Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.56 (605 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0307379663 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-03-02 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Ambitious scientists rose above the clouds to test the qualities of air, while brave generals floated over enemy lines to watch troop movements. From Booklist Ballooning attracts romantics who believe the experience of floating is worth the risk of death and injury. Why bounce along in a horse-drawn coach when you could glide quickly through the air to your destination? Optimists foresaw great profits for anyone who could develop dependable balloons that could be steered to appointed cities, delivering people, goods, and messages. Filled w
"Five Stars" according to Dave Jonathan Getz. Just delightful!. ""There's something in a huge balloon." W. Wordsworth" according to E.M. Bristol. When I was a kid, we lived near a golf course, and I can remember seeing the hot air balloons occasionally drifting over our house. At the time, I vowed to one day ride in one myself, something I have yet to do, but the dream was rekindled after reading "Falling Upwards: How We Took To the Air," by Richard Holmes, a history of ballooning that is dramatic, intriguing and beguiling. He begins by describing the harrowing trip of Major John Money, who in 1785 raised money for a hospital, and who came t. "Colorful characters, the art and science of ballooning, a history of ideas, and the excitement of discovery" according to Jaylia. I lost myself reading The Age of Wonder, the previous book by Richard Holmes, becoming completely caught up in its enticing panorama of the Romantic Age of Europe, when there were still far flung parts of the globe to explore, most of the chemical elements awaited discovery, and poets and scientists looked to each other for inspiration, so I started Falling Upwards with great anticipation and it largely lived up to my expectations.Like the previous book, Falling Upwards has a mix of art and scienti
**Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)****Time Magazine 10 Top Nonfiction Books of 2013****The New Republic Best Books of 2013**In this heart-lifting chronicle, Richard Holmes, author of the best-selling The Age of Wonder, follows the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, the daring and enigmatic men and women who risked their lives to take to the air (or fall into the sky). Why they did it, what their contemporaries thought of them, and how their flights revealed the secrets of our planet is a compelling adventure that only Holmes could tell. His accounts of the early Anglo-French balloon rivalries, the crazy firework flights of the beautiful Sophie Blanchard, the long-distance voyages of the American entrepreneur John Wise and French photographer Felix Nadar are dramatic and exhilarating. Holmes documents as well the balloons used to observe the horrors of modern battle during the Civil War (including a flight taken by George Armstrong Custer); the legendary tale of at least sixty-seven manned balloons that escaped from Paris (the first successful civilian airlift in history) during the Prussian siege of 1870-71; the high-altitude exploits of James Glaisher (who rose) seven miles above the earth without oxygen,
RICHARD HOLMES is the author of The Age of Wonder, which was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, won the Royal Society Prize for Science Books and the National Books Critics Circle Award, and was one of The New York Times Book Review’s Best Books of the Year in 2009. He lives in England.. Holmes’s other books include Footsteps, Si