I would have given 5 stars if only..........the Author had given us even more details about Atwood's flying, inventions and more documentation (patent records, court records, stock market records, etc.) to support his research. It is anyway a great book considering also how difficult it must have been to find material about such an interesting and "slippery" character. Being an aircraft builder myself, I would have also liked to learn more about the process he used in the construction of his "composite" airplanes and if any artifact has survived the inventor. Buy the book, you won't regret it.

Mansfield does a great job on this book and since Harry Atwood was my grandfather I have some knowledge of Harry's background. A well done, informative publication.

A tour de force of research and provocative writing. This how history should read and be taught. Among the supposed saints and heroes there is plenty room for the occasional showman and rogue. That's what Harry Atwood was. Thanks Mr. Mansfield for a real pleasure of a biography.

I just want to pass on this review from the Spring 2002 issue of ArchitectureBoston:

THE SAME AX, TWICE is one of those quiet books that foments revolution. Although identified as merely "journalist and author" (and by implication, non-scholar?), Howard Mansfield has just the right combination of erudition and humor to challenge conventionally held ideas about historic preservation. Like IN THE MEMORY HOUSE , his wise 1993 exploration of the New Englander's defining relationship with the past, THE SAME AX, TWICE ought to be on your bookshelf along with Wendell Berry and Noel Perrin."
-- William Morgan, Professor of Art, Wheaton College
--

This is not the kind of book I usually read. It's probably not the kind of book that **anyone** usually reads. I bought it because of a favorable review in the New York Times. The review made the book sound good and, what do you know, the book really is good.

Now, I'll never renovate a house. I'll never live in a log cabin or an old stone house. I don't want to live in New England or visit Walden Pond or petition city hall to save an old building. But when I read this book, I found out I was a "Noah." (A "Noah" is someone, according to Mansfield, who tries to preserve things that are beautiful or useful from extinction.)

I encourage you to read this book as an allegory for renewal in your own life. What important things in your own world are threatened by what's new? What can you do to preserve those things you find useful as they're encroached upon by change?

My norm is to buy books on Amazon.com and then sell them on half.com to support my habit. But not this book! This book is staying on my shelf. I'll read it again whenever I'm in need of inspiration or creative insight.

While parts of the book went deeper than my interest, much of it was sheer poetry. The author makes his case, which is better described in some of the other reviews than I could relate.

Tools that once belonged to my father and grandfather always seem to work a little better than the ones I've bought. If you've ever had the same feeling, you'll like the book.