A satisfying journey guided by an able pilot.
Knowledgeable, accessible history of heavier-than-air flight.
Aviation writer Spenser (co-author: 747, 2006, etc.)—former curator of the National Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Flight—presents a detailed but clear account of how humans solved the puzzle of air travel. Giving credit to the iconic Orville and Wilbur Wright while also discussing their predecessors and successors, he focuses on the intellectual underpinnings of heavier-than-air machines before taking readers on a tour that covers every part of an airplane: overall configuration, fuselage, wings, empennage, flight controls, flight deck, aero propulsion, landing gear, passenger cabin, safety systems. This organizational structure works well for the casual traveler who knows little about airplane parts. The author provides compelling mini-biographies of various dreamy inventors and daring pilots. He poses conundrums, such as one about the Wrights: “One might well wonder how two brothers from Ohio came to solve the horrendous unknowns of flight. How did they conjure into being, whole and working, something that had never existed on the face of the earth?” Spenser separates the myths about these and other air-travel pioneers from the facts, displaying his skills as the lucid explicator of a technical topic. The saga covers a lot of ground, geographically as well as in subject matter. The Wrights’ 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk, for example, succeeded thanks to contributions from enthusiasts in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, France, Germany and Switzerland. As the narrative moves into the 21st century, the author refuses to join the naysayers who claim that airline travel is unpleasant today. Instead, Spenser hints of a grand future in the air for passengers with the patience to wait for new planes currently being manufactured.
A satisfying journey guided by an able pilot.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-125919-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Smithsonian/Collins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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