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15 reviews for:
Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies
Lawrence Goldstone
3.77 AVERAGE
15 reviews for:
Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies
Lawrence Goldstone
3.77 AVERAGE
I won a free copy of this book on Goodreads through First Reads.
I normally steer clear of non fiction books. To me, reading those is more of a chore. I tend to learn towards fiction because I want to escape this world and have a little fun.
All that being said. This book wasn't bad. It'd probably be better geared towards a history buff or anyone who's interested in flight. I walked away from this book having learned a few things, which is always a plus. The book was well written.
I normally steer clear of non fiction books. To me, reading those is more of a chore. I tend to learn towards fiction because I want to escape this world and have a little fun.
All that being said. This book wasn't bad. It'd probably be better geared towards a history buff or anyone who's interested in flight. I walked away from this book having learned a few things, which is always a plus. The book was well written.
I won this from Goodreads.
I found this to be fascinating, but difficult to get into. I usually enjoy details and minutiae, but here it started to really drag on me. I will have to try to get into again at some point. It still gets three stars as I found the level of detail to be impressive. It is a bit dry and difficult to get in to. I would recommend this to someone with an interest in flight and history, with a caveat warning of the extreme level of minutiae within.
I found this to be fascinating, but difficult to get into. I usually enjoy details and minutiae, but here it started to really drag on me. I will have to try to get into again at some point. It still gets three stars as I found the level of detail to be impressive. It is a bit dry and difficult to get in to. I would recommend this to someone with an interest in flight and history, with a caveat warning of the extreme level of minutiae within.
http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2014/comments_11/birdmen.html
This book weaves together the story of the Wright Brothers and their contemporaries working on heavier than air flight, with the conflict between the Wrights and others regarding who should reap the windfalls, and the stories the personalities that brought manned flight into peoples imaginations by flying these new machines. Using newspaper reports and correspondence of the people involved the author establishes the personalities of the men who pioneered early manned flight and sets up the conflicts that drove the course of aviation in America in those early years. Managing to make the patent fight interesting by mixing in stories of personality conflict, invention, feats of aviation and tragedy to put it into historic perspective the story of the early pioneers of flight was full of passion (although sometimes misplaced or spiteful), innovation, and daring. I received a free ARC of this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaways.
A look inside the history of powered flight, weaving together the technological and business stories in an interesting way. Goldstone contends that the Wright's single-minded defense of their patent rights actually stifled innovation in American aviation, which others such as Curtiss pushed forward despite the threats of litigation.