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Mat Watson knows everything there is to know about cars. In his 25-year career as a motor journalist, he has driven and tested every vehicle under the sun, from engineering marvels such as the Bugatti Chiron and Ferrari F50, to the grand-touring stalwarts of highways and motorways the world over – to absolute crapheaps which should never have made it out of the factory gates. He has crawled into hundreds of boots, peered under thousands of bonnets, kicked tens of thousands of tyres, and has perfected a nose for what makes a beautiful, brilliant and, sometimes truly atrocious, car.

Throughout history, when threatened by wildfires our only defense was to pray for rain and run—until aircraft changed the way we fight fires. Beginning with the Canadian "H-Boats" in 1924, aircraft have become indispensable in detecting and extinguishing wildfires. Fire Eaters tells the incredible stories of the Ontario Provincial Air Service, the first government aerial fire suppression organization in history; one of its pilots, Carl Crossley, who invented the water scoop-up and drop-off system; and the Canadair CL-215, the first purpose-built water bomber.

An iconic piece of design and style–and a gold standard in motorcycle engineering–the Triumph has roved through the twentieth century, making its mark in hearts and minds. Founded in Coventry in1885, Triumph Engineering had humble beginnings, importing bicycles and sewing machines. Little did anyone know that in the coming years the company would birth an historic series of motorcycles that have lit up the arenas of racing, popular culture and even warfare for well over a century.

The battle for NASCAR dominance was never more pronounced than when Richard Petty and David Pearson met on the track. In 551 head-to-head races between 1960 and 1986, they finished one-two an astounding 63 times (Pearson won 33, Petty 30). Each showdown attracted more media attention and new fans, helping the sport to evolve evermore rapidly.

Through historical records, revealing interviews, and unflinching statistics, Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, hosts of the podcast The War on Cars, and former host Aaron Naparstek unpack the scale of damage that cars cause, the forces that have created our current crisis and are invested in perpetuating it, and the way that the fight for better transportation is deeply linked to the fight for a more equitable and just society.

Launching Liberty tells the remarkable story of how FDR partnered with private businessmen to begin the production of cargo freighters longer than a football field—ships he affectionately dubbed “ugly ducklings.” These colossal Liberty Ships took over six months to build at the start of his $350 million emergency shipbuilding program, far too long. The government turned to Henry Kaiser, the man who had delivered the Boulder Dam ahead of schedule and under budget, but had never built a ship in his life.

SKUNK WORKS is the true story, told for the first time, of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the story of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a high-stakes drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.

Visual Friendlies, Tally Target: Surges continues the story of the role of forward air controllers (JTACs) and Close Air Support (CAS), picking up in 2006 and continuing through 2013. This volume covers the evolution of Joint Fires through the colloquial "second phase" of the War on Terror—the "surges" of Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2010–2011. Vol. II recounts the evolution of air power during the rising counterinsurgencies, as well as the psychology and mental makeup of these exclusive tribes.

Marc Márquez is the apex predator of the MotoGP world: arguably the greatest motorcycle racer who ever lived, he is an eight-time world champion. He is the man who dethroned Valentino Rossi, and who changed the sport of MotoGP forever. Told by bestselling author Stuart Barker, with the insight of rivals, team members, pundits, managers and many close to his story, experience in this book that rare thing: pure sporting theatre and white-knuckle speed twinned with real human drama. Everything or Nothing is the Márquez story told like never before.

Noraly Schoenmaker was a thirty-something geologist living in the Netherlands when she learned that her live-in partner had been having a long-term affair. Suddenly without a place to stay, she decided to quit her job and jet off to India in search of a new beginning. Her plans were dashed when she fell quickly and helplessly in love: with a motorcycle. Behind the handlebars, she felt alive and free—nimble enough to trace the narrowest paths, powerful enough to travel the longest of roads. In spirit of The Motorcycle Diaries and Wild, this is an inspiring story of self-discovery and renewal.

Newfoundland, 1919. Buffeted by winds, an unwieldy aircraft – made mainly from wood and stiff linen – struggled to take off from the North American island’s rocky slopes. Cramped side by side in its open cockpit were two men, freezing cold and barely able to move but resolute. They had a dream: to be the first in human history to fly, non-stop, across the Atlantic Ocean. But there were three other teams competing against them, and as the waves raged a few miles below, memories of wartime crashes resurfaced . . .

On the 200th birthday of the world’s first passenger-carrying railway, Nige Tassell sets out to ride Britain’s railway network all the way to its lesser-travelled-to corners, its seldom-visited outposts. From Wick to Penzance and many points in between, he stays on until the end of the line. He is the last man sitting. The sixteen final destinations he visits offer sixteen different stories. So grab yourself a window seat for an odyssey that tells us much about Britain today. All aboard, all aboard.

What do a barracks for British troops in the Falklands War, a floating jail off the Bronx, and temporary housing for VW factory workers in Germany have in common? The Balder Scapa: a single barge that served all three roles. Though the name would eventually change to Finnboda 12. And then to Safe Esperia. And later on, to the Bibby Resolution. And after that . . . in short, a vessel with so many names, and so many fates, that to keep it in our sights—as the protagonist of this fascinating economic parable—Ian Kumekawa has no choice but to call it, simply, the Vessel.

Lifeboat at the End of the World is an astonishing lyrical and literary book about the experience of being a lifeboat volunteer, migration, the sea, Dungeness and more. Rather than offering a political opinion, Dominic Gregory writes about the reality of the RNLI, of saving lives. He details the smells of the station, the emotions when the call to ‘a shout’ comes, how they are trained, the ethos of the service, and what it’s really like to sail out in the middle of the night.