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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
This is a great book! The beginning was a little slow for me but then I really enjoyed the story of William's life. It is definitely a story of hope, though you have to read about some pretty depressing things to get there. It's written in a way that doesn't make you feel depressed though. I learned a lot about William's culture as well. This is one your husband will like too and I enjoyed discussing it with mine.
I gave this book to my son as a gift a few years ago and he later told me it's the most inspiring book he's ever read. Now, I've finally read it and I will second his recommendation.
There are some passages of tragedy, so be forewarned. When William Kamkwamba was a young teen, famine struck his country of Malawi. His father, a farmer, did not have enough money to pay his school fees. Even as his family, and entire community, faced near starvation, William was determined to pursue what education he could. So he frequented the small local library, finding a special fascination with books on science and technology.
He'd always been prone to tinkering, so the aptitude was already in place. With the help of library books, generous friends, and several episode of junk yard scavenging, he was able to build a small windmill to supply electricity to his family home, the only house in the village to have light night. His accomplishment became known to some journalists, and things snowballed - TED talks followed, as did funding for his return to school and infrastructure improvements for his entire village.
Truly, I've just touched the surface of the story with this synopsis. You have to read the book to absorb the details that show just how extraordinary his feats were.
There are some passages of tragedy, so be forewarned. When William Kamkwamba was a young teen, famine struck his country of Malawi. His father, a farmer, did not have enough money to pay his school fees. Even as his family, and entire community, faced near starvation, William was determined to pursue what education he could. So he frequented the small local library, finding a special fascination with books on science and technology.
He'd always been prone to tinkering, so the aptitude was already in place. With the help of library books, generous friends, and several episode of junk yard scavenging, he was able to build a small windmill to supply electricity to his family home, the only house in the village to have light night. His accomplishment became known to some journalists, and things snowballed - TED talks followed, as did funding for his return to school and infrastructure improvements for his entire village.
Truly, I've just touched the surface of the story with this synopsis. You have to read the book to absorb the details that show just how extraordinary his feats were.
This book should be required reading in school. It illustrates so many important aspects of our world that could benefit young people. How profoundly different someone's life is just because of where they were born. The hardships that third world nations face. Yet, how relatable they are on a human level. How the chasm between dreams and reality is a much smaller gap that it seems. That knowledge is power and curiosity is valid and that deeply held assumptions and beliefs should be challenged. The book set the scene and circumstances and stakes really well while maintaining the clear and relatable voice of a young boy with a good personality, in a family with clear values. In my opinion, it also gives the perfect amount of technical explanation, enough that you can understand basic concepts, but it's still clear you would need a thorough book to actually build your own windmill. This story is contemporary and it illustrates the adaptability, creativity and self-confidence needed to progress without waiting on institutions to provide. It emphasizes simple electric power that utilizes resources and energy that are natural and cheap (wind and sun) vs. relying on the impossibility of maintaining fossil fuel energy over time and with little money. This feels like an essential read. I want a future filled with people who were inspired on these levels.
Sincere, humble and incredibly heartfelt, The Boy who harnessed the wind is a hopeful memoir about a young Malawian boy called William Kamkwamba who overcame widespread fear of magic, crippling famine and poverty to achieve his aspirations of becoming a scientist. At just 13 years old, he built Malawi's first ever wind turbine. His parents were too poor to be able to send him to school, so he begins to teach himself with the aid of library books and from there he learns how to harness the wind to generate electricity and in so doing make a huge difference to the lives of so many.
This story isn't just inspiring but it's also approachable. From it, I learnt several interesting facts about Malawi and Malawian culture and also a thing or two about how electricity works as well. I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for William who tirelessly worked on his windmill everyday in like manner surprisingly comparable to the story of Noah building his ark. But more substantial than that was this book's overriding message that seeks to reimagine the possibilities of Africa, one that isn't stifled by ignorant Western rhetoric of backwardness.
This story isn't just inspiring but it's also approachable. From it, I learnt several interesting facts about Malawi and Malawian culture and also a thing or two about how electricity works as well. I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for William who tirelessly worked on his windmill everyday in like manner surprisingly comparable to the story of Noah building his ark. But more substantial than that was this book's overriding message that seeks to reimagine the possibilities of Africa, one that isn't stifled by ignorant Western rhetoric of backwardness.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
Brain Food:
Scandal Level:
Violence:
Must be ___ old to read:
Read if you liked:
Re-readability:
Thoughts: This book may end up on a list of books to change my life someday. In the last 3 months I've read a few books, this one and In Order to Live specifically, about incredible people overcomming incredible odds. What makes these books so powerful to me, isn't necessarily the stories they tell (though they are incredibly powerful and inspiring), what moves me most is that the authors of these memiors are people who are my age!
They were born only a few years before or after me. Had we been born in the same town we would have gone to high school together. But while I was playing tennis, marching in the band, and worrying about AP scores, they were starving and fighting for the opportunities of an education. And yet, despite it all, look at all they have done with their short lives.
In "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" William tells his story of building a windmill that changed the lives of his family and village. His catch phrase is "If you want to make it, all you need do is try." If someone who has faced so many obsticals and challenges, who lacks privileges that each and every person in the U.S. takes for granted, can have that additude... what is stopping me.
Read this book. You won't regret it!
Scandal Level:
Violence:
Must be ___ old to read:
Read if you liked:
Re-readability:
Thoughts: This book may end up on a list of books to change my life someday. In the last 3 months I've read a few books, this one and In Order to Live specifically, about incredible people overcomming incredible odds. What makes these books so powerful to me, isn't necessarily the stories they tell (though they are incredibly powerful and inspiring), what moves me most is that the authors of these memiors are people who are my age!
They were born only a few years before or after me. Had we been born in the same town we would have gone to high school together. But while I was playing tennis, marching in the band, and worrying about AP scores, they were starving and fighting for the opportunities of an education. And yet, despite it all, look at all they have done with their short lives.
In "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" William tells his story of building a windmill that changed the lives of his family and village. His catch phrase is "If you want to make it, all you need do is try." If someone who has faced so many obsticals and challenges, who lacks privileges that each and every person in the U.S. takes for granted, can have that additude... what is stopping me.
Read this book. You won't regret it!
The story of a 14-year-old boy in Malawi who built a windmill so his family could survive famine. It's mostly biography and you get loads of background on village life in Malawi, which all makes the famine and the windmill much more intense.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced