84 Books Like 747

I've always been inspired by the story of the Black women mathematicians at NASA — the "human computers" who calculated the formulas to launch rockets and astronauts into space. Shetterly's book brings them to life, making their feats even more remarkable, especially given their tools (adding machines, pencils, and slide rules) and challenges (they worked in the Jim Crow South).

The four amazing women the book focuses on—Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden—deserved to be brought to light. There's a movie version that conveys their brilliance in a dramatized way, but the book gets into depth in ways the movie can't. It's a great narrative about what it takes to be an innovator, no matter if you're a woman or a man.

I have read many books about the Apollo astronauts and their journeys to the Moon, but this very readable book is the only one that took me along on the greatest human adventure in space.

Chaikin also left me knowing each one of these astronauts better than I did when I started.

Thread of the Silkworm is the definitive English-language biography of Hsue-Shen Tsien (Qián Xuésēn, 钱学森), a Chinese-born aeronautical engineer who made fundamental contributions to the early American space program including work with Theodore von Kármán and Frank Malina on establishing what is now the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Based on unproven allegations of being a Communist, the U.S. Government in 1955 deported Tsien back to China where to this day he is revered as the father of the modern Chinese space and military rocket programs (including the Silkworm anti-ship missile referenced in the title). Chang’s book was the source of much of my research for the alternate history story “The Son of Heaven” in my own collection.

This book recounts the remarkable life of one of my childhood heroes, the Canadian aviation pioneer Grant McConachie. Much of McConachie’s early career was spent as a bush pilot flying aircraft in the service of communities in Northern Canada. His exploits would make a fine Hollywood movie: A daring rescue of two brothers in northern Alberta burned by an exploding stove, making the first commercial flight over the Rocky Mountains from Calgary to Vancouver, becoming the president of Canadian Pacific Airlines at the age of thirty-seven, and even a memorable encounter with General Douglas MacArthur in postwar Japan. A fictionalized Grant McConachie appears in the alternate history story “The Coming Age of the Jet” in my own collection.

I like this book because I strongly identify with Rayford Steele. He is a professional pilot with character flaws and no superpowers. I am no pilot but also a professional with character flaws. And no superpowers.

When the story opens, I want to grab Rayford by the shirt collar and scream, “Don’t do it.” Of course, disaster strikes first, and then—with God’s guidance—Rayford overcomes incredible adversity to lead his Tribulation Force team through the worst seven years in human history. I also like Bruce Barnes, a pastor who built a career as a hypocrite not believing what he preached. Like Rayford, Bruce’s character grows as the adversity grows, and he finds ways to meet every challenge despite his human weaknesses.

The 1986 Challenger shuttle explosion. I remember exactly where I was - at home - and what I was doing - living my everyday young person’s life.

This is the setting for the three siblings in this novel, which I could not put down. Like me, the characters have to process the reality of the explosion right alongside doing homework, squabbling with each other, and watching sitcoms.

I love how the kids end up much more resilient without any heavy-handed messaging from the author. And the ’80s details are the best!

I love this book because it is a great read about a preventable disaster in space and a great account of what to do and what to not do if you want to be a small “L” leader. The early years of the space program saw great examples of small “L” leadership; in the years around the Challenger disaster, NASA was a thoroughly bureaucratic hierarchy where people in authority wielded power to control and coerce other people.

It is a gripping tale in which this legacy paradigm of power contributed to the deaths of seven astronauts. I am passionate about leadership that helps people and organizations thrive; it is important to read about what happens when its antithesis wreaks its damage.  

Over the past 15 years, I’ve walked through layers and layers of trials – including chronic illness in myself and all four of my children, special needs in one of our kids, a degenerative ankle that has led to six ankle surgeries, depression, and several seasons of financial struggle. During times when I haven’t had much capacity to read in large chunks, I have found Beside Still Waters to be a comfort and encouragement. Charles Spurgeon writes with profound insight and eloquence, but in a down-to-earth way.

Love this book! This is a foundational behavioral ethics book, written by two giants in the field—psychologists Bazerman of Harvard Business School and Tenbrunsel of Notre Dame.

It is research-based, yet very accessible to the novice, directly addressing, as the title indicates, why people sometimes mess up and how they can avoid it. It introduces the reader to cognitive biases and other influences that can fool people’s brains into making poor moral choices.

Blind Spots was an invaluable resource for Cara Biasucci and me for many of the 150 or so videos we have produced for Ethics Unwrapped.

Award-winning, highly authoritative, comprehensive, and accessible history of the long campaign for a large space telescope by astronomers and NASA program officers. One of the most penetrating studies of how NASA constructs and operates major space missions, and how access to space has changed “what it means to be an astronomer.”.