Page 14 RAIN July 1981 Alternative Sources of Energy $16.50/year from: Milaca, MN 56353. This magazine contains many good articles pertinent to the home builder. Note: Alternative Sources of Energy is celebrating its tenth anniversary this summer! Unlike most of the rest of us, Don and Abby Marier were publishing their good news on the energy situation before the 1973 oil embargo. Still ahead of its time, ASE offers some of the best technical advice around. Kudos and congratulations, amigos. _._The Rainmakers. Power Inverter Technology, by John Lindsay, 1978, $5.00 from: Baker & Taylor 380 Edison Way Reno, NV 89502 More than you wanted to know on converting from DC to AC. Browning Power Transmission Equipment Available from your local Browning gear distributor. Technical information and engineering data on many pieces of hardware that you may be using. Most other gear companies put out similar manuals. ALMANACS Everybody's Business, an Almanac: The l"everent Guide to Corporate America, edited by Milton Moskowitz, Michael Katz and Robert Levering, 1980, 916 pp., $9.95 from: • Harper&Row 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY10022 A marvelous manual for the consumer advocate, Everybody's Business is also just plain fun to read. The editors have balanced their hard information about who really owns what, and which brands are produced by which, mega-corporation with strange facts, odd statistics and amusing anecdotes which are sometimes trivial, but more often bear insights into corporate attitudes and behavior. An idea of the book's flavor and diversity can be gained from the following examples: • To make certain their products are WIND ACCESS Technician's and Experimenter's Guide to Using Sun, Wind, and Water Power, by Richard E. Pierson, 1978, 270pp., $10.95 from: Parker Books West Nyack, NY 19770 Contains the Landing plans mentioned in the article, some questionable information on batteries, and outdated information on solar cells. Battery Service Manual, 1964, 40pp. from: The Association of American Battery Manufacturers, Inc. 19 North Harrison St. East Orange, NJ 07017 While directed primarily to automotive applications, it still answers many questions about what really goes on inside those black boxes. Theory of Wing Selections, by Abbot and Albert Von Doenhoff, 1959, 180pp., $6.50 from: Dover Publications 180 Varick St. New York, NY 10014. Contains all the major NACA air foils. Necessary reading for anyone wanting to play with experimental prop construction. noticed and prescribed, drug companies spend approximately $7500 a year on promotion for each doctor in the United States. • A company called International Flavors and Fragrances employs up to 150 canine taste testers to determine what dogs really look for in a dinner. IFF researchers have found that all breeds, with one exception, are sophisticated consumers. The exception is The Wind Power Book, by Jack Park, 1981, 253pp., $11.95 from: Chesire Books 514 Bryant St. Palo Alto, CA 94301 This book is a must. MN Windcyclopedia, 1980, 208pp, $7.95 from: Power Company Midwest P.O. Box221 Gennesee Depot, WI 53127 If you spent a couple of years snagging everything you could find about wind energy systems and threw it in a box, you'd have something very much like Windcyclopedia. There's lot's of information, mostly useful, more or less.current (although RAIN hasn't been $10/year for awhile now), but hard to get at if you don't already have a good idea of what you're looking for. If you want to know what's around in terms of manufacturers, organizations and publications, it's probably worth your while to spend some time with this book. Hopefully, future editions will be a little better organized. -KB the beagle. "They'll eat whatever is put in front of them," says one researcher. "You· can't learn anything from a beagle." • During World War II, German bombers made by a company partially owned by ITT, bombed American ships. At the same time, ITT in the U.S. was making directional finders to help the American navy destroy German submarines. After the war, the company had the audacity to sue the U.S. government for damage caused by Allied bombers to its European plants. The government awarded 27 million dollars in compensation. • The vice president of market research for Milton Bradley once described how her company had attempted to sell a game called Happiness. "[It] stressed the need to help one another out and was not competitive," she said. "It bombed." Despite the light touch and sense of the ironic, Everybody's Business is a solid, wellresearched reference book. Its profiles of more than three hundred companies are packed with fascinating historical background material and revealing information about profits, ownership, management structure and stock performance. The writers
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz