A lone inventor and the story of how one of the most revolutionary inventions of the twentieth century almost didn't happen.
Introduced in 1960, the first plain-paper office copier is unusual among major high-technology inventions in that its central process was conceived by a single person. Chester Carlson grew up in unspeakable poverty, worked his way through junior college and the California Institute of Technology, and made his discovery in solitude in the depths of the Great Depression. He offered his big idea to two dozen major corporations -- among them IBM, RCA, and...

The game of golf as it is played by happy hackers and weekend warriors everywhere

Most of us may dream about playing golf like Woods, Nicklaus, and Palmer, but the game they've got probably doesn't look much like the one we play.
In Hit and Hope, Owen brings together entertaining essays on the mundane aspects of the game and how we approach it. Funny, candid, and thoughtful, this book offers the truest commentary on how and why the rest of us play golf, finding nobility and silliness in our endless pursuit of a little white ball over a vast (but not vast enough to...