To All Airline Passengers

Name: To All Airline Passengers
Author: Carlos Enrique Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-4809-1234-2

by Carlos Enrique Diaz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2015

Reassuring primer that confidently takes flight.

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Awards & Accolades

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A commercial airline pilot addresses layperson questions/concerns about flying in this debut informational guide.

Diaz, a Florida-based airline captain with nearly 30 years’ experience, is often hit up for his professional opinions while out at dinner parties. “This book was inspired by the fact that a lot of people, especially in social gatherings, when they know I am an airline pilot, ask me different kinds of questions,” he says. In this slim book, Diaz seeks to cover an array of such FAQs, including an overview of the aerodynamics of how an airplane can take off, stay aloft, and land and descriptions of the many training, safety, and warning processes and procedures performed by airline crews. He touches on details large and small, including, for example, how cabin air flow must cut off while engines are being started—“There is nothing you can do to get air, even though the outlet is fully open. Just be patient until the engines are started”—and how turbulence is simply “the equivalent to choppy or rough waters.” He dedicates a chapter to flying in winter, underscoring the necessity and importance of de-icing wings and heating windshields, and concludes with a reference guide to industry abbreviations and definitions. As in those in-flight pilot announcements, Diaz offers a voice of soothing authority that should particularly please white-knucklers overly stressed about flying. His accessible narrative poses Q-and-A’s in eye-catching subheadings, with answers conveyed in a pleasant, nonpatronizing tone. Diaz doesn’t delve into larger and looming issues facing the airline industry: the ongoing threat of terrorism, rogue pilots, and the industry’s overall challenges regarding its technical infrastructure and financial health. Still, this helpful guide breaks down and demystifies many of the practical aspects of the miracle of flight.

Reassuring primer that confidently takes flight.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4809-1234-2

Page Count: 100

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.