Planes, Trains, Automobiles, & More!

In Planes, Trains, Automobiles, & More!, Becca Braun writes about brilliant, 20th-century, Ohio inventor and Wright-Brothers protg Frederick J. Hooven. He invented the SHORAN bombsight that helped American airmen in two wars, the radio direction finder used in most mid-century commercial airplanes, revolutionary electronic printing equipment, and a digital synthesizer beloved by professional musicians. He also co-developed the first successful heart-lung machine, newly enabling thousands of open-heart surgeries, and he led advanced engineering for the famed Ford Falcon. Auto legend Lee Iacocca considered Hooven a genius automotive engineer, and the dean of one of America's top engineering schools said of Hooven, "Of all the people I've met, he is one of the very few true geniuses. He was like Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway; when you have an engineering problem, find Fred!"

As much as the book is a tribute to Fred Hooven, it is also an ode to and celebration of invention and engineering.

Braun is president of publishing firm Braun Ink and is a longtime businessperson, author, and ghostwriter. She has collaborated in the writing and production of hundreds of scripts, speeches, books, and more and specializes in writing for and about businesspeople and innovators.