Reading: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

"Men become wise just as they become rich, more by what they save than by what they receive" - Wilbur Wright

Title: The Wright Brothers

Author: David McCullough

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 2015

Rating: 4 stars

Sometimes when you use Overdrive you're in a dry spell and none of the books you've placed on hold are available. Other times you get 4 very long books available simultaneously and try to read/listen to them all before they are due back to the library.

In the case of Wright Brothers I didn't need to push myself to finish the book. I found it extremely fascinating. McCullough does a great job in this book of helping me understand the context surrounding the work of the Wrights and the time they lived in. Getting to know the specific personalities of people that I knew as "Wilbur and Orville" but never distinguished as 2 different people pulled me into the book immediately. They had no formal training or education in what they were working on? They didn't even both get to attend a university? This was a hobby? Wow!

I loved the flow and structure of the book. It started small with this family in Ohio and grew to include some experts and enthusiasts then continued to grow until the Wrights were international celebrities traveling the world. Even the technical details for their work was interesting and simple enough for me to understand.

I also became very attached to the Wrights, crying when something bad happened to them or when they appeared to fight, celebrating when things went well. My admiration for these brothers is extremely high. I have a new understanding of the principles of flight and the world that took this technology and created war planes before anything else. My only complaint of the book is that it should be called "The Wrights" since the Wright sister, Katherine, was as much a part of the ordeal as they were.

I recommend this as a great educational and interesting read (or listen).

4 Stars

#nerd #book #nonfiction #history #biography