BOOK REVIEWS
Welcome to my book reviews page! I mostly read about motorsport, automotive and aviation history. Unless otherwise stated, I buy all my own books, and rarely new, so you’ll often find reviews of older titles here. Having written a book myself, I know how much work goes into getting it finished at all. I admire anyone who's accomplished that feat so I always try to be balanced in my assessment. But if I didn’t enjoy it, I’ll tell you straight!
Book Review: Mosquito by Rowland White
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Having enjoyed several of White’s previous aviation stories, I was keen to read his latest, which centres on the De Havilland Mosquito – the precursor to today’s multi-role combat aircraft. But this book is about much more than simply the Mosquito’s genesis or combat history, telling instead the story of a daring, low-level raid on the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen in the final months of World War II.
Read the full review... Mosquito by Rowland White Bantam, first edition 2023. ISBN 978 1 787634 53 4 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Porsche 718+804 by Födisch, Neßhöver, Behrndt and Roßbach
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Given Porsche’s modern status as the world’s most prolific race-car manufacturer, it’s hard to imagine a time when competition cars were a small, low-profile part of the business – when there was no dedicated racing department, and cars were developed and operated from small premises on limited resources, by production-car engineers and technicians, with inconsistent backing from management.
Read the full review... Porsche 718+804 by Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Jost Neßhöver, Michael Behrndt and Rainer Roßbach McKlein, first edition 2009. ISBN 978 3 927458 43 7 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Vanwall by Denis Jenkinson and Cyril Posthumus
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In the early 1970s, Denis Jenkinson and Cyril Posthumus wrote the history of Vanwall at the request of Vandervell Products Ltd – by now owned by GKN – and were given full access to the team’s perfectly preserved archive. They also spoke to all the major personalities involved – the majority of whom were still living – as well as Vandervell’s family, to create what remains a definitive account of this upstart race team.
Read the full review... Vanwall by Denis Jenkinson and Cyril Posthumus Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1975. ISBN 0-85059-169-4 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Spitfire Diary by E.A.W. Smith
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First-hand WWII combat histories are plentiful, and each one is a unique window into the author’s personal war – even if the broader conflict described usually overlaps with hundreds if not thousands of other published accounts. But the modestly titled Spitfire Diary is one of the most captivating – and certainly the best I’ve read since Geoffery Wellum’s seminal First Light.
Read the full review... Spitfire Diary by E.A.W. Smith William Kimber, 1988. ISBN 0-7183-0692-9 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: The Motorist’s Bedside Book edited by Anthony Harding
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I often read older motoring and motor racing books, but some show their age more than others. The Motorist’s Bedside Book definitely does. It feels like it’s from another age, when driving was more readily associated with adventure, skill and – occasionally – casual chauvinism, than it is today. But the good thing about a collection of essays is that if you don’t like the one you’re reading, another will be along in a minute.
Read the full review... The Motorist’s Bedside Book edited by Anthony Harding Batsford, 1972. ISBN 0-7134-0470-1 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Avro Arrow by The Arrowheads
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There is no more Canadian aviation story than that of the Avro CF-105 Arrow, the Cold War wonder-plane whose cancellation marked the end of military jet development in Canada and became a national cause célèbre. This history of the Arrow project – a 2004 revision of the 1980 original – was a gift from a friend, who reasoned correctly that it would be right up my alley.
Read the full review... Avro Arrow by The Arrowheads (Richard Organ, Ron Page, Don Watson and Les Wilkinson) Revised edition, Boston Mills Press, 2004. Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Jim Clark at the Wheel by Jim Clark
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This is the second Pan paperback I’ve read in the last year (see also BRM) and another that came from my Dad’s collection. Clark penned this autobiography following his first Formula 1 World Championship title in 1963 and then updated it in ’65 with an extra dozen pages on the less-successful 1964 season and his 1965 Indianapolis 500 triumph.
Read the full review... Jim Clark at the Wheel by Jim Clark Revised edition, Pan, 1965. Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Group 4 by John Davenport and Reinhard Klein
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I’ll admit that this book sat on the shelf for a decade, dipped in and out of when I was looking for information, but had never before been read cover-to-cover. What a mistake that was. Davenport and Klein’s imposing volume – one of several they’ve produced covering different eras of rallying – runs to more than 250 pages and weighs about half a ton. I don’t think I’ve ever devoured such a large book, so quickly.
Read the full review... Group 4 by John Davenport and Reinhard Klein McKlein, first edition 2011. ISBN 978 3 927458 54 3 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Brands Hatch by Chas Parker
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If you’ve ever watched cars plunge down from Paddock Hill Bend, trying hard not to run wide as the track drops away, before climbing steeply to the pinch-point of Druids Hairpin, then you’ve experienced the magic of Brands Hatch. The Kent, UK circuit’s topography and well-honed layout make it a fantastic place to drive or spectate.
Chas Parker’s book, published in 2008, charts the entertaining history of a track that celebrates its centenary in 2026. Read the full review... Brands Hatch by Chas Parker Haynes, 2008. ISBN 978 1 84425 334 0 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Apex – The Inside Story of the Hillman Imp by Peter & David Henshaw
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‘Definitive’ is a term that’s probably used too often in book reviews. But it’s hard to avoid in the case of this new, third edition of Apex, the Henshaw brothers’ remarkable history of the Hillman Imp, the Mini-rivalling small family car built from the early-1960s to the mid-70s that did things a little differently.
Read the full review... Apex – The Inside Story of the Hillman Imp by Peter & David Henshaw A to B Books, 2023. ISBN 978-0-957565-15-9 Find it on eBay Order direct from the publisher (UK) |
Book Review: The Great Coup by Robert Hill
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The Great Coup is the story of how radar countermeasures, originally codenamed ‘Window’, were developed and deployed during World War II. The pivotal moment came when a Luftwaffe pilot, Heinrich Schmitt, who was already a British informant, landed his Junkers 88 at an airfield in Scotland to defect.
Read the full review... The Great Coup by Robert Hill Corgi, 1978 Find it on eBay |
Book Review: Niki Lauda The Biography by Maurice Hamilton
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A portion of Niki Lauda’s unique story reached a new generation of fans through the 2013 movie Rush, which focused on the Ferrari driver’s 1976 battle for the F1 World Drivers’ Championship with McLaren rival James Hunt and his remarkable return from a fiery crash at the Nürburgring. Yet that season encompassed but a fraction of the drama packed into Lauda’s incredible life.
Read the full review... Niki Lauda The Biography by Maurice Hamilton Simon & Schuster, 2020. ISBN 978-1-4711-9201-2 Find it on eBay |
Stirling Moss The Authorised Biography by Robert Edwards
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Stirling Moss formally retired from racing more than a decade before I was born, but his legend still loomed large in my upbring. And having finished as championship runner-up four times and third on three occasions before his career was curtailed by a near-fatal accident at Goodwood in 1962, his customary billing as, “the greatest driver never to win the F1 world title” would appear to hold as true today as it did half a century ago.
Read the full review... Stirling Moss The Authorised Biography by Robert Edwards Orion, 2005. ISBN 0-75286-562-5 Find it on eBay |
Wing Leader by Group Captain J.E. Johnson
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First-hand stories of World War II exploits have enjoyed a renaissance in the past decade as authors and historians scrambled to record the memories of the dwindling number of servicemen and women from that period. But the first boom in such accounts happened in the immediate post-war years, and "Johnnie" Johnson's is one of the best.
Read the full review... Wing Leader by Group Captain J.E. Johnson Ballantine, 1957. SBN 345-03042-7-125 Find it on eBay |
The Sky Beyond by Sir Gordon Taylor
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I wasn’t sure what to expect from this account of Taylor’s pioneering long-distance flights, notably across the Pacific. But 50 pages in, I was completely sold on his jaw-dropping over-water adventures.
Read the full review... The Sky Beyond by Sir Gordon Taylor Steemrok Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9781520412221 Find it on eBay |
BRM by Raymond Mays and Peter Roberts
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I read a disintegrating second edition of Raymond Mays’ history of the marque he created, published in 1964 – two years after Graham Hill secured the team’s only World Drivers’ Championship and with its dark-green, unsponsored cars still riding high. But the heart of the story is the long struggle to the front of the grid, especially the delays in getting the original, V16-powered P15 single-seater to the track.
Read the full review... BRM by Raymond Mays and Peter Roberts Pan, 1964. Find it on eBay |
Ginetta: The Illustrated History by John Rose
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Part of the fun in reading old books is placing the words in the context of what’s happened since. In the case of Ginetta, the modern producer of high-end road and race cars at first glance seems far removed from the cottage industry and kit cars of the late-1950s through to 1983, when this first edition of marque expert John Rose’s history was published.
Read the full review... Ginetta: The Illustrated History by John Rose Foulis/Haynes, 1983. ISBN 0-85429-384-1 Find it on eBay |
Rolls-Royce by Leonard Setright
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Rewind to 1971 and we find Leonard or ‘LJK’ at the peak of his powers. Rolls-Royce covers the luxury marque from its origins in the earliest days of motoring, via the glory days of the ‘Best Car in the World’, to the brink of receivership and nationalization. His outspoken, often witty narrative keeps you engaged for all of the modest paperback’s 160 pages.
Read the full review... Rolls-Royce (Ballantine’s Illustrated History of the Car – Marque book No7) by Leonard Setright Ballantine Books, 1971 Find it on eBay |
A Life of Chance by Alan Mann & Tony Dron
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Rather like the Beatles, Alan Mann Racing in its original form existed for just a few short years in the 1960s, but its accomplishments were great and its legacy lives on. This book was completed shortly before Mann’s death in 2012 and published soon after.
Read the full review... A Life of Chance: The Story of the Fabulous Racing Fords by Alan Mann in collaboration with Tony Dron Motor Racing Publications, 2012. ISBN 978-1-899870-85-1 Find it on eBay |
NASCAR Legends by Robert Edelstein
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Published in 2011, NASCAR Legends charts a course through 50 years of stock-car history via portraits of some of its biggest personalities and most memorable races. From the early 1990s, journalist and author Edelstein spent more than a decade on the NASCAR beat at a time when the sport was at its most popular but also endured tragedies like the deaths of Dale Earnhardt and Adam Petty.
Read the full review... NASCAR Legends by Robert Edelstein Overlook, 2011. ISBN 978-1-59020-184-8 Find it on eBay |
Enzo Ferrari by Richard Williams
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In 2011 I had a conversation with the late John Surtees at the Goodwood Revival. He was generous with his time in an unscheduled interview. We mostly talked about his time at Ferrari in the mid-1960s. Among other things, Surtees said, “You have to respect Mr Ferrari for what he created. […] There’s something special about it and there was something special about him, except that by the time I was there, he was too isolated. He’d stopped going to race meetings and was too removed from it, which in turn brought problems.”
Read the full review... Enzo Ferrari, A Life by Richard Williams Yellow Jersey Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-22405-986-2 Find it on eBay |
My Chequered Career by Steve Rider
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Steve Rider has been a mainstay of British motorsport broadcasting for more than 40 years. His book My Chequered Career: Thirty-five years of televising motorsport, published in 2012, charts his rise from regional TV, covering Colin Chapman’s Lotus and local stock cars on Anglia Television in the 1970s, to anchorman for national network ITV’s ground-breaking Formula 1 coverage in the 2000s.
Read the full review... My Chequered Career: Thirty-five years of televising motorsport by Steve Rider Haynes, 2012. ISBN 978-0-85733-273-8 Find it on eBay |