Book of The Month: “The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel”, by Douglas Brunt

Editor’s Note: The past few years, I’ve enjoyed travelling into non-fiction history with a twist; true stories never entirely solved. This book was enjoyable mainly because it is really a biography of a name, we’ve all heard many times without thinking of the person behind the name. The inventor of the diesel engine was a visionary German engineer who had quite a different plan for his invention than its eventual use. Rudolf Diesel was a peaceful guy looking for an internal combustion engine for manufacturing (not war) that could use vegetable oil (not petroleum) when he stumbled into the sights of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, the British Navy’s young Winston Churchill, and Standard Oil’s JD Rockefeller at the dawn of World War I.

Favorite Excerpt:

“To conclude his speech, Rudolph reflected on the geopolitical implications of his discussion and made the point that was also then top of mind for Churchill, Rockefeller and Wilhelm II: that fuel is the decider of the fate of nations.

Deisel made three predictions. First, he insisted that pollution, largely ignored in industrial nations, would become an important consideration in engine design. Second, despite the slow start of diesel power in America, he believed America would come to utilize the Diesel-powered locomotive more than any other nation in the world. Third, while America was monstrously rich in its domestic supplies of fuels, eventually economic efficiencies would transcend wasteful habits.”

Read it for yourself here