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A review by maxstone98
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
2.0
I picked this book up because the Wright Brothers seem interesting and the author has a good reputation. I was very disappointed.
Right from the opening there seemed to be no theme or rhyme or reason to what the author was focusing on (he selected a particular photo of the brothers and described it in a lot of detail, discussed ways it captured them or didn't capture them, and there was no indication why this was the way the author chose to introduce his subjects).
It wasn't a book exactly about a specific period in their lives but it certainly wasn't a book about their whole lives either. It was 10% about childhood, 89% about building the plane and exhibiting it, and 1% about what happened after that, again with no sense of why various decades were essentially excluded (maybe nothing happened, or maybe the book was meant to cover only specific years, but it certainly never said "this is a book about the 6 years from 1903 to 1909" or whatever). The book felt at times like lists of facts.
Overall my impression was: I just read an entire book about the Wright Brothers and I don't think I learned anything about them that I don't remember from some childrens book I read 35 years ago. Actually that is not quite true: the book focused on Katherine Wright (their sister) as well and that was interesting and something I didn't previously know much about.
Also, the very strong theme was: boy were those Wright Brothers (especially Wilbur) humble, despite their great talent. That's great, but by literally the 25th repetition of that fact (usually by noting a press article that lauded how down-to-earth they were) it wasn't adding much.
All that said, it was written in an easy to read style. Normally I wouldn't finish a book that I liked this little, but I kept going, which I think says something positive about it being written somewhat entertainingly.
Right from the opening there seemed to be no theme or rhyme or reason to what the author was focusing on (he selected a particular photo of the brothers and described it in a lot of detail, discussed ways it captured them or didn't capture them, and there was no indication why this was the way the author chose to introduce his subjects).
It wasn't a book exactly about a specific period in their lives but it certainly wasn't a book about their whole lives either. It was 10% about childhood, 89% about building the plane and exhibiting it, and 1% about what happened after that, again with no sense of why various decades were essentially excluded (maybe nothing happened, or maybe the book was meant to cover only specific years, but it certainly never said "this is a book about the 6 years from 1903 to 1909" or whatever). The book felt at times like lists of facts.
Overall my impression was: I just read an entire book about the Wright Brothers and I don't think I learned anything about them that I don't remember from some childrens book I read 35 years ago. Actually that is not quite true: the book focused on Katherine Wright (their sister) as well and that was interesting and something I didn't previously know much about.
Also, the very strong theme was: boy were those Wright Brothers (especially Wilbur) humble, despite their great talent. That's great, but by literally the 25th repetition of that fact (usually by noting a press article that lauded how down-to-earth they were) it wasn't adding much.
All that said, it was written in an easy to read style. Normally I wouldn't finish a book that I liked this little, but I kept going, which I think says something positive about it being written somewhat entertainingly.