Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space.

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham.

The story of the space shuttle Challenger and its tragic end. But also the story of the entire shuttle program and NASA in general. A lot of this story is known to anyone who was alive at the time, but the details are interesting. A lot of the story is the culture of NASA and the politics of the space program.

Chamber Divers

Chamber Divers: The Untold Story of the D-Day Scientists Who Changed Special Operations Forever by Rachel Lance

This is the history of the research done in the late 1930s and during the war on the effects on people of breathing different mixtures of oxygen, CO2 and nitrogen. This is with the intent of studying how people going at debts underwater. It was already known that coming up from depths too quickly caused the bends, but why this happened was not known. This was particularly important during the war as the leadership wanted to be able to scout beaches before sending in invasion troops. This resulted in what would become scuba gear, but a very early and crude version.

This also had implications for submarine crews and the development of mini-subs that could be used for spying. It is interesting that the scientists doing this research used themselves as the test subjects. They were of course very eccentric and quirky people, but definately pioneers. The title refers to the 'chambers' that they had access to that would simulate people going to depths.

Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose

Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O'Brien

A rather amazing account of Rose's career as a baseball player and as a gambling addict. He really was one of the greatest ball players of all time, but what is astounding is the way he was able to pull off the gambling he did for so many years. This is really interesting in light of the recent incidents with Shohei Ohtani. Rose gambled on horse racing, Jai Lai, dog racing, football, basketball really almost anything someone would take a bet on. Ultimately his downfall was betting on pro-baseball and on his own team. The manic energy that it took to live like he did for so many years is extraordinary.

Another interesting aspect of this is that when Rose finally caught and was banned from baseball, was right at the time of the rise of steroids in pro-baseball, which became a much bigger scandal but somehow with less consequences for the people involved.

The Wide Wide Sea

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides

The last of Cook's three Pacific voyages proved to be fatal, and he would never return to England. As a navigator and map maker he was very much ahead of his time. It is amazing what he was able to accomplish with the crude instruments that he had available to him. The author points out that Cook had an 'anthropological' view of the new civilizations that he would find, long before the discipline of anthropology was founded, and against the trends of the time when most people viewed people as primitive and backward.

There is much that cannot be known about Cook on this last voyage, but evidence points to the fact that he acted uncharacteric on this voyage, which ultimately got him killed. By the time of his third voyage he was beyond the age that many captains would be when trying this kind of voyage. This is a great story of a great explorer. Among his crew on this last voyage were the young William Bligh and George Vancouver, so Cook did lay the groundwork for the future of British expansion into an Empire.

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins

In many ways this reads more as a textbook that a casual read. The author is very thorough in his descriptions. It is interesting that this is also the history of under water archaeology, that did not really begin until the late 1940s after Jacque Cousteau had created the modern scuba diving system. The shipwrecks are described starting with the oldest that have been salvaged and goes up to a shipwreck from WW2. His descriptions are good and intriguing, and do make we want to visit some of these wrecks that have been salvaged, like the English ship the Mary Rose.

Ghost Town Living

Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley by Brent Underwood

The author is already known to many through his social media presence, which apparently documented much of what is described in this book. Brent bought an abandoned mining town on a mountain above Death Valley in 2018 and then proceeded to restore and explore. He goes through many tribulations, develops a community of locals that help him out, and in the process has many philisophical thoughts. The people he meets are people who have chosen to live in Death Valley so are definately out of the mainstream.

Twelve Trees

Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future by Daniel Lewis

This book is not about 12 individual trees, but twelve tree types. The author illustrates the history of the trees, what makes them unique, their native habitats etc. And he describes how environmental change is affecting the trees. He describes trees such as the bristlecone pine and the baobob. This book can be a bit dense in its details, but it is done well.