Post by three5 on Oct 12, 2018 16:53:14 GMT
For many years I've been an avid reader ( haven't had a television for about 50 years so can find time 
). Reading is by it's nature a solitary occupation but it does sometimes throw up things ( books ) worth sharing and I wondered if it might be suitable subject for our forum, after all we share humour, music and lessons in , I think, gaelic. So, two recommendations for a start and let's see how it goes:
). Reading is by it's nature a solitary occupation but it does sometimes throw up things ( books ) worth sharing and I wondered if it might be suitable subject for our forum, after all we share humour, music and lessons in , I think, gaelic. So, two recommendations for a start and let's see how it goes:I'm just finishing an autobiography by a guy called Henry Marsh. He's a brain surgeon and provides some fantastic insights into modern medicine, particularly its limitations and the moral and ethical dilemmas it causes him on a daily basis. I think that most of us look on doctors working at his level as being somehow superhuman. He goes to great pains to demonstrate that they are just as human as the rest of us and suffer the same successes, failures, elation and despair as we do. The book is titled “Do no Harm” and has hooked me into reading far into the night – something I’ve not done for some time. I have this on my Kindle but it’s available as a paperback as well.
The second book that has become something of a favourite with me is another autobiography – and I really don’t read very many! This is “Not much of an engineer” by (Sir) Stanley Hooper. The older ones amongst you might remember the problems that Rolls Royce ran into in the, if I remember correctly, the mid to late 1970’s. This books reflects Stanley Hoopers life from his first years at the company when the biggest technical problem was supercharging the Merlin engine, through his fall out with the company and subsequent move to Bristols to work on the engines for Concorde and the Harrier and his eventual return to Derby to play a major part in the firms resurrection and return to glory. He deals with the technical details of aero engines in a very readable way and certainly made me, as a long retired engineer, sit up and think. It’s probably 10 years since I first read the book but it’s one that I can’t resist dipping into regularly.