Fantastic Flights : One Hundred Years of Flying on the Edge
by Patrick O'Brien
The first cross-country flight took 49 days. Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" had a 320-foot wingspan, longer than a football field. The first words ever uttered from space were in Russian: "I see Earth. It's so beautiful." Who said being a geek can't be cool? Each page introduces another chapter in aviation history, starting with a bird-shaped hang glider and ending with Pathfinder hitting Mars' rocky soil. The stories are fact-filled and crisply told, the illustrations precise, if not terribly electrifying.
There's no mention of airport delays, of course, nor of babies getting frisked. More seriously, while the Hindenburg disaster is prominently mentioned, the space shuttle story overlooks a few mishaps like, oh, the occasional fiery death. Talk about positive spin: even cynical ol' me was tempted to see flying as more of a miracle than an ordeal.
Rating: *\*\
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