Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chapmans Lotus, a story of many firsts., 4 Dec 2000
Inventors are individuals who have an intuitive ability to recognize inherent flaws in the way things are done, or the tools used to do them. They are able to apply their intellectual skills to visualizing, describing, and sometimes, fabricating a working model incorporating their design improvements. While often the drawings or models are more than adequate for evaluation, they require the skills of a trained technician, an Engineer, to develope them to production standard. Then, to convince the public that they must have this newer, better mousetrap, requires the altogether different skills of a promoter/marketer. Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman, the founder of Lotus Engineering, possessed all these attributes. Indeed, his innovative application of these diverse(in ordinary mortals) skills is undoubtedly the key to his recognition as the most influential figure in the development of the modern motorcar. Colin Chapman was, undeniably, a genius. To reveal this as fact, without recourse to cliche, required someone with knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of "ordinary" Engineers, a person who understood that extremes of temperament, or eccentricity are often tools of a superior intellect, used to motivate, to inspire enthusiasm for advanced concepts. Chapman protege and fellow engineer, Hugh Haskell has performed this task admirably. A perceptive writer, able to convey the fact behind the myth in engaging, yet authoritative, discourse, and who, as associate and friend to many of the central figures in the phenomenon that was Colin Chapmans' Lotus Engineering, thoroughly, indeed, intimately, shares the Chapman-inspired enthusiasm that was part of being a member of the Lotus team. His insightful narrative conveys, in terms familiar to the layman, the brilliant originality of Chapmans' engineering achievements. He takes us from Chapmans' childhood, through the formative years, and the times when "Lotus" was synonymous with leadership in innovation. He also tells how, when forced by circumstance, he was able to find loopholes to achieve an outcome despite the efforts of short-sighted officialdom, for there were occasions when the Chapman innovations were so far ahead of the pack, that the rule-makers legislated against him to "level the playing field". Haskell doesn't avoid the issues that Chapmans' unconventional approach to matters financial aroused in the minds of many. Indeed, he includes anecdotes that confirm the young Chapmans' admirable negotiating skills. The book also describes Chapmans ventures into non-automotive fields,...from bathroom furniture, to luxury cruising yachts and micro-light aircraft, the fertile mind of Colin Chapman left his hallmark of originality. His minimalist design philosophy is apparent in many of his creations, light on material they may appear, but they're full measure for clever engineering. A winning combination.....And this is a damned good book. An Engineers tribute to one of the Twentieth Centurys greatest Engineers. Read it,...be inspired.
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