Required Reading: Hard Landing

(MoneyWatch)  The holidays always find business grinding to a halt, so I've had some extra time on my hands. I decided that it had been too long since I read Hard Landing, the outstanding book about the airline industry from Thomas Petzinger Jr., and I'm glad I came back to read it again. This book should be required reading for anyone with an interest in understanding how the industry evolved from deregulation through the early 1990s.

The time prior to deregulation is covered, but the meat of the book discusses the evolution after deregulation, and it's surprisingly exciting. The stories of all the industry giants from that time are well-told, and you'll be shocked to find how hard it is to put the book down.

In the end, you'll have a much better understanding of the industry if you read this book. I rarely come back to read books again, but this isn't the first and won't be the last time I come back to Hard Landing.