Mister B: Living with a 98-Year-Old Rocket Scientist

Mister B spins history like cotton candy. A terrific, yet unusual love story. Born in 1916, to a Polish-speaking mother, physicist Joseph Byk began his early schooling in rope-tied-baggy-pants-poverty. He was every teachers' dreaded student. Ending his senior year, however, he aspired to design vehicles that defy gravity. Joseph B IS the loveable, bumbling scientist portrayed in Nevil Shute's romantic character, Mr. Honey, (Jimmy Stewart) in the movie, No Highway in the Sky. Hidden figures of NASA include not only brilliant women of color but also this underprivileged son of a Polish immigrant mother who pulled himself up by his bootstraps.

For curiosity seekers of aerospace and structural science, how did it all start? Here is the story of a forgotten stress engineer whose calculations and outspoken opinions saved many lives. Being politically correct is not Mister B's style, though Greatest Generation story lovers, World War II hounds, and family members caring for aging parents, think of Mister B as a national treasure.

A real-time memoir with a caretaker, Mr.B causes unsuspecting readers to become mindful on many levels. As this materials analyst steps into a stress manufacturing field, his story encompasses his part in WWII and the cold war race to the moon against Russian flights. Mister B moves to Baltimore, MD, consulting for NASA, and transfers into the D.O.D. in Littleton, CO with Martin Marietta. Joseph Byk stress tests reconnaissance planes and helped to design structural aspects of the space shuttle Gemini, the first moon landing gear, and the beginnings of Google Earth.

"A wonderful book, brimming with humor and spirituality. The characters are lovingly drawn and Byk provides her readers with a day-by-day recounting of how her life intersects with the indefatigable Mister B, whose memory seems almost photographic even at the age of 98! The book is enlivened by photographs from early-to-middle twentieth century America. A very worthwhile multi-generational read." -Jan Kalickion

"Byk fully constructs Mr. B, from the Rhode Island coastal awe in his voice to his penchant for mustard on peeled egg.' In these small, perfectly executed moments, Byk brings her fascinating family to life for readers with warm and genuinely funny wit..." - KIRKUS REVIEW

The instructive and comedic Mister B is the Pinnacle Achievement Award recipient for Best Memoir, 2016. When a chauffeur-cook on the verge of financial ruin decides to help a 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.

Armchair philosophers and would-be scientists will appreciate Mister B's wry interactions with his in-laws who move into his home after the death of his wife. The ol' man decides to teach these younger caretakers a thing or two: specifically that, his newest design is to live forever. Lawyer jokes and Polish Jokes turn out all right with the pervasive wit and humor of this space rocket science

The ol' man and his new companions 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. Joseph Byk's bygone family ideals confront the independence of a younger generation as he reveals a lifetime of secrets. Mister B's family gains more than a conversationalist.