Best Reads 2022 at BCIT Library: Transportation

"As NASA prepared for the launch of Apollo 11 in July 1969, many African American leaders protested the billions of dollars used to fund “space joyrides” rather than help tackle poverty, inequality, and discrimination at home. This volume examines such tensions as well as the ways in which NASA’s goal of space exploration aligned with the cause of racial equality. It provides new insights into the complex relationship between the space program and the civil rights movement in the Jim Crow South and abroad.

Essays explore how thousands of jobs created during the space race offered new opportunities for minorities in places like Huntsville, Alabama, while at the same time segregation at NASA’s satellite tracking station in South Africa led to that facility’s closure. Other topics include black skepticism toward NASA’s framing of space exploration as “for the benefit of all mankind,” NASA’s track record in hiring women and minorities, and the efforts of black activists to increase minority access to education that would lead to greater participation in the space program. The volume also addresses how to best find and preserve archival evidence of African American contributions that are missing from narratives of space exploration.

NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement offers important lessons from history as today’s activists grapple with the distance between social movements like Black Lives Matter and scientific ambitions such as NASA’s mission to Mars. " Publisher

"For everyone from frequent fliers to aviation geeks, travel buffs to nervous travelers, Captain Doug Morris tells you everything you want (and need!) to know about flight.

Captain Doug Morris has been writing for his airline’s in-flight magazine for 24 years and has answered a gamut of questions. This Is Your Captain Speaking will draw from his extensive experience and explain everything you ever wanted to know about airline travel: whether airliners have keys, why the bumps, what aircrew get up to on layovers, what’s the deal with “mile-high memberships,” and how to become a pilot. It also provides entertaining anecdotes from air travel’s unsung heroes — flight attendants. It’s the A to Z of airline travel with a twist of humor. The flight deck door will always be closed, but Doug exposes the unique inner world of aviation to the public." Publisher

"Despite the borders of the USSR being closed to majority of its population, Soviet citizens were among the world’s most frequent flyers.

This book unfolds the story of Soviet air travel, from early carriers like Deruluft and Dobrolet, to the enigmatic Aeroflot. Organised like an Air Force, with a vast fleet of aircraft and helicopters, Aeroflot was the world’s biggest air carrier of passengers and cargo, responsible for a wider range of duties than any other airline. Aeroflot – Fly Soviet uses beautiful graphic ephemera to illustrate a parallel aviation universe that existed for 70 years, from the very beginning of the USSR through to its demise in 1991." Publisher

"Boeing is a century-old titan of industry. It played a major role in the early days of commercial flight, World War II bombing missions, and moon landings. The planemaker remains a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, as well as a linchpin in the awesome routine of modern air travel. But in 2018 and 2019, two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 killed 346 people. The crashes exposed a shocking pattern of malfeasance, leading to the biggest crisis in the company’s history—and one of the costliest corporate scandals ever.

How did things go so horribly wrong at Boeing?

Flying Blind is the definitive exposé of the disasters that transfixed the world. Drawing from exclusive interviews with current and former employees of Boeing and the FAA; industry executives and analysts; and family members of the victims, it reveals how a broken corporate culture paved the way for catastrophe. It shows how in the race to beat the competition and reward top executives, Boeing skimped on testing, pressured employees to meet unrealistic deadlines, and convinced regulators to put planes into service without properly equipping them or their pilots for flight. It examines how the company, once a treasured American innovator, became obsessed with the bottom line, putting shareholders over customers, employees, and communities." Publisher

"Scott Becker spent over 12 years working for the TSA at Chicago’s O’Hare airport and served it in numerous capacities, from baggage screener to manager. He brings to TSA Baggage a wealth of experience and stories that have something for everyone:

•Candid Cameos: Several stories in TSA Baggage feature appearances from celebrities, including Madeleine Albright, Patch Adams, and the Kardashians

•Behind-the-Scenes Look: For anyone who’s ever wondered what happens in the parts of airports hidden from a view or during a shift at a security check, this book provides first-hand accounts of the inner workings of airports and the people who keep them humming

•Laugh Track: Airports seem to attract the misguided, confused, and weird, and this provides for plenty of laughs, whether its passengers attempting to bring grenades in their luggage or trying to skip through security in a drunken tizzy

•Travel Warning: This book can also be a great guide to do’s and don’ts for all future travelers, with tips from someone who’s seen everything that can go right and wrong at an airport

Travel brings out the good, bad, and ugly in everyone, and TSA Baggage captures all of it for readers from a first-hand witness to the whole circus. Strap in and get ready for a great read." Publisher