Soichiro Honda

Soichiro Honda: The Engine-Maker's Sonata tells the extraordinary true story of a blacksmith's son from rural Japan whose name became synonymous with precision, speed, and innovation. Drawing on verifiable records, race results, factory logs, and engineering documentation, this fully narrative biography traces Honda's journey from hammering bicycle spokes to building engines that powered everything from championship motorcycles to jets soaring over continents. With vivid storytelling and a commitment to fact, the book charts Honda's rise through apprenticeship, wartime adversity, and post-war entrepreneurship. Each chapter immerses readers in the workshops, boardrooms, and racetracks where breakthrough ideas were born. From the piston-ring struggles of Tokai Seiki to the invention of the Super Cub, the triumphs at the Isle of Man TT, and the technical marvel of the CVCC engine, this book reveals the mind and method of an engineer obsessed with functional beauty. More than a company history or inventor profile, this is a sonata in motion-documenting how Honda's relentless search for harmony between man and machine continues to shape technology today.