The Book of Clouds
On 07/11/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By John A. Day
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York
ISBN-1-4027-2813-1
Oh no… another book about clouds! I can almost hear you say but hey, why not? Clouds are all around us, you can tell the weather by them (did you know that cloud-types from and dissipate in a precise sequence before and after weather fronts?) and in many cases, they are just damn beautiful. Unless you walk with your eyes permanently cast on the ground, you cannot fail to notice nature’s wonderful sky-scape. And if you see it, you will want to understand it. This book is a great help in doing just that.
If I had to characterize John A. Day’s book, I would say few words, lots of photos. This is good. Clouds are more a feast to the eyes and seeing them is much nicer than talking about them. But there is sufficient text nevertheless to explain things as we are lead through the cloud genera and into the realm of unusual clouds and optical effects.
A short section on weather forecasting using the clouds followed by cloud observation techniques complete the volume. A very useful glossary and index add more icing to the cake.
Whether you are interested in meteorology or just clouds as such, this book is a good one to start your collection of relevant tomes with.
New and Improved. The story of mass marketing in America
On 22/10/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Richard S. Tedlow
Publisher: Heinemann Professional Publishing
ISBN-0-434-92002-9
It is rumored that when asked what he would give to every Russian should the opportunity arise, Franklin D. Roosevelt said give them a copy of the Sears catalogue. Perhaps a surprising choice but it highlights the impact mass marketing can have on society.
To-day, Coke and Pepsi, Ford and General Motors or A&P are household names. But how much do we know about the epic battles those companies fought with each other and at times with the world around them before they reached the pinnacle of their respective corporate successes? Very little indeed. This is a pity particularly in the light of the ongoing economic crisis that has left some of those very same companies just sad shadows of their former selves.
Whether we like it or not, mass marketing has spread around the globe and where there is disposable income, the marketing methods will mimic those originally developed and introduced by the likes of Sears and Montgomery Ward.
Professor Tedlow’s wonderfully entertaining book is the story of the development of mass marketing. Inevitably, it is an American story since mass marketing was first tried there. However, the big household names that pioneered the techniques have in the meantime become international and hence the story is less American after all than would at first appear.
What makes the book especially interesting is that it is not just business history; it is also a cultural and social history of our time, set against the biggest change ever in how goods are brought to us. Strongly recommended.
Under Control – The story of The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations
On 14/10/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Neil Vidler
Publisher: IFATCA
ISBN – 0-646-40574-8
A book written about the history of a professional association, published by the same association, will tend to present events from their particular point of view and Neil Vidler’s work on IFATCA is no exception. 318 pages of sometimes laborious text that is no doubt factually correct but it fails to properly present the rest of the aviation world in which IFATCA was created and in which it grew into the respected organization we know to-day.
This lack of context is particularly regrettable in the light of the long paragraphs devoted to ICAO (Friend or foe?) and the IATA Resolution 200 debate. While denying controllers free tickets is of course not the best way to make friends, this issue was certainly not the biggest problem of aviation at the time yet the book makes it look like it was the only issue that needed solving.
The book launches with the foundation of the federation and its first decade starting in 1961. The rest of the aviation world was transforming itself into mass transportation mode and in fact grew alongside IFATCA itself. The 70s, 80s and of course the 90s saw a huge culture change happen in the cockpit and after deregulation also in how airlines were being run. Pilots had to evolve and become not only good airmen but also system managers… They were called upon to manage a very expensive and sensitive business tool, the modern aircraft.
While ATC also evolved and did a marvelous job of handling ever more traffic, the same fundamental culture change had not really happened there yet in the time frame of this book which ends in 2001.
IFATCA’s life and struggles could have been made even more understandable to the reader if the revolution that was taking place in the cockpit and in the airline world had been provided as the backdrop to the story.
If you are looking for no more than a rather detailed, factual history of IFATCA, this book is a good choice. Not only to read end-to-end (something that might be a bit of a struggle) but also as a source of hard-to-find information in the years to come.
Sway – The irresistible pull of irrational behavior
On 08/10/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN – 978-0-38552438-4
Put two identical products in different packaging and with different names and different prices on a store shelf. Have the more expensive one recommended by a well known face, the other advertised only by itself. Which one will sell more? The one endorsed by the celeb… of course you will say. But what if I told you that our everyday lives, our every decision, every move we make is subject to what the authors term “sway”, our tendency to chose the irrational over the rational.
No place is safe from this peculiar human failing. The book opens with a chilling account of the Tenerife ground collision of two 747s and how a particular genre of “sway” played a determining role in the way events unfolded on that fateful day.
Drawing on cutting-edge research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics and organizational behavior, Sway reveals the many dynamic forces that influence our personal, business and professional lives. You will read about loss aversion (how we will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid perceived losses), the diagnosis bias (our inability to reevaluate our initial diagnosis of a person or situation) and the chameleon effect (our tendency to take on characteristics that have been arbitrarily assigned to us).
But there is more… Sway introduces the Harvard Business School professor who convinced his students to pay more than 200 bucks for a 20 dollar bill, brings convincing examples from the airline world, the world of football and the NBA and tells us why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance.
This book will change forever the way you think about the way you think.
If you decide to buy the book after reading this review, you just got swayed… but buy it anyway. This is one decision you will not regret.
The Ascent of Money. A financial history of the world.
On 01/10/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Allen Lane – Penguin Books
ISBN – 978-1-846-14106-5
Perhaps it is unfortunate to talk about the ascent of money these days but it is exactly masterpieces like Niall Ferguson’s that you would want to read at times like these. The author, tagged as “the most brilliant British historian of his generation”, traces the history of money, credit, debt, banks and bonds from ancient times all the way to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and beyond to the events in 2008.
The book is not about the current crisis and how to solve it. It is about the fascinating world of money and its equivalents and how it moved peoples, wars, institutions, how it elevated some and ruined others, making one finally understand the fundamental truth in the rather cynical quip of a financial analyst who said the other day: it is greed that got us into this mess and it is greed that will get us out of it.
Particularly insightful are the descriptions of how kings and queens, emperors, dictators and States all played their turn in distorting, for better or worse, the environment in which the inherently unstable markets had to operate.
We ordinary mortals usually feel, with some justification, that there is very little we can do to change the way the world of finance works. Read this book and you will at least understand why…
Against the gods. The remarkable story of risk.
On 27/09/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Peter L. Bernstein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN – 0-471-29563-9
This book is a unique exploration of the role of risk in society. The author argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguish modern times from the distant past. This is a chronicle of the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today.
The story-frame is the financial and insurance world but by extension, what is said there about risk management is of interest to anyone dealing with aviation’s own risk picture. While the book is eminently readable and enjoyable, do not expect an easy trip. Some parts might require that you slow down a little or even re-read a few pages.
With chapter titles like “Clouds of vagueness and the demand for precision” and “Degrees of belief: exploring uncertainty”, one might think this book is not for the faint hearted. But Peter Bernstein manages to treat his subject with skill and flair resulting in a book that you will not want to put down.
The Cloudspotter’s Guide
On 14/09/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN – 978-0-340-89590-0
OK, we have all had to study meteorology and get to practice the art of living with weather every day. The shape and color of clouds tells volumes to a pilot or air traffic controller and they will act accordingly. So, we might say, we do not need a book on clouds…
If you pick up the “Cloudspotter’s Guide” by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, you will quickly feel otherwise. Apart from being a nice reminder of all the scientific detail we thought we still remembered, the small paperback, an official publication of the Cloud Appreciation Society, is full of stories, little known or surprising facts (what about cloud pornography… from 1531??) and other bits and pieces that make it a superbly compelling read.
The mostly black and white illustrations give the little book a special charm, harking back to the appearance of old almanacs.
My recommendation: don’t leave home without it!
Extraordinary Clouds
On 11/09/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Richard Hamblyn
Publisher: David and Charles
ISBN – 13:978-07153-3281-8
ISBN – 10:0-7153-3281-3
For those of us living in Northern climes, clouds are usually bad news. They tend to soak us at the worst possible moment and block sunshine for days on end. For a soaring pilot, they can signal the presence of thermal lift while even the biggest jets give wide berth to towering cumulonimbus. Love them or hate them, they are part of the atmosphere in which we all live and work.
It is impossible not to notice the beauty and variety of the clouds that adorn the skies throughout the year and who has not seen the odd dragon or Phoenix shape in their ever changing shapes?
Richard Hamblyn’s book “Extraordinary Clouds”, richly illustrated with beautiful color photos of atmospheric phenomena, takes us on a journey of once-in-a-lifetime sights collected from all over the world. “All of them remind us, in the most dramatic way, of the sublime beauty in our skies.” – says Gavin Pretor-Pinney of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
Whether you buy it for yourself or as a present, this book (produced in association with the UK Met Office) is a gem that belongs on every bookshelf.
Who moved my cheese?
On 24/07/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Dr. Spencer Johnson
Publisher: Random House Group Ltd.
Let’s be frank. As pilots and air traffic controllers, the last thing we would think of reading is a book coming from management consultants. A book categorised as “Personal Development” might have a small chance but would probably still get hidden when missus was around…
However, “Who moved my cheese?” a thin volume of less than a hundred pages with lots of illustrations is something worth a second look… and a third and a fourth and finally to be read from cover to cover.
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