Holiday Reading List 1

[appot]

With the holidays fast approaching, I am excited to elbow through the crowds at Amazon to buy myself some more books, but I would appreciate some suggestions in the nonfiction category (I have read many older threads on this topic, but new books hit the markets everyday).

Books I have recently read and would recommend:
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
History of Strength of Materials (this book was recently discussed in one of the other forums).
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
Colossus: The Turbulent, Thrilling Saga of the Building of Hoover Dam

I have yet to find a good book about the westward expansion in the United States. I have a Lewis & Clark book listed above, but I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for a book about building the railroads through (over) the Rockies, and also about the interstate highway system. The next book that I am going to tackle is The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible, this should cover the railroad and interstate topics, but I am not sure how in-depth it goes.

Regardless of my list above, I am also open to books on other topics:
[ul]
[li]They can be non-engineering related[/li]
[li]They can cover time periods other than 1800 - 1950 +/-[/li]
[li]They do not need to be about the United States[/li]
[/ul]

Hopefully someone can find a good read off of my short selection in this post, and hopefully I can find a book or two from your recommendations.

Edit: fixed a link

 

[btrueblood]

I read part of this before having to czech it back in to the library, need to get it back and finish it.

https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Great...d=1483120030&sr=1-3&keywords=the+czech+legion

A briefer version of the story is here, but the book has details that are glossed over:

http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/...he-czech-legions-amazing-trek-across-siberia/

 

[BUGGAR]

Back to work everybody.
"Elements of Style". Should be read once a year.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Yes, I still have my "Elements of Style" from college as well as an even earlier reference, the "Plain English Handbook: A Complete Guide to Good English", by J. Martin Walsh and Anna Kathleen Walsh, from my high school days.

And a couple of more recent additions, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation", by Lynne Truss, and "Fumblerules: A lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage", by William Safire.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[Jboggs]

Glad to see some other old farts on here that probably cringe like I do every time they see some millennial send a business email with no capitalization, no punctuation, and stupid abbreviations.

 

[Sparweb]

U old geezrs bug me 2

STF

 

[JNieman]

I see grammar problems more frequently from old farts than kids. The type who still hunt and peck with their booger-pickers and stare at the keyboard while typing. There are a few millenials I communicate with frequently, and their emails are always quite well phrased and as grammatically correct as can be expected of anyone. If we're using the office IM software, it can get more lax, and occasionally we use TLAs, but "lol" shouldn't be any more offensive than "ASME" in casual convo (as IMs are).

Old farts on computers are the bane of my employment, some days... I'm the youngest in my office area and always get bugged when their windows won't do a thing, or when "this is just like when they upgraded me to window 98, that thing was <expletive> and nothing ever worked right since" or there's a printer error, etc etc etc...

 

[JohnRBaker]

...get bugged when their windows won't do a thing, or when "this is just like when they upgraded me to window 98, that thing was <expletive> and nothing ever worked right since"...

Another reason why our house is an Apple-only environment. Granted, I was subjected to Windows-based PC's at work, but I was able to escape that situation this past January when I retired ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[BamaStructural]

I have to second the recommendation for "The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge". I picked it up after reading this thread and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to visit the bridge again when I am in NYC this Spring. I'll have a totally new perspective when I see it this time.