Amongst the slew of reading that I have to do, there comes along a book that I want to read. The premise of this book is fascinating and mixes mechanical engineering, history, a love story, and intrigue in goodly measure.
Regrettably I ordered the book on Amazon - and whilst it was available in the US - it would not be sent to me until early January. Arriving on the 10th and finishing it today, it has been a stately tale - and well told too.
Rudolf Diesel was a fascinating figure to who is owed much credit for the technological advance of the late 18th century into the end of the millennium. I have a new car - that has a Diesel engine. I knew not to put unleaded in the tank - that's gonna wreak it, but that is all that I knew. How a Diesel engine works was a mystery to me.
As a student, purchasing my first car, a Mitsubishi Sigma, creamy brown, with diarrhea interior, I could not afford to have the head gasket replaced - so I bought the manual and proceeded to take a month out and fix it myself. I learnt rapidly the principles of the internal combustion engine - including how it will not work if the timing belt is not aligned properly. I garnered the required knowledge around spark plugs igniting the fuel & air mixture to force down the piston. Diesel engines aren't that different, are they? Just a different fuel mix - or so I thought. Wrong on all counts. No ignition of fuel - compression heats the air above the piston and this ignites the fuel. A Diesel engine is a compression engine. Who knew - well my dad nodded sagely as I told him this - so I guess that he knew. The book tells the charming story of a cigar lighter that was shaped like a bicycle pump - that when pumped heated up an element at the end to ignite the tobacco and leaf. This was the inspiration behind the revolutionary engine.
Diesel is an interesting fellow and the rags to riches story is fascinating, further emphasising the importance of education and the promise of social mobility that entails. There is a superb little moment where Brunt opines on the meeting between Diesel and Edison - the light bulb fellow, namely how the significant differences between them ranged from the definition of an inventor through to the value of formal schooling. Particularly fascinating was the way his story was framed against European Industrialism and the emerging dominance of Oil consumption. Some reviewers do not like this - I found the authors insights into Industrialisation and the lead up to the Great War remarkably insightful, at times pointed. The tale of Kaiser Wilhelm's meeting with Haldane - and Churchill's trenchant view of the matter was new to me. Tidbits like this abound.
However, it is the intrigue that makes this book a stellar monument to the Diesel story. After roaming around in the life, love, desire, wealth, and fame of Diesel - how did he disappear and die? What happened. This is the final part of the book - the most anticipated too. In all of the Podcast interviews that Brunt did - from Gad Saad to Ben Shapiro, he carefully avoided his conclusion. Some people have slammed the book as engaging history, overtaken by conspiracy-theory. If the modern world belies anything, it is how one day's conspiracy is the next day's news. I was concerned about ordering the book after reading one review - I though that Alien abduction was Brunt's thesis by how much they were banging on about conspiracy. Needless to say that the final 50 or so pages are all that Brunt dedicates to his summation of the theories on the table for Diesels disappearance and the proposal of his view.
I don't know what I think about Brunt's view - eminently feasible in the lead-up to war in 1913, not at all conspiratorial. However, you'll have to read it to find out his view. Easy, clear writing - rollicking read.
5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment