Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #811129 in Books
• Published on: 1998
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Outstanding book about a failed industry
They produced some of the finest machinery of the 20th century but lost it all because of poor management. The author discusses his experience but really can't find the reasons for the downfall of a great industry. A great read for students of industrial management

A Guy with Story Who Tells it Well
I was looking for books to recommend to young people who are thinking about studying engineering when I came across this book. It is an excellent story of one engineer's career for people who want to know what engineers do, although today a similar engineer would design with CAD. I liked the contrast between the author and his nemesis, the charismatic, egotistical inventor Mr. Edward Turner. Most professional engineers will encounter non-engineering inventors who design from the seat of their pants. Such inventors play a role in liberating imagination from analytical self-censure but they can do damage. In the case of the British motorcycle industry the damage may have been that the engineers and charismatic inventors across the industry were not able to find a unified voice to take leadership of their industry. The British motorcycle industry may have survived if they had been able to do this. Its demise certainly was not for lack of technical talent and imagination. It would have been useful if Mr. Hopwood had compared his industry with other British industries that lost their competitive edge around the same time as motorcycles such as machine tools. It would have been useful to future engineers if Mr. Hopwood had critiqued on his own methods of struggle with the corporate leadership. In the end, the book is about a guy with a story and he tells it well. It is probably not suitable for high school students - they do not have enough experience in the business of design and manufacture - but it certainly is suitable for them later in life when dealing with real world issues.

Good combo of historical/technical/autobiographical lit.
Hopwood worked in turn for at least 4 British motorcycle manufacturers (Ariel, Triumph, BSA, Norton) during the best and other times of the business. While being quite critically-minded towards the management of his employers, the creator of the Norton Dominator and other classics acknowledges the work of other motorcycle manufacturers, in particular that of the Japanese. The sad demise of the British motorcycle industry is commented in a silently amusing way, as far as such is possible. Picture material is interesting also and gains from illuminating captions. To my opinion, a book which is interesting not only for owners and riders of British bikes, but also for people interested in the history of British industry. Easy to read and really good written.