The Wright Brothers
The #1 New York Times bestseller from David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize—the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly—Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two brothers—bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio—changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe that the age of flight had begun, with the first powered machine carrying a pilot.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were men of exceptional courage and determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity. When they worked together, no problem seemed to be insurmountable. Wilbur was unquestionably a genius. Orville had such mechanical ingenuity as few had ever seen. That they had no more than a public high school education and little money never stopped them in their mission to take to the air. Nothing did, not even the self-evident reality that every time they took off, they risked being killed.
In this “enjoyable, fast-paced tale” (The Economist), master historian David McCullough “shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly” (The Washington Post) and “captures the marvel of what the Wrights accomplished” (The Wall Street Journal). He draws on the extensive Wright family papers to profile not only the brothers but their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them. Essential reading, this is “a story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency…about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished…The Wright Brothers soars” (The New York Times Book Review).
On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two brothers—bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio—changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe that the age of flight had begun, with the first powered machine carrying a pilot.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were men of exceptional courage and determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity. When they worked together, no problem seemed to be insurmountable. Wilbur was unquestionably a genius. Orville had such mechanical ingenuity as few had ever seen. That they had no more than a public high school education and little money never stopped them in their mission to take to the air. Nothing did, not even the self-evident reality that every time they took off, they risked being killed.
In this “enjoyable, fast-paced tale” (The Economist), master historian David McCullough “shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly” (The Washington Post) and “captures the marvel of what the Wrights accomplished” (The Wall Street Journal). He draws on the extensive Wright family papers to profile not only the brothers but their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them. Essential reading, this is “a story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency…about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished…The Wright Brothers soars” (The New York Times Book Review).
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Community Reviews
The book provides a handful of interesting anecdotes that provide interesting historical context and deepen one's appreciation for the creative and physical work that can be involved in invention. In particular:
+ The Wright Brothers essentially camped out doors on a remote island while doing most of their design, building and testing of their plane
+ The advent of the modern bicycle not only occurred during the Wright Brother's lifetime, but was still a novel product that they built and sold at the time their plane began to work
+ The design of the airplane, and in particular the mechanisms by which it achieved equilibrium in the air, were based on detailed study of birds flight. Rival inventors that first tried to solve mechanical problems all failed.
These interesting vignettes provide historical depth and useful lessons. However, if the book suffers, it is from the simple fact that the lives of great inventors / technologists are frequently uninteresting and centered around a fairly sustained pursuit of technical advance. The author struggles to hang narrative breaks onto what was essentially a ceaseless pursuit of scientific advance. You end up with the impression that it was probably much more interesting to be the Wright Brothers, struggling with all manner of complex problems, than to read about them doing so.
+ The Wright Brothers essentially camped out doors on a remote island while doing most of their design, building and testing of their plane
+ The advent of the modern bicycle not only occurred during the Wright Brother's lifetime, but was still a novel product that they built and sold at the time their plane began to work
+ The design of the airplane, and in particular the mechanisms by which it achieved equilibrium in the air, were based on detailed study of birds flight. Rival inventors that first tried to solve mechanical problems all failed.
These interesting vignettes provide historical depth and useful lessons. However, if the book suffers, it is from the simple fact that the lives of great inventors / technologists are frequently uninteresting and centered around a fairly sustained pursuit of technical advance. The author struggles to hang narrative breaks onto what was essentially a ceaseless pursuit of scientific advance. You end up with the impression that it was probably much more interesting to be the Wright Brothers, struggling with all manner of complex problems, than to read about them doing so.
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