My Life (by Hiram Stevens Maxim)
Hiram Stevens Maxim (February 5, 1840 – November 24, 1916) was an inventor born in America who emigrated to England and adopted British citizenship. He was the inventor of the Maxim Gun, the first portable, fully automatic machine gun, and the ubiquitous mousetrap, and he lays a claim to inventing the lightbulb. He also experimented with powered flight, but his large aircraft designs were never successful. However, his "Captive Flying Machine" amusement ride, designed as a means by which to fund his research while generating public interest in flight, was highly successful.
He wrote a fantastic and in my opinion, a really funny book in 1915 titled My life. Here's a Microsoft sponsored digitized version of it, which is part of the University of California "Open Library" project. I've been reading it on my Amazon Kindle electronic book reader while traveling on planes for business, and have really been enjoying it. A very smart and interesting man!!!
Regards,
Badger
