Showing Mister B: Living With a 98 Year Old Rocket Scientist by A. L. Byk

Mister B spins history like cotton candy. He IS the loveable, bumbling scientist portrayed in Nevil Shute's romantic character, Mr. Honey, (Jimmy Stewart) in the movie, No Highway. This is a terrific, yet unusual love story. "...In these small, perfectly executed moments, Byk brings her fascinating family to life for readers with warm and genuinely funny wit..." - KIRKUS

As an immigrant drinks in the love of belonging, a mathematician drinks the probability curve related to everything else.

How did it all start, this dance between a strong woman and an elderly rocket scientist? Encompassing the sweetest of Polish history studded with math trivia and fun facts, this love story is for curiosity seekers of aerospace and structural science...and foodies! When a chauffeur-cook on the verge of financial ruin decides to help the 98-year-old rocket scientist by moving into his home, he decides to teach her a few life lessons. Together, they discover why they each still matter. Mister B begins to disclose all these treasures to a new companion-chauffeur: bits and pieces of the Space Shuttle Gemini, Titan and Apollo missions, and frightening Baltimore politics of science and war. The old man often recalls his displaced mother and father, immigrants.

During WWII, the Martin Company creates history on the backs of Catholic doubters, Joseph Byk being one. Lawyer jokes and Polish Jokes turn out all right with the pervasive wit and humor of this space rocket scientist.

Born in 1916, to a Polish-speaking mother, Joseph Byk began his early schooling in rope-tied-baggy-pants-poverty. He was every teachers’ dreaded student. Secretly, he aspired to design vehicles that defy gravity.

Mister B’s hopes for designing flying machines get seeded in the soil of the University of Alabama, prior to the outbreak of WWII. Designing the first basic trainer planes at the Vultee plant in Downey, California, was only the first of this materials analyst's footprint.
Immigrant story lovers and book clubs thriving on the Greatest Generation memoirs of World War I & II, also appreciate the reticent romance. Family members caring for aging parents have been waiting for a sweet wit and a laugh. Surviving the death of his wife, the ol’ man decides to teach his younger caretaker a thing or two: specifically that, his newest design is to live forever. With a shot of respect, Mister B's bygone family ideals confront the independence of a younger generation as he reveals a lifetime of secrets.
Who knew life could be so happily transformed by youth merging households with that of an eccentric stress engineer? Being politically correct is not Mister B's style. The reader is carried from tragedy to hilarity as his companion seeks to please him with foodie experiments while coaxing Mister B to upgrade his 44-year-old home. Too bad the only non-controversial place to renovate the HUD-styled real estate is in the weedy backyard. If only youth had not promised to save this 97-year-old Polish father from the nursing home!
The ol’ man and his new companion gradually redesign a dry acre into a flowering conversation piece where mushroom collecting and the sources of hydrogen and iron are discussed. Interior design must take a back seat while the scientific engineer challenges them to consider theories of deflection, accuracy, stress variables, and material strengths. With all the delicacy of designing a conical intersection onto a space capsule, the threesome focus on integrating their relationships in 3-d.
Mister B's family gains more than a conversationalist. They gain a friend.
If you like Laura Hillenbrand, Margot Shetterly, Shel Silverstein, Karen Kingsbury, Peter Mayle, Haven Kimmel, Marja Mills, you will love Mister B.