I came across something I'd read some time back now: A Dog is Listening: the Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us, by Roger A. Caras. Good observations and fun anecdotes on dogs (some are a bit dated). It felt a bit stilted in parts, but overall a good re-read.

One of my favorite books, as well as the movie, is Hidden Figures. That took place on the east coast, but there was 'space stuff' going on here on the west coast as well. You can learn about that in Rise of the Rocket Girls: the Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon to Mars, by Nathalia Holt. The first challenge was how to make an airplane engine strong enough to let the plane take off from a ship ... so, think early jet engines here! Granted, much had to be done concerning ballistic missiles, and even some with the voyage to the moon (which many considered dull)(!), but the real interest for these amazing women were the flights to learn more about the planets in our solar system. Some of the descriptions of the fly bys for those actually gave me goose bumps! (And now we have those amazing images from the James Webb telescope)!

Reading Hermit With Dog