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|  | Sidewinder by Ron Westrum
In the mid-1950s a small group of overworked, underpaid scientists and engineers on a remote base in the Mojave Desert created a weapon no one had asked for but everyone was looking for. This is the story of how that unorthodox team, led by visionary Bill McLean, overcame Navy bureaucracy and other more heavily funded projects to develop the world's best air-to-air missile. Author Ron Westrum examines that special time and place -- when the old American work ethic and can do! spirit were still a part of U.S. weapons development -- to discover how the dedicated team was able to create a simple and inexpensive missile. Today, some forty-four years after its invention, Sidewinder is still considered the best America has. The result of ten years of research, including hundreds of interviews, Westrum's study examines this unique military-civilian cult of creativity. McLean and his China Lake team produced an amazing array of technological and engineering marvels. Their powerful insights were coupled with outrageous creativity. In the intellectual pressure cooker provided by the isolation of the desert, the scientists dreamed and tinkered while test pilots such as Wally Schirra and Glenn Tierney took to the air, often risking life and limb to test the fledgling system. Westrum captures the guiding vision of McLean, the Caltechtrained physicist who intended to visit China Lake for two months but stayed for twenty-three years. An expert in group dynamics, the author shows why the group succeeded. He reduces arcane missile techno-babble to language both the specialist and lay reader will appreciate and enjoy, and he offers lessons useful for leaders and managers in and out of uniform. In atime of billion-dollar weapons development contracts, astronomical cost overruns, and defense acquisitions scandals, this revealing, highly readable tale about one of the most successful weapons in history should be of interest to everyone concerned about national security. AUTHOR: Ron Westrum
PUBLISHER: Naval Institute Press
FORMAT: Hardcover
CATEGORY: Science & Nature 
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 | Baby Animals Zoom Zoom by Kimika Warabe
Rhyming couplets and lift-up flaps help the reader figure out what animal is being described. AUTHOR: Kimika Warabe
PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books LLC
FORMAT: Hardcover
CATEGORY: Science & Nature
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 | Taste by Franklin Watts, Franklin Watts Staff
Description not available.Discusses the sense of taste, including how the taste buds work AUTHOR: Franklin Watts, Franklin Watts Staff
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Library Publishing
FORMAT: Paperback
CATEGORY: Science & Nature
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 | The Other Kingdom by Victor Price
The favorite cult novel among runners about Colin Warnock, an Irish college student who experiences one moment of pure rapture while running in practice and seeks -- with great difficulty -- to replicate it in a race .An intriguing novel .. . -- New York Times Book Review AUTHOR: Victor Price
PUBLISHER: Breakaway Books
FORMAT: Paperback
CATEGORY: Science & Nature
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 | Euclid & Terex Earth Moving Machines by Eric C. Orlemann
Sensational archival photography of enormous modern equipment. Enthusiasts will find great detail in the text which traces the evolution of the Euclid and Terex vehicles, provides technical specifications, and lists fascinating operating and hauling capacities. AUTHOR: Eric C. Orlemann
PUBLISHER: MBI Publishing Company LLC
FORMAT: Paperback
CATEGORY: Science & Nature
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 | The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow by Benjamim Hoff, Opal Whitely
In 1920, long before environmental consciousness became popular, young Opal Whiteley's diary captured the heart of America. It was an immediate bestseller and one of the most talked-about books of its time: When it was condemned as a hoax, the book fell into obscurity. Now Benjamin Hoff sets out to solve the mystery of its origin. AUTHOR: Benjamim Hoff, Opal Whitely
PUBLISHER: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
FORMAT: Paperback
CATEGORY: Science & Nature
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