The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146-1246

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The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146-1246
Martin Dimnik
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521039819

Smokey Yunick, the world's most famous mechanic, accomplished more in one life than most people could in five. He flew 50 missions as a B-17 pilot in WWII. He was an integral part of the birth of stock car racing and ran open wheel cars during the glory days of the Indy 500. He spent years in the jungles of Ecuador and held 10 U.S. patents. Smokey was concerned for the future, so he developed more efficient and powerful engines for passenger cars and safer crash barriers for race tracks. These are the real stories of racing and everything automotive in America told by someone who was there every step of the way!

To add to the fun we had people from all around racing read Smokey's stories. And while they were at it, we asked them to give you their thoughts on Smokey you won't believe what they had to say!

Dick Berggren publisher of Speedway Illustrated and Fox Sports pit reporter

Dave Bowman Co-host of Two Guys Garage

Monte Dutton Author and racing reporter

Ray Evernham Owner of two NASCAR Winston Cup Teams

Don Garlits Top fuel drag racing champion

Ralph Johnson inventor of the double-pumper carburetor

Steve Lewis USAC midget team owner

Bill Miller manufactures aluminum pistons and rods for Winston Cup & NHRA

Major Jeff Neischel, USAF B-52 pilot and Smokey fan

Bob Snodgrass president and ceo of Brumos Porsche

Bill Walker SmokeyÕs B-17 training buddy from WWII

Renee Walker SmokeyÕs sister

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Sex, Lies & Superspeedways
Smokey Yunick
Manufacturer: Carbon Pr Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 0971146942

Smokey got the idea for writing a history of stock car racing after giving a talk to explain racing to a group of kids at LoweÕs Motorspeedway, around 1995. He realized that all the people who were a part of the early days were dying and most of the ones who were still alive were too involved with racing to be able to tell the real stories. He started writing this book as a history of stock car racing and ended up with look at American history of the past 60 years through a very unique set of eyes.

The first volume, WalkinÕ Under a SnakeÕs Belly, covers SmokeyÕs life outside racing, beginning with growing up in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania on a farm, dropping out of high school to take care of the family and going off to World War II as a B-17 pilot. The war stories are told through the eyes of a young man who believed all that the Army Air Corps taught him, but he had a mind of his own and was also hell-bent on having fun at all costs. (If that meant irritating a few generals, then that was just par for the course.)

After the racing years, Smokey ended spending most of his time working on his inventions and working in the oil and gold fields of Ecuador. Along the way, Smokey had a knack for finding fun and adventure everywhere he went. Alcohol, women and speed were his main addictions - he eventually gave up alcohol, but never did give up the other two.

The second volume, All Right You Sons-a-Bitches, LetÕs Have a Race, chronicles the stock car racing years in living color. The warning on these books, that they are not to be read by those under 18 unless they are with a grandparent who can translate the social and moral implications of the stories, is not to be taken lightly. (Smokey even includes his own dictionary to explain the terms that racers used in the early days to the uninformed.) Smokey and his band of merry compatriots were racers and there were only two things on their mind when the sun went down Ð women and booze. Smokey had his share of both during 15 years of racing, when racers were looked down on as the dregs of society. Nothing could stop his dream of being the fastest at the sport he loved, no matter what happened along the way Ð the sign of a true racer.

During his years in stock car racing, Smokey fell in love with a mistress that he would visit every May for over 20 years Ð The Indianapolis 500. The first half of the third volume, LiÕl Skinny Rule Book, covers his love of this famed event and the wonderful stories of the days before the big corporate sponsors; when it was just men and their machines, sleeping on the floor in the garage and most times coming home with nothing. As the title implies, Smokey loved Indy because the rules were so simple. His inventive mind and knack for thinking way outside the box were at their best when Indy was involved.

The second half of the third volume, EatinÕ an Elephant, covers his years of inventing inside and outside of racing. SmokeyÕs 10 patents donÕt begin to cover the breadth and depth of his inventing. His work with the car companies and on the racetrack led to a host of developments that have improved surface transportation for everyone. The value of some of his ideas and inventions, like his famous hot vapor engine, were never fully realized.

Many books have been written about the last 50 years of American history, but few are this entertaining, revealing and introspective all at the same time. Real stories from World War II, stock cars, the automotive industry and the Mexican Road Race are just a few of the elements in SmokeyÕs autobiography. They combine to make Best Damn Garage in TownÉThe World According to Smo

Lessons from the Sandbox : Rediscovering the Keys to Business Success

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Wonderful and inspiring
Lessons from the Sandbox
Lost your creativity? You will find it here!
A Lesson for Everyone
A delightful primer

Lessons from the Sandbox : Rediscovering the Keys to Business Success
Alan Gregerman
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0809224380

Alan Gregerman, consultant to innovative entrepreneurs, shows how insights gained from children can help companies grow, innovate, improve the bottom line, and "make magic" with customers, employees, and shareholders.

Dr. Gregerman's prose, metaphors, and humor inspires us to rediscover and apply our wisdom in creativity in solving our thorniest organizational challenges. He takes us through the minds and spirit of young children in helping us understand and remember how minds that are not encumbered by past experience forge new possibilities through imagination.

As I was reading Lessons from the Sandbox, I was constantly reminded of the importance of (unencumbered) imagination, a critical rule for Albert Einstein. Einstein wrote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination." In Dr. Gregerman's mind, adults have created "boxes" through the filters they have acquired through both experience and their current surroundings. Children are not encumbered with these filters, and thus we can learn from their outlook on how the world works. It has been said that children enter schools as question marks and wonder, and leave as periods and right answer machines. Lessons from the Sandbox clearly underscore this insight.

Dr. Gregerman has organized his book using thirteen "gifts" of childhood to re-ignite the creative sprit for people in the business world. These lessons range from the gifts of focus, urgency, wonder, questioning, and participation.

I have read many business books on creativity, and none have sparked my imagination as Lessons from the Sandbox. It has brought me laughter, recaptured the lessons I learned from my own childhood, and I have profited from the ideas I have already generated as a result of this gem of a book. - Bob Bookman, President, Team Productivity Programs, Inc.

This is my final departure from the home islands. I have paid my respects to those who have helped me. I have no regrets. —Itabashi Yasuo, navy kamikaze pilot, February 1944

I'm sorry, but as far as the emperor is concerned, there's no reason for Tôjô's resignation.... The world has become too repulsive. Enemy aircraft, come quickly and attack! Please end this awful situation. —Tamura Tsunejirô, billiard parlor owner, July 1944

We had rice gruel for lunch again. There was no tofu in it, but there were potatoes.... We went through with the closing ceremony and received our report cards. Everyone was there. From now on, I'll persevere and not fail. —Manabe Ichirô, primary school student, July 1944

This collection of diaries gives readers a powerful, firsthand look at the effects of the Pacific War on eight ordinary Japanese. Immediate, vivid, and at times surprisingly frank, the diaries chronicle the last years of the war and its aftermath as experienced by a navy kamikaze pilot, an army straggler on Okinawa, an elderly Kyoto businessman, a Tokyo housewife, a young working woman in Tokyo, a teenage girl mobilized for war work, and two schoolchildren evacuated to the countryside. Samuel Yamashita's introduction provides a helpful overview of the historiography on wartime Japan and offers valuable insights into the important, everyday issues that concerned Japanese during a different and disastrously difficult time.

Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, Library Edition

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Four examples of great leadership

Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, Library Edition
Eliot A. Cohen
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0786192968

I recommend that everyone read this book and all the others because there has never been a need for facts, as great as the need we face today and we are very quickly running out of time to do anything about these events. Therefore, it's very important to know where to look for answers. John Coleman was an insider (British MI6) who was shocked by events he uncovered as an intelligence officer. He has dedicated his life to exposing his knowledge of events most Americans are simply unaware happened. His research is impeccable. I sincerely doubt that the last reviewer even read this book. Those who don't want the truth to be known would really hate this book. Unfortunately, there are quite a few folks out there that would like to remain blissfully ignorant. To each his own...This is a book that belongs in your special library of valuable non-fiction. Again, it lays a basic foundation and unique perspective on world events. The knowledge you will gain is one that explains the necessary details, you need to know because they have a direct impact on current events. This book will give you a much better perspective. So, don't just sit there, buy it....

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Highly political
How Bureaucracy trumped Science
This is a book about politics, not ecology!
Good book, not for everyone
Algae Overkill

Killer Algae
Alexandre Meinesz
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0226519228

French scientist Alexandre Meinesz reports firsthand on his work in invasion biology in Killer Algae, a grim and frightening book. In it, Meinesz recounts a seemingly innocent transaction that has had appalling consequences. In 1980, a curator at the city zoo in Stuttgart, Germany, introduced a hybrid, cold-resistant variety of the alga Caulerpa taxifolia into the zoo's aquarium, where it proved to be a productive source of food. Encouraged, the curator sent a sample to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, then headed by Jacques Cousteau. During a routine cleaning of aquarium tanks, a quantity of Caulerpa was dumped into the Mediterranean Sea. Meinesz, an expert on the alga, was called onto the scene when a museum worker noticed, some days later, that a mere bucketful had grown to cover a square yard. He suggested that the alga be removed, but his suggestion went unheeded. Now, nearly two decades later, the "beautiful stranger," as Meinesz calls it, has spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, covering some 10,000 acres and displacing native algae as it spreads. The result may be a wholesale remaking of the Mediterranean environment, already long victimized. Meinesz's sobering tale speaks much to the fragility of ecosystems--and to the short-sightedness of humans. --Gregory McNamee

Two decades ago, a Stuttgart zoo imported a lush, bright green seaweed for its aquarium. Caulerpa taxifolia was captively bred by the zoo and exposed, for years, to chemicals and ultraviolet light. Eventually a sample of it found its way to the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, then headed by Jacques Cousteau. Fifteen years ago, while cleaning its tanks, that museum dumped the pretty green plant into the Mediterranean.

This supposedly benign little plant—that no one thought could survive the waters of the Mediterranean—has now become a pernicious force. Caulerpa taxifolia now covers 10,000 acres of the coasts of France, Spain, Italy, and Croatia, and has devastated the Mediterranean ecosystem. And it continues to grow, unstoppable and toxic. When Alexandre Meinesz, a professor of biology at the University of Nice, discovered a square-yard patch of it in 1984, he warned biologists and oceanographers of the potential species invasion. His calls went unheeded. At that point, one person could have pulled the small patch out and ended the problem. Now, however, the plant has defeated the French Navy, thwarted scientific efforts to halt its rampage, and continues its destructive journey into the Adriatic Sea.

Killer Algae is the biological and political horror story of this invasion. For despite Meinesz's pleas to scientists and the French government, no agency was willing to take responsibility for the seaweed, and while the buck was passed, the killer algae grew. And through it all, the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco sought to exculpate itself. In short, Killer Algae—part detective story and part bureaucratic object lesson—is a classic case of a devastating ecological invasion and how not to deal with it.

"[U]tterly fascinating, not only because of the ecological battles [Meinesz] describes but also because of the wondrous natural phenomena involved."—Richard Bernstein, New York Times

"Akin to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Killer Algae shows the courage of a voice in the wilderness."—Choice

"A textbook case of how not to manage an environmental disaster."—Kirkus Reviews

"Meinesz's story is a frightening one, reading more like a science fiction thriller than a scientific account."—Publishers Weekly

Although one section of the appendix describes the biology of the alga, the vast majority of the book is devoted to documenting the various political battles that the author fought to try to convince the authorities to take action against the spread of the alga. Some of the behind-the-scenes tales of how the academic publishing establishment works were quite illuminating. After reading this book, I will also be rather skeptical when I come across scientific articles in the popular press, especially newspapers, since Meinesz points out how often reporters got the details wrong or pulled other facts out of context. When I picked up this book, I was more interested in learning the scientific and environmental implications of an invasive species, but that's not the focus of this book.

Negative: It is rather slow reading. It could have been told better. The story could float more easily if there were more anecdotes.