John J Geoghegan – författare

Almost everything you know about airships is wrong.Between 1917 and 1935, the US Navy poured tens of millions of dollars into their airship programme, building a series of dirigibles each one more enormous than the last. These flying behemoths were to be the future of long-distance transport, competing with trains and ocean liners to carry people, post and cargo from country to country, and even across the sea. But by 1936 all these ambitious plans had been scrapped.What happened?When Giants Ruled the Sky is the story of how the American rigid airship came within a hair’s breadth of dominating long-distance transportation. It is also the story of four men whose courage and determination kept the programme going despite the obstacles thrown in their way – until the Navy deliberately ignored a fatal design flaw, bringing the programme crashing back to earth. The subsequent cover-up prevented the truth from being told for more than eighty years.Now, for the first time, what really happened can be revealed.

What exactly is White Elephant Technology?White Elephant Technology is any unusual invention past or present that fails in the marketplace despite its innovative nature. From jeeps that fly to tanks that shouldn’t; from a wave-powered boat that took over three months to reach its destination to a jet-powered train that shook itself apart, White Elephant Technology showcases each inventor’s talent for creating something nobody asked for. Importantly, none of these inventions are speculative. Each one was built, field tested and worked more or less as planned (except when it killed its creator).Although success is highly prized, failure has a lot to teach us, especially when you realise it’s the rule and not the exception. Still, no one has undertaken a survey of failed inventions despite history being littered with them … until now. White Elephant Technology corrects this oversight in an entertaining, respectful and occasionally humorous manner, proving that failure is not only as fascinating as success but is also the purest expression of the human condition.

Perseverance [noun]: To continue on a course of action even in the face of difficulty with little or no prospect of success.Everyone knows who Sir Ernest Shackleton and Amelia Earhart were, but there are many other adventurers whose accomplishments rival those of the most celebrated explorers – yet most people have never heard of them. Intrepid! tells the true, but little-known, stories of these extraordinary men and women who once made world headlines but have since disappeared from history.A complex mix of heroes and villains who were driven by a combination of fortune, wanderlust, and an insane desire to achieve the impossible, these nine men and women each accomplished something truly remarkable, and we can still learn lessons from them today. They will leave you shaking your head in wonder while you ask the question, ‘What in the world were they thinking?’‘What a great idea for a book. I wish I had thought of it.’ - S.C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of His Majesty’s Airship and Empire of the Summer Moon