The Man Who Thought Like a Ship

Steffy, Loren C.

Texas A&M University Press

J. Richard “Dick” Steffy stood inside the limestone hall of the Crusader castle in Cyprus and looked at the wood fragments arrayed before him. They were old beyond belief. For more than two millennia they had remained on the sea floor, eaten by worms and soaking up seawater until they had the consistency of wet cardboard. There were some 6,000 pieces in all, and Steffy’s job was to put them all back together in their original shape like some massive, ancient jigsaw puzzle. He had volunteered for the job even though he had no qualifications for it. For twenty-five years he’d been an electrician in a small, land-locked town in Pennsylvania. He held no advanced degrees—his understanding of ships was entirely self-taught. Yet he would find himself half a world away from his home town, planning to reassemble a ship that last sailed during the reign of Alexander the Great, and he planned to do it using mathematical formulas and modeling techniques that he’d developed in his basement as a hobby. The first person ever to reconstruct an ancient ship from its sunken fragments, Steffy said ships spoke to him. Steffy joined a team, including friend and fellow scholar George Bass, that laid a foundation for the field of nautical archaeology. Eventually moving to Texas A&amp;M University, his lack of the usual academic credentials caused him to be initially viewed with skepticism by the university’s administration. However, his impressive record of publications and his skilled teaching eventually led to his being named a full professor. During the next thirty years of study, reconstruction, and modeling of submerged wrecks, Steffy would win a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant and would train most of the preeminent scholars in the emerging field of nautical archaeology. Richard Steffy’s son Loren, an accomplished journalist, has mined family memories, archives at Texas A&amp;M and elsewhere, his father’s papers, and interviews with former colleagues to craft not only a professional biography and adventure story of the highest caliber, but also the first history of a field that continues to harvest important new discoveries from the depths of the world’s oceans.

The Man Who Thought like a Ship (Ed Rachal Foundation Nautical Archaeology Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Upon George Mitchell’s death in 2013, The Economist proclaimed, “Few businesspeople have done as much to change the world as George Mitchell,” a billionaire Texas oilman who defied the stereotypical swagger so identified with that industry. In George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet, award-winning author Loren C. Steffy offers the first definitive biography of Mitchell, placing his life and legacy in a global context, from the significance of his discoveries to the lingering controversies they inspired. Mitchell will forever be known as “the father of fracking,” but he didn’t invent the drilling process; he perfected it and made it profitable, one of many varied ventures he pursued for years. Long before his company ever fracked a well, he pioneered sustainable development by creating The Woodlands, near Houston, one of the first and most successful master-planned communities. Its focus on environmental protection and livability redefined the American suburb. This apparent contradiction between his energy interests and environmental pursuits, which his son Todd dubbed “the Mitchell Paradox,” was just one of many that defined Mitchell’s life. Anyone who puts fuel in a tank or turns on a light switch has benefited from Mitchell’s efforts. This compelling biography reveals Mitchell as a modern renaissance man who sought to make the world a better, more livable place, a man whose unbounded intellectual curiosity led him to support a wide range of interests in business, science, and philanthropy.

George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet (Volume 26) (Kenneth E. Montague Series in Oil and Business History)

Professionals & Academics

The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens

T. Boone Pickens, legendary Texas oilman and infamous corporate raider from the 1980s, climbed the steps of the Reeves County courthouse in Pecos, Texas in early November 2016. He entered the solitary courtroom and settled into the witness stand for two days of testimony in what would be the final trial of his life. 
Pickens, who was 88 by then, had made and lost billions over his long career, but he’d come to Pecos seeking justice from several other oil companies. He claimed they cut him out of what became the biggest oil play he’d ever invested in—in an oil-rich section of far West Texas that was primed for an unprecedented boom. After years of dealing with the media, shareholders and politicians, Pickens would need to win over a dozen West Texas jurors in one last battle. 
To lead his legal fight, he chose an unlikely advocate—Chrysta Castañeda, a Dallas solo practitioner who had only recently returned to the practice of law after a hiatus borne of disillusionment with big firms. Pickens was a hardline Republican, while Castañeda had run for public office as a Democrat. But they shared an unwavering determination to win and formed a friendship that spanned their differences in age, politics, and gender. 
In a town where frontier justice was once meted out by Judge Roy Bean—“The Law West of the Pecos”—Pickens would gird for one final courtroom showdown. Sitting through trial every day, he was determined to prevail, even at the cost of his health. 
The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens is a high-stakes courtroom drama told through the eyes of Castañeda. It’s the story of an American business legend still fighting in the twilight of his long career, and the lawyer determined to help him make one final stand for justice.

Castañeda, Chrysta

Stoney Creek Publishing Group

Deconstructed: An Insider's View of Illegal Immigration and the Building Trades

Illegal immigration is among the most challenging and divisive issues facing America. With few changes in immigration laws since 1986, the undocumented population has swelled to an estimated 11 million.&nbsp; Deconstructed unravels these economic issues and their human toll through the eyes of Houston businessman Stan Marek, who's watched the immigration crisis unfold over 40 years. A descendant of Czech immigrants himself, Marek runs one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the U.S. He has seen construction work devolve from offering middle-class careers to trapping illegal immigrants in the shadows of the economy-- paid in cash, without overtime or access to health care. Marek sees a burgeoning crisis for his industry, the national economy and the undocumented immigrants themselves - a crisis he has vowed to prevent.&nbsp; In Deconstructed, award-winning business journalist Loren Steffy traces Marek's own family history, intertwined with changes in immigration law for more than a century. Steffy examines the economic forces driving illegal immigration and outlines solutions that could enhance our economy, the construction business, and the lives of immigrants.

Marek, Stan

The Big Empty

Product Description 
When Trace Malloy and Blaine Witherspoon collide on a desolate West Texas highway, their fender bender sets the tone for escalating clashes that will determine the future of the town of Conquistador. 
 Malloy, a ranch manager and lifelong cowboy, knows that his occupation—and his community—are dying. He wants new- millennium opportunities for his son, even though he himself failed to summon the courage to leave familiar touchstones behind. 
 Witherspoon, an ambitious, Lexus-driving techie, offers a solution. He moves to Conquistador to build and run a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant that will bring prestige and high-paying technology jobs to revive the town—and advance his own career. 
 What neither man anticipates is the power the “Big Empty” will wield over their plans. The flat, endless expanse of dusty plain is as much a character in the conflict as are the locals struggling to subsist in this timeworn backwater and the high-tech transplants hell-bent on conquering it. 
 While Malloy grapples with the flaws of his ancestors and his growing ambivalence toward the chip plant, Witherspoon falls prey to construction snafus, corporate backstabbing, and financial fraud. As they each confront personal fears, they find themselves united in the search for their own version of purpose in a uniquely untamable Texas landscape.\nThe Big Empty, the debut novel from longtime journalist and nonfiction author Loren C. Steffy, combines a sweeping appreciation for history and the struggles of small-town America with an examination of technology and the social and economic changes that come over time. 
 Review 
"The Big Empty captures a moment when Big Tech seemingly promised everything. By turns funny and painful, Steffy's story builds like an accelerating freight train, reaching a fast-paced climax." \n-- The Epoch Times\n"Like the titular land itself, Steffy's novel is uncompromising in spotlighting the strains that the drive toward material achievement puts on the individual in the face of nature's whims." 
—\nSouthern Review of Books 
 About the Author 
LOREN C. STEFFY is the author of five nonfiction books and a writer- at-large for 
Texas Monthly. He’s also an executive producer for Rational Middle Media and a managing director for 30 Point Strategies, where he heads the 30 Point Press publishing imprint. He had been a business journalist for more than 30 years at publications such as Bloomberg News, the Houston Chronicle and Forbes.com. His award-winning writing has been published in newspapers and other publications worldwide. He lives in Wimberley with his wife, three dogs and an ungrateful cat.

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

"The Big Empty captures a moment when Big Tech seemingly promised everything. By turns funny and painful, Steffy's story builds like an accelerating freight train, reaching a fast-paced climax."--The Epoch Times "Like the titular land itself, Steffy's novel is uncompromising in spotlighting the strains that the drive toward material achievement puts on the individual in the face of nature's whims."--Southern Review of Books When Trace Malloy and Blaine Witherspoon collide on a desolate West Texas highway, their fender bender sets the tone for escalating clashes that will determine the future of the town of Conquistador.&nbsp; Malloy, a ranch manager and lifelong cowboy, knows that his occupation--and his community--are dying. He wants new-millennium opportunities for his son, even though he himself failed to summon the courage to leave familiar touchstones behind. Witherspoon, an ambitious, Lexus-driving techie, offers a solution. He moves to Conquistador to build and run a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant that will bring prestige and high-paying technology jobs to revive the town--and advance his own career. While Malloy grapples with the flaws of his ancestors and his growing ambivalence toward the chip plant, Witherspoon falls prey to construction snafus, corporate backstabbing, and financial fraud. As they each confront personal fears, they find themselves united in the search for their own version of purpose in a uniquely untamable Texas landscape.

Silver Winner, IBPA Ben Franklin Award The true story of an aging oil tycoon, once a household name, who hires a Dallas attorney setting up her own practice to help him recover a lost fortune in West Texas. T. Boone Pickens, legendary Texas oilman and infamous corporate raider from the 1980s, climbed the steps of the Reeves County courthouse in Pecos, Texas in early November 2016. He entered the solitary courtroom and settled into the witness stand for two days of testimony in what would be the final trial of his life. &nbsp; Pickens, who was 88 by then, had made and lost billions over his long career, but he'd come to Pecos seeking justice from several other oil companies. He claimed they cut him out of what became the biggest oil play he'd ever invested in--in an oil-rich section of far West Texas that was primed for an unprecedented boom. After years of dealing with the media, shareholders and politicians, Pickens would need to win over a dozen West Texas jurors in one last battle.&nbsp; To lead his legal fight, he chose an unlikely advocate--Chrysta Castañeda, a Dallas solo practitioner who had only recently returned to the practice of law after a hiatus borne of disillusionment with big firms. Pickens was a hardline Republican, while Castañeda had run for public office as a Democrat. But they shared an unwavering determination to win and formed a friendship that spanned their differences in age, politics, and gender. &nbsp; In a town where frontier justice was once meted out by Judge Roy Bean--"The Law West of the Pecos"--Pickens would gird for one final courtroom showdown. Sitting through trial every day, he was determined to prevail, even at the cost of his health.&nbsp; The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens is a high-stakes courtroom drama told through the eyes of Castañeda. It's the story of an American business legend still fighting in the twilight of his long career, and the lawyer determined to help him make one final stand for justice.

Review\n"A clear-headed, cogent, and essential explanation of the many problems posed by the prevalence of undocumented workers in the construction industry, grounded in a review of the schizophrenic, often xenophobic history of U.S. immigration policies.” -- Patricia Bernstein, author of Ten Dollars to Hate: The Texas Man Who Fought the Klan ― Cover blurb Published On: 2020-10-29\n“In this engrossing analysis, Loren Steffy tells the story of how Stan Marek came to be one of Houston’s most highly respected and tenacious advocates for rational immigration reform. The compelling stories and persuasive arguments in this excellent book are a must-read for anyone concerned about the prospects for Houston and America as the twenty-first century unfolds.” 
-- Stephen L. Klineberg, Ph.D., professor emeritus of sociology at Rice University, author of Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America ― Cover blurb Published On: 2020-10-29\nIllegal immigration is among the most challenging and divisive issues facing America. With few changes in immigration laws since 1986, the undocumented population has swelled to an estimated 11 million. 
Deconstructed unravels these economic issues and their human toll through the eyes of Houston businessman Stan Marek, who’s watched the immigration crisis unfold over 40 years. A descendant of Czech immigrants himself, Marek runs one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the U.S. He has seen construction work devolve from offering middle-class careers to trapping illegal immigrants in the shadows of the economy— paid in cash, without overtime or access to health care. Marek sees a burgeoning crisis for his industry, the national economy and the undocumented immigrants themselves - a crisis he has vowed to prevent. 
In Deconstructed, award-winning business journalist Loren Steffy traces Marek’s own family history, intertwined with changes in immigration law for more than a century. Steffy examines the economic forces driving illegal immigration and outlines solutions that could enhance our economy, the construction business, and the lives of immigrants.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Steffy, Loren C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Steffy, Loren C.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Steffy, Loren C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Man Who Thought Like a Ship

The Man Who Thought like a Ship (Ed Rachal Foundation Nautical Archaeology Series)

George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet (Volume 26) (Kenneth E. Montague Series in Oil and Business History)

The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens

Deconstructed: An Insider's View of Illegal Immigration and the Building Trades

The Big Empty

The Big Empty

The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens

Deconstructed: An Insider's View of Illegal Immigration and the Building Trades