Ask HN: Book recommendations about “early days” stories outside of tech
Howdy HN - I'm wondering if folks have any recommendations for books about the early days of companies/industries outside of tech/silicon valley? For example is there something similar to "Hackers" but about the space program, or "Masters of Doom" but about a rock band? Thanks! For the Space Shuttle part of the space program specifically, Rowland White's Into the Black is a great recounting of how that program got started and came to fruition with the first flight:
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Extraordinary-Columbia-Ast... Haven't read my copy yet, but for the origins of the (extremely important) container shipping industry, Marc Levinson's The Box comes highly recommended:
https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econom... Another one high on my to-read list; the story of the 19th century telegraph system and its impact (figure this is early enough to fall outside the traditional tech category):
https://www.amazon.com/Victorian-Internet-Remarkable-Ninetee... Two rather old autobiographies might be interesting to you: "Slide Rule" by Nevil Shute [0] A large part of this recounts the development of the R100 airship in Britain. "Jet: The Story of a Pioneer" by Frank Whittle [1] A substantial part of this is about the invention of the Jet engine. Obviously they're both focused on the individual but hopefully that's ok. --- Shoe Dog: about Nike