John Anderson (20) (1841–)

[a:Nevil Shute|21477|Nevil Shute|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206158172p2/21477.jpg] is one of my favorite authors and the author of one of my favorite books [b:A Town Like Alice|107301|A Town Like Alice|Nevil Shute|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327957610s/107301.jpg|276591]. I learned a lot about his life from reading this book, which I appreciate, but I also thought it was a bit of a slog. My friend, Natalie, owner of the book who reviewed the book and then lent it to me said show more "What is missing here is a true look at his romantic, domestic and community life (the stories of all three remain very truncated and formal)." Now, I am taking this out of context, because she likes the things that I thought could have been written better.

I really wanted to know more about his life and his friends and family. There was a lot of detail of his work at Airspeed and in the British Royal Navy, which was way to detailed and almost made me give up on the book. Still, I appreciated knowing how much Shute had to do with the infancy of aircraft design and production in the UK.

I thought some parts of the book were confusing and it made me wonder if the target audience was UK engineers who enjoyed a good novel. There was a long section about the R100, which I knew nothing about and was confused as to what it actually was? A blimp? A Zeppelin? A dirigible. I inferred that it was, but 'airship' is not a term with which I am familiar.

One of the best things about this book was the chart in the back listing all of his books and the order they were written. I also appreciated the references to radio dramas, such as Saturday Night Theatre, and other ways in which the books were produced. I have hopes that some of the recordings will become available via podcast or audiobooks. I also appreciated his approach to writing, which was, basically, WRITE! show less