts.Written for applicants preparing for an Airplane or Helicopter Instrument Rating, this book is also valuable to instrument flight instructors (CFII) and already-rated pilots who would like to refresh their skills. It is the official source for all instrument questions appearing on the FAA knowledge exams. This is FAA handbook FAA-H-8083-15.

How to Land a Plane (Little Ways to Live a Big Life)


Mark Vanhoenacker - 2017
    That's great to see. Have a seat on the left side of the cockpit - that's the captain's seat. Yes, you're now the captain. And yes, that's the runway down there. So fasten your seat belt, order yourself a cup of tea, and let's get cracking.Imagine the pilot of the plane you're on is suddenly ill. Only you can take over. What do you do? Mark Vanhoenacker, the airline pilot who makes poetry out of the science of flight technology, turns the nerve-wracking reality of hitting the runway into a practical but also meaningful experience, in this fascinating guide to the magical art of flying.Flight shows us a new immensity, but also reminds us where we come from. And even as it puts us in our proper relationship to the infinite, even as it makes us feel so tiny, it uplifts us.But flying also comes with a whole lot of rather tedious manuals. In this short, humorous and spiritual guide, the bestselling author of SKYFARING makes these manuals more accessible and fun as he describes one of the most important and liminal phases of flight: the transition from air to ground.You'll understand the difference between 'controls' and 'instruments', you'll know what 'roll', 'pitch' and 'yaw' signify, and you'll also learn to notice the breathtaking beauty of amazing cloudscapes and stunning sunsets. You just needed someone to show you how.

Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason


Justin E.H. Smith - 2019
    Once, humans were benighted by superstition and irrationality, but then the Greeks invented reason. Later, the Enlightenment enshrined rationality as the supreme value. Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the "rational animal." But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today--from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump—Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite. From sex and music to religion and war, irrationality makes up the greater part of human life and history.Rich and ambitious, Irrationality ranges across philosophy, politics, and current events. Challenging conventional thinking about logic, natural reason, dreams, art and science, pseudoscience, the Enlightenment, the internet, jokes and lies, and death, the book shows how history reveals that any triumph of reason is temporary and reversible, and that rational schemes, notably including many from Silicon Valley, often result in their polar opposite. The problem is that the rational gives birth to the irrational and vice versa in an endless cycle, and any effort to permanently set things in order sooner or later ends in an explosion of unreason. Because of this, it is irrational to try to eliminate irrationality. For better or worse, it is an ineradicable feature of life.Illuminating unreason at a moment when the world appears to have gone mad again, Irrationality is fascinating, provocative, and timely.

Cure Tight Hips Anywhere: Open Locked Up Hips and Pelvis Anytime, Anywhere (Simple Strength Book 1)


Sean Schniederjan - 2014
     This book gives the simplest exercises on the market to open your hips with effective correctives you can do anywhere. This program was designed to not only be convenient, but also comprehensive. It breaks down an easy set of progressions and goals to get the muscles on your pelvis, lower back, and hips/upper legs to function. Doing these exercises will: -restore balance to your body -instantly improve your posture and hip mobility -strengthen your hips in addition to opening them leaving you feeling "tied together" and fantastic.

Black Star Rising


Robert Gandt - 2007
    And the only thing blocking China's access to an unlimited fuel supply is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. When a Vietnamese oil rig is destroyed, China is obviously the culprit. The U.S.--recently joined in a defense pact with Vietnam--calls upon Commander Brick Maxwell to fly the hyperadvanced Black Star stealth jet against the Chinese. But the Chinese have on their side technology to match America's--and one of Maxwell's old enemies, who is hunting him with a vengeance...

Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan


Tsuyoshi Hasegawa - 2005
    By fully integrating the three key actors in the story - the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan - Hasegawa for the first time puts the last months of the war into international perspective. From April 1945, when Stalin broke the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and Harry Truman assumed the presidency, to the final Soviet military actions against Japan, Hasegawa brings to light the real reasons Japan surrendered. From Washington to Moscow to Tokyo and back again, he shows us a high-stakes diplomatic game as Truman and Stalin sought to outmaneuver each other in forcing Japan's surrender, as Stalin dangled mediation offers to Japan while secretly preparing to fight in the Pacific, as Tokyo peace advocates desperately tried to stave off a war party determined to mount a last-ditch defense, and as the Americans struggled to balance their competing interests of ending the war with Japan and preventing the Soviets from expanding into the Pacific. Authoritative and engrossing, Racing the Enemy puts the final days of World War II into a whole new light.

The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives


Zbigniew Brzeziński - 1997
    Yet the critical question facing America remains unanswered: What should be the nation's global strategy for maintaining its exceptional position in the world? Zbigniew Brzezinski tackles this question head-on in this incisive and pathbreaking book.The Grand Chessboard presents Brzezinski's bold and provocative geostrategic vision for American preeminence in the twenty-first century. Central to his analysis is the exercise of power on the Eurasian landmass, which is home to the greatest part of the globe's population, natural resources, and economic activity. Stretching from Portugal to the Bering Strait, from Lapland to Malaysia, Eurasia is the ”grand chessboard” on which America's supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to manage the conflicts and relationships in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East so that no rival superpower arises to threaten our interests or our well-being.The heart of The Grand Chessboard is Brzezinski's analysis of the four critical regions of Eurasia and of the stakes for America in each arena—Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and East Asia. The crucial fault lines may seem familiar, but the implosion of the Soviet Union has created new rivalries and new relationships, and Brzezinski maps out the strategic ramifications of the new geopolitical realities. He explains, for example: Why France and Germany will play pivotal geostrategic roles, whereas Britain and Japan will not. Why NATO expansion offers Russia the chance to undo the mistakes of the past, and why Russia cannot afford to toss this opportunity aside. Why the fate of Ukraine and Azerbaijan are so important to America. Why viewing China as a menace is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why America is not only the first truly global superpower but also the last—and what the implications are for America's legacy. Brzezinski's surprising and original conclusions often turn conventional wisdom on its head as he lays the groundwork for a new and compelling vision of America's vital interests. Once, again, Zbigniew Brzezinski provides our nation with a philosophical and practical guide for maintaining and managing our hard-won global power.

Savage Sky: Life and Death on a Bomber Over Germany in 1944 (Stackpole Military History Series)


George Webster - 2007
    Focuses on the 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force and includes missions to the Schweinfurt ball-bearing plant and Berlin. One of the first accounts of being shot down over Sweden.The Savage Sky is as close as you can get to experiencing aerial combat while still staying firmly planted on the ground. The writing is vivid and intimate, describing the bitter cold at high altitudes, gut-wrenching fear, lethal shrapnel from flak, and German fighters darting through the bomber formation like feeding sharks.

Cambridge International AS Level and A Level Physics Coursebook with CD-ROM (Cambridge International Examinations)


David Sang - 2010
    Cambridge International AS and A Level Physics covers all the material required for the Cambridge syllabus. The accompanying Student's CD-ROM includes many more questions linked to each chapter, including multiple choice, how to tackle the examinations, and animations, a glossary and summaries. A Teacher's Resource CD-ROM is also available and includes answers to all questions in the Coursebook, together with worksheets describing practical work linked to each chapter in the book.

A History of Bombing


Sven Lindqvist - 1999
    Thus began one of the most devastating military tactics of the twentieth century: aerial bombing. With this point of entry, Sven Lindqvist, the author of the highly acclaimed "Exterminate All the Brutes, " presents a cleverly constructed and innovative history. Now available in paperback, A History of Bombing tells the fascinating stories behind the development of air power, bombs, and the laws of war and international justice, demonstrating how the practices of the two world wars were born from colonial warfare.

The Ant and the Ferrari


Kerry Spackman - 2012
    this is one of those rare books that will change your beliefs - and in doing so will change your life. tHE ANt AND tHE FERRARI offers readers a clear, navigable path through the big questions that confront us all today. What is the meaning of life? Can we be ethical beings in today's world? Can we know if there is life after death? Is there such a thing as Absolute truth? What caused the Big Bang and why should you care?