Ford Fire Trucks by Kent Parrish is a wide ranging collection with tremendous captioned info with each photo. And there are a lot of photos, over 400, most in color but some in black and white. Ranging from 1917 Model T’s that were custom built into fire engines all the way to 2009, the book is broken up into ten chapters, roughly one for each decade.

Ford Postwar Flatheads: 1946-1953 Photo Archive by James H. Moloney is another wonderful collection of public relations and advertising photos from the Ford archive. All black and white, most with descriptions and details. If you have interest in Ford cars from the late 1940s into the early 50s, this is a great collection.

Classic Farm Tractors: The History of the Farm Tractor is an exceptionally well done reprint under the Crestline name which specializes in picking up books that have gone out of print. Randy Leffingwell does a great job of giving an overview of the inception of the tractor on the American family farm. Chapters include: Allis-Chalmers, Case, Caterpillar, Deere, Ford, International Harvester, Massey, White, and Orphans.

The Age of Genius: The Seventeenth Century & the Birth of the Modern Mind isn’t a philosophy book. This is a book proving that the 17th century was in fact a turning point in humanity relinquishing much of the ancient world for the beginnings of a “modern” point of view. A.C. Grayling is a professor of Philosophy and Master of the New College of Humanities in London who believes that philosophy needs to be integrated into everyday life.

In a world that seems full of “fake news,” Tweets and distractions that have no substance in our current state of affairs, there can be much joy in reading about simple living, written in a straightforward style with wonderful cartoon illustrations.

WWI was the first time machines were truly employed in the service of the men doing the fighting. It was also a turning point in the way medicine was used during wartime. It even changed the way we mapped the battleground. Author Richard Rubin takes all of this and runs with it. One could argue that World War I, more so than the Great War, was “the war to end all wars.” It was also the beginning of a modern mindset applied to one of the things humans seem to do pretty well. (That would be to make war.)