Skyfaring

By: Mark Vanhoenacker

Narrated by: John Moraitis

Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

In Skyfaring, airline pilot and flight romantic Mark Vanhoenacker shares his irrepressible love of flying on a journey from day to night, from new ways of mapmaking and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Here, anew, is the simple wonder and transcendent joy of motion and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love.

©2015 Mark Vanhoenacker (P)2015 W F Howes Ltd

Critic Reviews

"Read it, and you’ll find yourself requesting a window seat every time you fly." ( Bookseller)

I agree with most comments about the narrator

I am a licensed private pilot and travel commercially about 100K miles per year so I am into aviation. That's the entire reason I bought this book. Yet, I found it too boring to finish. Some of this might be the fault of the narrator. I am in agreement with almost all of the other reviewers about this. He over pronounces every syllable. He mispronounces common aviation words, of which the oft reference "altimeter" is the most annoying. I will give him a pass on "Aeroplane" since that is the British way of saying the word. I am not certain how it is spelled out in the print edition

Yes, it is clear that the author truly loves what he does and that does come through in the book. Maybe I will go back and finish it after I finish the current thriller I am listening to, or if I am sitting on one of those many commercial flights and need to take a nap.

terrible narrator

MIGHT be interesting. Narrator kills it. over-enunciates every emotionless word -- so don't hear story

Probably a bit longer than necessary

Parts of the book were quite interesting but others went on much too long with lots of repetition.

As to the narrator: The quality control in the making of these audio books comes into serious question. Does anyone listen to what's going on? Others have mentioned altimeter as being a pretty glaring mispronunciation. What about "airplane"? which, as you can imagine is a pretty common word in a book about flying. From the very beginning of the book it's not a two syllable word but a three syllable word. Aer-o-plane is even more disconcerting and abrasive than altimeter. Be warned.

Overwritten

What did you like best about Skyfaring? What did you like least?

There is random, interesting information about aviation and the life of the pilot.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting was information. Least interesting and really off-putting was the poetizing.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The reading seemed to be in a mono-tone and uninspired. I thought it must have been read by the author and not a professional. I checked and saw I was mistaken.

Was Skyfaring worth the listening time?

It might have been if it was cut by 25% or more -- talking out the ponderous poetizing.

Two Flaps Down

I love almost anything having to do with aviation. I once got a private pilot's license, though I stopped flying when I realized it was the best way for me get killed or, at best, go broke. So when I read the glowing, no make that soaring reviews of Mr. Vanhoenacker's book, I couldn't wait to give it a listen.
Yes, Mr. Vanhoenacker turns a good phrase and his love of his profession is admirable, but the book was extremely boring. While they may have seemed like revelations to him, his observations were rather obvious and mundane.
Then there is the problem of John Moraitis' narration. In his mouth, the word altimeter, pronounced nearly universally as al-TIM-eh-ter, became AL-ta meter. This word is used many times in chapter after chapter and grated more and more as the book slowly wore on. Doesn't anybody listen to these books before they go up on Audible?
Can't recommend this one except as a sleep aid.

Great read for aviation enthusiasts.

Vanhoenacker beautifully conveys his love of flying, while providing much fascinating information about piloting a 747.

Aviation as recounted by a boring preacher

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

People who know nothing about aviation.

What could Mark Vanhoenacker have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I doubt he could be cured of the overuse of lofty language. It is essentially a character defect and not generally curable without the use of electroshock therapy administered while writing, and he may not cooperate. With writing like this, however, a court might order him to.

Would you be willing to try another one of John Moraitis’s performances?

Possibly.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It could be refunded.

Beautiful, intelligent writing

This was a completely fascinating book, beautifully written. The author is creative and erudite...I would simply love to sit next to him at a dinner party...I would want to monopolize him!!

As someone who is always a little irrationally afraid of flying, found myself very assured, hearing his interesting thoughts about the mechanics of airplanes and the skills involved in flying them.

I know if at least three people who will be receiving this from me as a gift.

Worst narration ever!

I would have loved to have loved this book, but the narration was unbearable. I’m hoping after a year or two to come back to the hardcover version because the audio absolutely destroyed any appreciation I could have had for the story. Who picks these people?

What Mark did here is spectacular!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked all the things that this book was at the same time. This book was a story of Mark's life, career and day-to-day on the job. This book was for aviation enthusiasts as it gave detailed information about the processes and mechanics of flight. This book was both of those things at the same time which made it most intriguing. I also like, as a person who travels a lot myself, having my opinions and thoughts on travel and all that goes into it reaffirmed by Mark. Mark feels and experiences things much like I do when travelling and I assume this aspect of the book will make it resonate with a wider audience than just 747 fans.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

There are so many interesting aviation facts in this book - some quite technical - but Mark drops them into the midst of his life story so well that they do not turn the book into a textbook - they enhance the story.

How can such a fascinating subject be so dull....

This book was absolutely not what I was expecting, I thought it would be stories and talk about actually flying as I'm interested in just what happens on a journey from A to B but no. In my opinion it’s more a personal rambling that goes on and on relentlessly. This is the first audio book I’ve had where I’ve actually used the fast forward button…

Awful

This is Bad, it is badly read, it is meandering rubbish by someone who sounds as though English is not their first language

Excellent read

very emotive and enlightening , has definitely rekindled my love of flight and planes .

Terrible narrator

Dreadful narrator - ruined a wonderful book. A real shame. Painful to listen to. Sounded like AI.

elegant

elegant is how best i can discribe this book, how it flows, how it is writtin, and how it was read...

Good in parts

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not really. There are some really good parts and if it was abridged by a good editor then I think it could be a much better book for the casual listener. As it stands though, it is very wordy in parts and in the end just goes on a bit too long. After 12 hours I was ready for it to finish (and soon!).

Would you be willing to try another book from Mark Vanhoenacker? Why or why not?

Possibly, but I only have so many credits which means probably not. Why not? Well, much like some other reviewers I think Mark just tries a bit too hard in places. I've nothing against the guy (and I liked some of it very much), but I didn't need the literary references to appreciate that he is a very educated guy. Read one of Feynman's memoires if you want an example of an overpowering intellect who never strays from plain English.

Have you listened to any of John Moraitis’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I haven't, but I have no complaints about the narration.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

No - and to be fair I think this would be a difficult subject to do justice to in a film.

Any additional comments?

Mark is obviously a smart guy - He mentions his education, followed by the career in management consulting and I think that's maybe the underlying issue here. I can imagine what he would have been like giving a presentation - at the end of it you would have been made fully aware of just how smart he was. Perhaps that seems a little unfair, after all I did like a lot of the book. I do think that as a 5 hour book minus the flowery bits it could be a really good book.

For pilots

I read this book but hearing mark resd the words to me made the miles as I was driving just fade away.

such a brilliant book

Bryson of the Air?

Listening, I was strongly reminded of one of Bill Bryson'sc books. The same mixture of the personal and the informative, gently delivered in a way that keeps your attention and paints a vivid picture. The voice of the (excellent) narrator contributed to this. If Bryson had been an airline pilot and wanted to share his life, his love for the air, the details of his craft, and what I can only call his philosophy of world travel, this would be the book. And all this, I hasten to say, is a compliment.

An amazing & interesting book

A very enjoyable book, even for pilots! The technical details are perfectly representing the reality. All I can say is Thank You! Loved it

Disappointing

I wanted to like this but unfortunately it’s overlong and quite patchy. There are some nicely poetic passages and some interesting facts but, as someone else has said, it would have benefited from some tighter editing.

The narration is pretty terrible. The narrator simply doesn’t know how to pronounce some words, especially non-US place names, and his attempts at French and Italian are tragically comical.