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To Conquer the Air
- The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's Summary
So wrote a quiet young Ohioan in 1900, one in an ancient line of men who had wanted to fly - wanted it passionately, fecklessly, hopelessly. But now, at the turn of the 20th century, Wilbur Wright and a scattered handful of other adventurers conceived a conviction that the dream lay at last within reach, and in a headlong race across 10 years and two continents, they competed to conquer the air. James Tobin, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography, has at last given this inspiring story its definitive telling.
For years Wright and his younger brother, Orville, experimented in utter obscurity. Meanwhile, the world watched as the imperious Samuel Langley, armed with a rich contract from the U.S. War Department and all the resources of the Smithsonian Institution, sought to create the first manned flying machine. But while Langley became obsessed with flight as a problem of power, the Wrights grappled with it as a problem of balance. Thus their machines took two very different paths - his toward oblivion, theirs toward the heavens.
To Conquer the Air is a hero's tale of overcoming obstacles within and without that plumbs the depths of creativity and character. With a historian's accuracy and a novelist's eye, Tobin has captured the interplay of remarkable personalities at an extraordinary moment in our history. In the centennial year of human flight, To Conquer the Air is itself a heroic achievement.
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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Jere
- 05-30-03
A great story
To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight, is an insightful, well-researched narrative of the development of heavier-than-air flight by James Towbin. This novel is essentially the story of the Wright brothers and their competition, told in chronological order with scenes switching back and forth between the Wrights and other aviation pioneers to show the tension of the competition in the race to fly. The irony involved creates a surprising amount of suspense for what is essentially a historical novel. Wilbur Wright?s use of the scientific method to develop models and prototypes is impressive. This began with aerodynamic design and control of gliders with the brothers concentrating on flight control and design, while others were more concerned with design and power. Especially insightful was their development of a primitive wind tunnel that they used to test and modify their designs. The family story is included to add to realism to the description of what these pioneers were experiencing at a time when they were making history. The narrator, Boyd Gaines, does a fine job reading the abridged version of the book, adroitly capturing the foreign and regional accents. I was so thoroughly taken with the story that I never lost interest during the six hours and ten minutes duration of the program. This four-star novel lets one sit back, relax, and experience an important time in American history.
12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- RockyToTheMoon
- 05-27-05
The TRUE story
A cunning and accurate account on the events and life of the early years of flight. This book encompasses the factors of the how the first flights came to be, in a clear easy to listen story. In addition to the straight facts, the author also includes external influences such as friendships, family and fate that adds marvelous insight!
The speaker has clear tone, the audio quality is excellent and the writing style makes it difficult to stop. While the history of flight does stretch into modern times, this is only the primal years, during the infancy and the quest for fame.
2 people found this helpful
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Story
Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.
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For women, and dads
- By Cecilia Avanelle on 08-08-18
By: Keith O'Brien
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The Great Bridge
- The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 27 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible.
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An Historian and not a Novelist
- By Tim on 06-01-12
By: David McCullough
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Chief Engineer
- Washington Roebling, the Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge
- By: Erica Wagner
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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His father conceived of the Brooklyn Bridge, but after John Roebling's sudden death, Washington Roebling built what has become one of American's most iconic structures - as much a part of New York as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Yet, as recognizable as the bridge is, its builder is too often forgotten - and his life is of interest far beyond his chosen field. It is the story of immigrants, of the frontier, of the greatest crisis in American history, and of the making of the modern world.
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Monumental
- By charles mueller on 07-09-19
By: Erica Wagner
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The Aviators
- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Gifted storyteller Winston Groom, the best-selling author of Forrest Gump, has written the fascinating story of three extraordinary heroes who defined aviation during the great age of flight: Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Jimmy Doolittle. These cleverly interwoven tales of their heart-stopping adventures take us from the feats of World War I through the heroism of World War II and beyond, including daring military raids and survival at sea, and will appeal to fans of Unbroken, The Greatest Generation, and Flyboys.
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Great listening experience!
- By tjcrewsbooks on 11-12-13
By: Winston Groom
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Space
- A Novel
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 37 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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James A. Michener tackles the most ambitious subject of his career: space, the last great frontier. This astounding novel brings to life the dreams and daring of countless men and women - people like Stanley Mott, the engineer whose irrepressible drive for knowledge places him at the center of the American exploration effort, and Norman Grant, the war hero and US senator who takes his personal battle not only to a nation but to the heavens.
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Good book but the audiobook needs revision
- By Paladan on 10-03-15
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Slide Rule
- Autobiography of an Engineer
- By: Nevil Shute
- Narrated by: James Faulkner
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Nevil Shute was a power and a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a best-selling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute's path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer, working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s and ‘30s. The inspiration for many of the themes and concerns of Shute's novels can be identified in this enjoyable and enlightening memoir.
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I love Shute's novels but found this to be dull.
- By John on 12-12-13
By: Nevil Shute
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Race to Hawaii
- By: Jason Ryan
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost a century ago, the first flights to Hawaii required a nerve-racking and uncertain 26-hour journey to isolated and elusive islands located in the middle of the world's largest ocean. Pilots prayed they would encounter land after flying a full day and night across 2,400 miles of the open Pacific. Race to Hawaii chronicles the thrilling first flights to Hawaii in the 1920s, during the Golden Age of Aviation.
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Calm winds and Clear Skies
- By Anonymous User on 04-05-22
By: Jason Ryan
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Tesla: Man Out of Time
- By: Margaret Cheney
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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From Tesla's childhood in Yugoslavia to his death in New York in the 1940s, Cheney paints a compelling human portrait and chronicles a lifetime of discoveries that radically altered - and continue to alter - the world in which we live. Tesla: Man Out of Time is an in-depth look at the seminal accomplishments of a scientific wizard and a thoughtful examination of the obsessions and eccentricities of the man behind the science.
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Good but very dated.
- By Mr Smith on 08-09-15
By: Margaret Cheney
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Tesla
- Inventor of the Modern
- By: Richard Munson
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Nikola Tesla, a Serbian immigrant, invented the radio, the induction motor, the neon lamp, and the remote control. Tesla's personal life was magnificently bizarre. Strikingly handsome and impeccably dressed, he was germophobic and never shook hands. He required nine napkins when he sat down to dinner. In later years, he ate only white food and conversed with the pigeons in Bryant Park. This clear, authoritative, and highly enjoyable biography takes account of all phases of this remarkable life.
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Listening Again
- By Thompson on 11-18-19
By: Richard Munson
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The Devil in the White City
- Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death.
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A Rich Read!
- By D on 09-18-03
By: Erik Larson
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Wizard
- The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius
- By: Marc J. Seifer
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology.
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Tesla was a hundred years ahead of his time
- By Jean on 01-28-12
By: Marc J. Seifer
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One Summer
- America, 1927
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most admired nonfiction writers of our time retells the story of one truly fabulous year in the life of his native country - a fascinating and gripping narrative featuring such outsized American heroes as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and yes Herbert Hoover, and a gallery of criminals (Al Capone), eccentrics (Shipwreck Kelly), and close-mouthed politicians (Calvin Coolidge). It was the year Americans attempted and accomplished outsized things and came of age in a big, brawling manner. What a country. What a summer. And what a writer to bring it all so vividly alive.
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Why 1927?
- By Mark on 10-18-13
By: Bill Bryson