Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

Guilty pleasure: I just finished the final book in the horus heresy series (warhammer 40k), and impulsively restarted the series from book 1 again. Its making me sad because I know what all these characters are going to go through again over next 64 books. But I highly recommend the book "Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed" by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/101438

+1 for Skunk Works. Great story, well written and the engineering challenges they overcame were astounding.

I'm not sure if these books really are what you're looking for, because each of them is a mix of engineering history, and the description of how a group of people end up doing amazing things. In each of the books, there were nuggets of wisdom that I've tried to bring along with me in my job (as best I can). Like: - Doing things as simply as possible to start off - Keeping iteration time to a minimum, for maximum exploration of ideas - Being willing to think outside the box My takeaways above, hardly do these books justice, but they are as follows: - Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed [0] - Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. [1] - The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal [2] [0]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101438.Skunk_Works [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56829.Hackers [2]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722412.The_Dream_Machine

In a similar vein, there's "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich and Leo Janos, which covers the development of the U-2, F-117, and SR-17 aircraft. Not about the philosophy of engineering per se, but it's a great perspective into how problems were solved in a very unique program with extreme goals, before modern computer-aided tools.

Last non-fiction book I read was “A Plague Upon Our House” by dr. Scott Atlas. Good one, can recommend, but it might be too depressing for a birthday, it’s about COVID and modern politics. Another good non-fiction one is “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed” by Leo Janos, about cold war and aviation technology. This one is fine for a birthday, assuming you generally like these topics.

I'm really enjoying 'Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed' currently. I found it really interesting that their stealth aircraft model was so good, they had to redesign the poles it sat on. Also it talks about a Russian paper they used based on maxwells equations, that allowed them to calculate the reflected RF from 2D surfaces, which I'm curious about finding.

_Showstopper_ One of the best tech books, after _Soul of a New Machine_ (recommended in the comments, too). Covers Microsoft's creation of Windows NT. _DEC is Dead. Long Live DEC_ about the rise and fall of Digital Equipment Corporation. _Skunkworks_ Lockheed-Martin's creation of the SR-71. _Moneyball_ using math to build a top flight US baseball team. Broadening the category a bit: _The Smartest Guys in the Room_ is about Enron's collapse. Not directly related to computer tech but definitely tech and people. _Billion Dollar Lessons_ covers several spectacular company failures. Again, not strictly tech related but amazing stories of crash & burn. Includes (IIRC) Iridium, Kodak, IBM.

Sorry, this got a little longer than I meant it to be - Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed - It's over 20 years old now but still really good, especially if you're into planes like the U-2, F-117, and SR-71 If you're wanting a deeper understanding of the other side of the war on terror, I'd recommend the following: - I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad - Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea - The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State - After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam - The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda If you're wanting a dive into Russia: - The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War - The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries - Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia If you're wanting true Spy stuff: - The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal - The Spy's Son: The True Story of the Highest-Ranking CIA Officer Ever Convicted of Espionage and the Son He Trained to Spy for Russia…

Catch-22. In a similar vibe (but a fair bit shorter), Slaughterhouse 5. Both cover the hell of war by examining its absurdity. Catch-22 is also the funniest book you'll ever read. If you're into engineering books, the best I've read is Skunk Works (Ben R Rich). It's an account of the work of Lockheed's legendary skunk works division - behind the U2 spy plane, stealth fighter and the blackbird sr-17.