Books

Good Omens 

Two work colleagues from competing firms collude against management to produce better services for their customers. 

Or, said differently, an angel and a demon fight to stave off the prophesied apocalypse. 

Funny, irreverent, dynamic, magical, and sincere. A mixup at the hospital puts the antichrist in suburban England and a normal child receives the tutelage intended for the Antichrist. A real witch and a bumbling witch hunter team up to grapple with the titular prophecies. Everyone’s paths intertwine in comical and gratifying ways. The goddam tapes in the glove box all keep turning into Queen’s greatest hits. 

It parodies religious literature in the same way that Hitchhiker’s Guide parodies hard sci-fi. If you like Douglas Adams, either of its authors, or books about the supernatural, add it to your list. 

Five stars for its class.

The Wright Brothers

David McCullough documents the Wright brothers’ engineering triumph. 

The book does justice to its story, and the story is every bit as good as one would hope, given the technical and cultural impact of flight. 

I especially liked the parts about their time in Kitty Hawk, which was more or less wilderness at that point. 

McCullough also does a great job dispelling the myth that the Wright brothers were simple mechanics who tinkered their way to success. They were serious businessmen, serious engineers, and serious scientists. They also possessed a species of focus and drive that we now associate with successful founders. 

I never realized how slow the world was to accept the reality of the Wright Flyer. It was such a different world back then. 

Strongly recommended. This and Bill Bryson’s 1927 book would make a great one-two punch. 

Five stars for its class.

if you are a fan of David McCullough you should read "The Pioneers" if you haven't already - I may be more connected to it more than others because I lived in the First Settlement in the Northwest Territory(south east Ohio) that the book talks about quite a bit.