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Chargement... Slide Rule (1954)par Nevil Shute
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Very good personal account of engineering careers in the early 20C and of development of dirigibles. ( ) Nevil Shute Norway was happy to work in Aeronautics following WWI. Unfortunately, He worked with the Airships, not the monoplanes, and his future got blighted by the 1930's airship disasters. He found, however that writing worked out better for him. This is a "how I came to be a full time writer biography," and, it seems to have been reprinted in this millennium. I recall it was clearly written and mildly diverting. This book looks at Nevil Shute's role in starting up an aviation business in the early days of that industry. While the book is very dated in terms of language and its treatment of women, it remains relevant in some ways. It shows the challenges of operating a start-up in an emerging industry; the issues caused by political imperatives and a reluctance to speak truth to power. I found the discussion of the ethics involved in writing a prospectus interesting. It's easy to see from this book how Mr. Shute gained success as a novelist -- clear, crisp writing. A intimate snapshot of UK aviation during the interwar period. This is a fine companion volume to the book "Airspeed Aircraft" by H A Taylor. There is also a great description of the R100/R101 debacle written at time when there was still some sensitivity about the program. One other aspect was the number of famous UK aviation personalities and their roles interwoven throughout the book provides a contemporary account that will not be necessarily seen in other published accounts of the people or their companies. A good example would be the story of Alan Cobham. Highly recommended for anyone who has an interest in UK aviation during the interwar period. This is supposed to be Nevil Shute's autobiography but I would say it is more a memoir about his career in aviation. He doesn't delve into his personal life too deeply. There is nothing about his childhood, his marriage, becoming a father, or much of his writing career, for example. You don't know much about his family life/childhood, how he met his wife, when he had children, or even how he became a writer in the first place. Slide Rule is more about Shute's life in aviation; how he became a calculator for the firm of DeHavilland when they were designing rigid airships. What's fascinating is his company was in competition with the government to build airbuses. After an airbus disaster Shute founded the company Airspeed, Ltd and had lukewarm success being profitable building private planes. At the start of World War II the nature of the business changed and Shute slowly started to withdraw emotionally from Airspeed. The memoir ends with him leaving Airspeed after being voted out by the board. Meanwhile, his career as an author was just starting to take flight.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, and this autobiography takes on almost heroic dimensions as various threatening events take place which make success seem like a miracle. There is no doubt that the novelist Shute is at work here! No wonder Warren goes to jail for an overly zealous prospectus in Kindling! In 1935 when the Company had grown to very complex and expensive proportions, Shute was faced with the first necessity to "downsize". Some employees were original investors but could not handle the pace of production and stress of responsibility. This feeling of indebtedness to loyal employees and respect for their contribution, is traced thru his novels with the theme of the "little man" hero he wrote about. Their work ethic is praised with novels like Trustee and Round the Bend. He describes the obstinant behavior, in 1936 and 1937, of civil servants who would not bend their regulations to allow use of the new and more efficient Wolsely engine, thus hampering Britain's effort to re-tool for the coming threat of war. His "Balkan" experience trying to sell aircraft abroad, is mirrored in the experience of Henry Warren in Kindling. Appartient à la série éditorialeNew Windmill Series (98)
Nevil Shute was a power and a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute's path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s and 30s. The inspiration for many of the themes and concerns of Shute's novels can be identified in this enjoyable and enlightening memoir. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)809Literature By Topic History, description and criticism of more than two literaturesClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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