It is difficult to imagine that there was a time when renowned scientists were saying that "heavier than air" flight was impossible. It is also difficult to imagine that who prove them wrong were two non-scientists bicycle-makers.

Peter L. Jakab, et al. relates the story of how the Wright Brothers did it. More than that, they show us WHY they succeeded where so many others failed. From the moment they decide to build a flying machine to their historic first flight, we follow how the the Wright Brothers's identified the tecnical challenges that needed to be addressed, and how they systematically solved them one after another.

You will learn why the Wright Brothers' background in bicycle helped understand the critical problem of stability, how they carried systematic experiments and how they were conducted to reject widely accepted data in favor of their own as their expertise grew.

The authors' objective is to shed some light on the process of invention and they definitely succeed in doing so. In addition, if you ever wondered why do planes fly at all, you will learn it there with just the right amount of mathematical equations.

So why not give it five stars? Just because there are some unnecessary repetitions on the skills and unique approaches of the Brothers, I would give it 4.5 stars if it was possible.

Overall, a very well documented, interesting, and instructive read. I highly recomment it.

This book gives the reader a real sense of how amazing the Wright brothers' accomplishment really was. It shows the reader how poorly developed the technology was at the time and how the Wrights figured out the solutions to the problems that had prevented powered flight. Unlike many biographies, the book focuses on the scientific problem of powered controllable flight generally and the technological solutions that the Wrights developed. If you're interested in aircraft or the history of technology, this book is fascinating.

When it focuses on the facts, the book is well written. But it is filled with unnecessary repetition and generalizations aimed at supporting the central theme of the book -- that the Wrights used the scientific method to solve the problem of powered flight. That may very well be true, but there are more persuasive ways to make a point. In fact, the introductory and closing material in each chapter bogs down the text to such an extent that it detracts from the fascinating subject. That's why this book is 80 percent fascinating, 20 percent repetitive stuff.

I always had the idea that the Wright brothers were a couple of untrained bicycle mechanics who more or less stumbled onto a successful airplane. Or at least that it was their perseverence, not their process, that finally triumphed. This book completely put these ideas to rest. It shows how the Wright brothers' success was due to taking some basic correct ideas, applying a step-by-step thinking process, and a lot of hard work.

First, it explains how they started with an idea that was somehow missed by many of the other pioneers: flying experience is vitally important. This was combined with another idea: that airplanes were basically the same whether powered or gliders. To those who have studied aeronautics to any extent, this is not surprising, but many others seemed to be of the idea that powered airplanes and gliders were completely different beasts. Thus, while others were building bigger, more powerful, and more expensive machines, the Wrights were experimenting with actually flying gliders, to learn how to fly them.

This had two good results: (1) they actually learned how to fly, so that when they built the final plane they knew how to fly without crashing the first time a gust of wind came up; (2) not having that engine to pull them through the air and having to depend on gliding, they discovered one of the most important facts of all flight: lift-to-drag ratio. (This means how much drag a wing generates for a given amount of lift.) Low L/D meant their glider didn't go very far; thus, to get longer glider flights, they HAD to figure out a way to increase L/D.

At this point, the engineering process kicked in, and they realized they didn't have the foggiest notion of how to increase L/D. Thus, they realized they had to do lots of experiments with airfoils to see which had the highest L/D: the wind tunnel was born (or at least weaned). The book provides two dramatic pictures of two of their gliders: the angle of the ropes holding it down (plus the angle of attack of the wings) tells the entire story of their successful L/D increase (high-angle ropes=high L/D, low-angle=low L/D).

In short, this book tells this entire fascinating story, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, though it has been a few years. Hmmm ... I need to take a trip down to the basement and re-read it.

I work next to a street in St. Augustine Fl. named Hypolita, and so enjoyed learning about Herecles and Hypolita's girdle, (and many other neat things). It's amazing how many names of familiar things will leap out at you as you read this book. I found the author's treatment of the complexities of Greek Myths clear and informative. If you don't know your Greek classics, and I'm afraid I didn't, this is a good place to start

it had a lot of myths. It is a great book for parents to read to kids. it is also good if you are intrested in greek myths

There are two types of people: One cannot imagine why any sane person would ever waste time or money on a book with data such as the record of the Atlantics of Brooklyn in 1861 or the Buckeyes of Cincinatti in 1868. The other starts to salivate at the mere mention of such a book. The first group is vastly larger, but you know if you are in the second. If so, you desperately need this!

I have only two complaints (hence four stars instead of five). One is that this really should be in a library binding. Marshall Wright's other books are published this way. It is inexplicable that the publisher went with paperback for this. The quality of the paper and binding is find, but this is a reference work to be used repeatedly.

The second, more serious complaint is the organization of the data. There is a chapter for each year, with the statistics following a short introduction. So far so good. The stats are by team, but the order of the teams is peculiar. They are in order of winning/losing/tie records. Presumably the idea is to run from best to worst teams, but this forces the reader to refer to the index constantly. So to find the record of the Buckeyes in 1868 we first need to note that the chapter on 1868 runs from pages 186 to 237. We can then go to the index and eliminate from consideration any pages outside that range. This still, however, leaves every citation of the Buckeyes as the opposing team in an entry, so we have to sift through these to finally find, on page 195, the section devoted to them. See now why I wish this had a better binding? The shame is that these problems could have easily been avoided. The appropriate index entries could have been in bold type, or each year could have its own index of entries, or there could have been extensive cross referencing.

The person who wants this book at all will be willing to work around this problem, but it is a shame.

This book contains an amazing and thorough collection of facts about the National Association. The plethora of statistics and numbers within makes it a must-have for any fan of baseball history.

I found the book to be an eye opening, clear view of racially segregated voting patterns. It also gave an insider's view of the difficulties minorities face when mounting competitive political campaigns. The book is a must read for anyone with political aspirations at any level. It also serves as a primer for young African-American voters. Anyone who thinks that "my vote doesn't count", will realize the importance of every vote cast. The book also proves that hard work and strong ideals, must aslo be accompanied by dogged determination. For a collegiate level text, it was a very enjoyable read.

Race, Power, and Political Emergence in Memphis is a thought-provoking analysis of race relations in the South. It is also one of few books which informs readers about the unique politics of Memphis. However, the book discusses politics in other urban cities as well and thus provides a framework by which Memphis politics can be analyzed in relation to politics in other U.S. cities. It is an excellent book and is very well-written.

I found this to be an interesting book on a subject all toofrequently overlooked or bypassed as unimportant. The book gives anexcellent overview of concepts, but falls short in recommending any sort of program to improve testosterone levels. Excercise, programs to minimize the effect of SBH, blocking testerone to estrogene conversion etc were touched on but no specifics given.

This book helps bridge the gap of ignorance about testosterone and its benifits. Especially natrual testosterone. The notes about the side effects of man made and the benifits of natural are extremely interesting. More men are having simptoms of low testosterone in the early thirties and this book is a must read for them. Most family doctors do not understand the importance of the difference between bound and free testosterone. This is a good book to have your doctor review. If they won't, change doctors.

Rarely does a book on a health topic report the full range of evidence so thoroughly and carefully as this one. Yet with all its technical depth, the text is eminently readable. Most anyone, from physician to ordinary literate person, can understand it and benefit.

And how great is the benefit! A simple substance, a testosterone cream, rubbed on the skin, is likely to improve a broad range of conditions, including sexual performance, cardiovascular health, energy, and strength.

Unfortunately, prevailing medical dogma sees testosterone supplementation as a villain, which will cause prostate enlargement and prostate cancer. The open-minded doctor who reads this book will surely think otherwise. The possibilitly, nonetheless, of promoting an EXISTING prostate cancer is candidly discussed and precautions are advised. One must know his prostate before proceeding.

To this end there are two chapters on the prostate, the most definitive and complete discussion that I have seen (and I have read hundreds of pages on the subject).

Most authorities will contine to withhold this information from the public on the pretext of its being scientifically unproven. What a shame. The reader should trust his own judgement as to the strength of the evidence and should find an unbiased, informed physician with whom to work.

This book is listed as a clinician's handbook to the Cognitive Therapy of substance abuse, however it's contents are readily available to the layman. It is both clear and well referenced and I have found it to be insightful inasmuch as not being overly obscure in relation to the methods of therapy that fall outside of the Cognitive model. It is presented to define first what cognitive therapy is and how to proceed within it's guidelines and secondly to define the many concurrent psychological states that accompany the problems of the substance abuser. Whereas I am not a professional in this field I must admit that occasionally the text goes beyond my technical ability to comprehend it, however most of what is offered is assessable and understandable without being a trained professional. Would I suggest reading this book if you are not a professional? Only if you already have an interest or need surrounding the subject matter. I do not think that this particular read is for casual or recreational reader, however if you find yourself needing to know more about the cognitive therapy of substance abusers, then this book is a must. Would I suggest reading this book if you are a professional? Yes, it would seem to me that this book would be required reading in reference to dealing with the growing problems centered around drug abuse -- with particular emphasis on cocaine and crack cocaine and the difficulties in treating these particular addictions.

Drs. McKenzie and Wright boldly strike out in an interesting and novel direction in their attempt to explain a possible etiology for schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorders and other forms of mental illness. The writing is well-documented (although heavily psychoanalytically oriented) and offers enough theoretical insight to pique the reader's clinical curiousity. Based upon my clinical experience, I suspect that some of what Drs. McKenzie and Wright propose is verifiable and will be confirmed. At this point, further empirical studies must be done to validate the hypotheses and move it from a clinical research level to experimental. All in all, it is worth reading as research in progress, particularly for those of us who must deal with schizophrenia or emotional trauma.

This has just the sort of thing nurses need to write care plans. The information is clear and succinct. However, volume 2 is needed, and unavailable. It is frustrating!

Don't bother investing in a work of such paltry pseudo-poetry. Michael Ondaatje's assessment of the book (found on the back cover) is far more poetic than anything Wright offers up as "poetry" during the course of her disconnected ramblings. If you are appreciative of fragmentary gobs of language which hardly convey meaning, you'll go for this; however, for my money, I'd rather buy a dictionary and read it cover to cover for sheer linguistic enjoyment. I'm sure a dictionary has better narrative elements, too.

If you want real poetry, try E. E. Cummings, Louise Glück, Seamus Heaney, Rita Dove, or Auden. Don't bother with Wright.

In this book length poem C.D. Wright navigates through the American South, both geographically and linguisticly. The result is a beautiful dark journey with powerful rhythms and imagery. One of the most consuming, pleasurable reads I've had.

This is a difficult book of poetry, but one well worth the challenge. Wright brings one into a world of language that trancends the ordinary...her words are haunting, and her vision is remarkable.

You either already know what it says or it is too hard to understand.

This is a good beginners' book. However, the title lies. It does not contain 1001 programming tips, unless you consider all of the steps in a first course Visual C++ programming class as tips. I don't. To me, a tip is something you want to learn after you've gotten the basics under your belt. The book does go into depth about a lot of material that you won't find in any other beginner book. For example, reading how to add text and a bitmap to a toolbar button in the MSDN is unnecessairly confusing. Whereas "1001 Programming Tips" clearly shows you how -- and it worked. So on a level of completeness, it is an excellent book for beginners, intermediate developers, and a good reference. It is also a well written book.

One of the best programming titles I own. It is my best book on Visual C++.

The book is packed with working source code examples (hundreds). I was able to cut and paste working code from the book into my apps which saved me time.

Highly recommend.