When I was very small, I was terrified every time I got onto an airplane: how could something so large possibly lift off the ground? Like most of the rest of us, though, I have gradually lost that fear- I simply look forward to the peanuts and trust in the engineeers, who are capable of designing things I could never possibly understand.
Reading John Hulls' book recaptured for me a sense of that wonder in the awesome feat of flying. Cody and the Wright brothers became more than just clever engineers, they were ingenious and daring pioneers who put their own lives on the line, rising hundreds of feet in the air supported by nothing more than bamboo and canvas. Cody's madcap adventures (cow hand, gold miner, variety show creator, Royal Aeronotical Society member, etc..) would make a wild story in any age, but are particularly resonant on the brink of the centennial of flight.
Hulls' book, though aimed at children, is informative and interesting for anyone fascinated by flying and the art of invention. Here is a simple story well told: the writing is clear and evocative, the characters come alive on the page, and once again history is a story worth telling.

Herding cattle up the Chisholm Trail from Texas to the Kansas railheads for shipment, young Samuel Cody became fascinated with the kites built by the chuck wagon's Chinese cook. The cook taught Cody kite building, starting the young cowhand on an odyssey that would take him to the Klondyke gold rush, then to the London stage with his KLONDYKE NUGGET, to full fellowship in the Royal Aeronatical Society and simultaneous birthing of the British aircraft industry.
The show's success, with roles for all his family, enabled Cody to indulge his kite habit on a grand scale, shown in the book's many fine photos. In 1901 they built the first practical man-carrying kite (woman-carrying, too--Lela shown in a photo aloft in formal hat and long dress, the first woman to fly in a heavier-than-air craft). The Royal Navy and then the Army bought Cody's kites, leading Cody to friendship with Colonel Capper, a British army officer ostensibly developing balloons for artillery observation but actually harboring visions of flight.
Cody and Capper collaborated in leading England into the age of flight. They buzzed Buckingham Palace and the War Office with their powered airship, then developed a hang-glider kite, finally "Army Airplane #1." Capper, who knew the Wrights, risked his career in supporting Cody but Cody went on to repeated triumphs, winning the first British military aircraft trials in 1912. The very next year Cody died tragically in an aircraft accident. The British army buried him with full military honours after a procession attended by 50,000 mourners representing every British army regiment.
Pilots who write about flying often evoke magic. Hulls writes with the clarity and humour of St. Exupery, Gann, Bach and the handful of pilots whose love of flight becomes literature. The chapter "Flyers and Liars" captures the risk of early flight and the achievements of the Wrights and Cody, quoting the 1906 NEW YORK HERALD: "Despite extravagant claims, history would show that by 1908 only five humans had acquired significant time flying heavier-than-air machines. Two were dead--Otto Lilienthal and Percy Pilcher, a Scots engineer who had studied with him, died in flying accidents." Cody and the Wrights were the only ones with more than brief seconds in heavier-than-air flight. In all the other claims, no one knew enough to ask the key question: "How did you learn to fly?"
Coupled with illustrator David Weitzman's illustrations of what it took to learn even to make a simple turn, Hulls depicts the Wrights' and Cody's bravery and brilliance as they risked death to master flight. Among Cody's inventions: the variable-pitch propeller, whose efficiency Cody tested by tethering his airplane to a tree at Farnborough (a flight-test locale that became, decades earlier, the British equivalent of Edwards AFB). When the tree died recently, the RAE honored Cody by recreating the tree in aluminium on its original site.
While directed at younger readers, "Rider" is a wonderful book for anyone of any age interested in great American characters such as Cody and the Wrights, a must for pilots or indeed anyone with a love of flight or who today flies safely in a modern airliner.

Burroughs's book is a wonderful tale of exploration into the dense, winding, wonderful Waccamaw River in SC, and into the mostly forgotten past of his native Horry County. His marvelous sense of detail, poetic sensibility, and grand sympathies with all things natural and human make this a memoroble book indeed. I know Prof. Burroughs might hoot at the comparison, but I enjoyed this book as much as anything I've read in Thoreau.

A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some spot of native land, where it may get the love of tender kinship for the face of the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar, unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge: a spot where the definiteness of early memories may be inwrought with affection, and kindly acquaintance with all neighbors, even to dogs and donkeys, may spread not by sentimental effort and reflection, but as a sweet habit of the blood. -George Eliot (Daniel Deronda)

This sentiment and the chance discovery of Nathaniel Holmes Bishop's The Voyage of the Paper Canoe (1878), detailing a canoe trip down the East Coast which included a side trip on the Waccamaw River, were the twin impulses that lead Burroughs to return to his native Horry County, SC and make his own trip down the Waccamaw. Burroughs, a professor at Bowdoin, published a terrific collection of essays Billy Watson's Croker Sack in 1991 (it even made Mr. Doggett's Suggested Summer Reading List for Students) and this book is every bit as good.

Whether he's detailing the history of the county, the river and his own family or relating his encounters with the river's unique residents or describing the wildlife he encounters, Burroughs has a sharp eye, a sympathetic ear and a silver tongue. Here is his description of one bird he meets:

Yesterday a red-shouldered hawk had called the day to order, and got its business underway. Today it was a pileated woodpecker: a staccato drum-burst against a hollow tree, then the bird itself. It flew across in front of me, with its peculiar alternation of flap, swoop, and collapse, and its last swoop fetched it up against the trunk of a cypress. It clung there a moment, cocked and primed, a perfectly congruous mixture of Woody Woodpecker, frock-coated nineteenth-century deacon and pterodactyl. Then it gave the tree an abrupt, jackhammer strafing, rolled out its lordly call, and swooped away, leaving the day to its own devices.

If you've ever seen one, you know that a pileated woodpecker has never been described better and if you haven't you must almost feel that now you have.

This is a wonderful bucolic look at the history and nature of the Waccamaw, which will leave you wishing that you too had such a place coursing through your blood.

GRADE: A

This excellent exposition of FDR's relations with the Soviet Union makes us think... of the obvious. We think of Saddam defying the civilized world, we think of North Vietnam using the Kissinger treaty to overrun the south, we think of Anna Nicole with a case of Nesquick--Franklin would certainly try to charm Stalin and he would lose. That America tried to shmooz the communists instead of confront them certanly prolonged the cold war. If Frankin had not thought he could grin the reds into an decent deal, millions would have been free sooner. Crocker gives us Roosevelt's idiotic attempt at such idiocy a full hearing, and finds him a jackass.

This book demonstrates to anyone not snookered by the FDR myth that: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the most traitorous President America has ever had. He was completely negligent in the manner in which he conducted the War. And the monumentally tragic decisions he made with respect to post-War Europe and Asia are simply unforgivable.

As a pure politician, Roosevelt was out of his league in dealing with Stalin, notwithstanding his assertion to Winston Churchill that:

"I know you will not mind my being brutally frank when I tell you that I think I can personally handle Stalin better than either your Foreign Office or my State Department."

Someone should have questioned the man's competence when he uttered the words:

"I have just a hunch that Stalin doesn't want anything but security for his country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work for a world democracy and peace."

Stalin had already annexed half of Poland and all of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia when Roosevelt made that remark!

With the partitioning (and millions of lives) of Eastern Europe at stake, this man was acting on a "hunch?" Anyone who knew anything about Communism would have known that FDR's hope of appeasing Stalin was wishful thinking. Of course, none of his "learned" advisors (Harry Hopkins, Alger Hiss, etc.) said anything because it would turn out that they were Communist sympathizers.

But that doesn't excuse Roosevelt who should have been informed on who and what he was dealing with. After all, there were ample voices outside of government telling the administration that it was playing with fire by cuddling up with Uncle Joe Stalin. But Roosevelt just turned these voices off by labeling them "Nazi" or "pro-fascist."

The Bolshevik Revolutionary himself (Lenin) had said years before:

"We are living not merely in a state, but in a system of states; and it is inconceivable that the Soviet republic should continue to exist for a long period side by side with imperialist states [e.g. America, Britain]. Ultimately one or the other must conquer. Meanwhile a number of terrible clashes between the Soviet republic and the bourgeois states are inevitable."

Exactly what part of this did Roosevelt not understand?

Additionally, assessments from one of FDR's military advisors stated:

"Russia's post-war position in Europe will be a dominant one. With Germany crushed, there is no power in Europe to oppose her tremendous military forces. It is true that Great Britain is building up a position in the Mediterranean vis-à-vis Russia that she may find useful in balancing power in Europe. However, even here she may not be able to oppose Russia unless she is otherwise supported."

That FDR was mesmerized by Uncle Joe and wanted to keep him happy is beside the point. As the most powerful man in the world with the greatest military force behind him, why did Roosevelt ignore the Communist threat? Why was he giving Stalin so much with so few conditions?

In fact, Roosevelt seemed to go out of his way to assist Stalin, giving him things without a request from the Soviet dictator and even in his absence! Roosevelt apparently thought he was exercising wise foreign policy when he stated:

"Of course, it's just the thing for the Russians. They couldn't want anything better. Unconditional surrender [of Germany and Japan]. Uncle Joe might have made it up himself!"

And in stating the following, it wasn't the first time that FDR would make Churchill part of his act in cozying up with Uncle Joe:

"Trouble is, the Prime Minister is thinking too much of the post-war, and where England will be. He's scared of letting the Russians get too strong."

That Roosevelt was good at schmoozing with other politicians is beyond doubt. However, in making the above statement, he showed his utter incompetence in dealing with Russia effectively and realistically. If FDR had understood the Russian threat even half as well as Churchill did, the ensuing enslavement of Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain would have been averted.

As a learned man of history, Churchill understood the threat of a Russia occupying Eastern Europe. Consequently, he had been promoting a plan for an allied invasion through the Balkans in order to occupy Eastern Europe. At the time Churchill made his proposal, Germany was still on Russian soil. An attack up through the Balkans would have enabled American, English and French forces to occupy Eastern Europe before Russia:

"The paramount task before us is, first, to conquer the African shores of the Mediterranean and set up the naval and air installations which are necessary to open an effective passage through it for military traffic; and, secondly, using the bases on the African shore to strike at the under-belly of the Axis [Balkans] in effective strength and in the shortest time."

However, it was not to be. Stalin didn't like the plan. Consequently, Roosevelt did not like the plan. As America's General Clark would later comment:

"A campaign that might have changed the whole history of relations between the Western world and the Soviet Union was permitted to fade away ... Not alone in my opinion, but in the opinion of a number of experts who were close to the problem, the weakening of the campaign in Italy in order to invade Southern France, instead of pushing into the Balkans, was one of the outstanding mistakes of the War ... Stalin knew exactly what he wanted ... and the thing he wanted was to keep us out of the Balkans ... It is easy to see, therefore, why Stalin favored ANVIL [Normandy Invasion]."

May Truth be redeemed and this man (FDR) dethroned from his mythic throne in the annals of history.

As a middle school instructor of U.S.history I found Mr. Padowicz's taped presentation: Seeing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home & Museum to be a valuable teaching tool. His "tell it like it was" approach was refreshing and my students seemed to appreciate his honest and open approach to the many complex facets of the Roosevelt's lives and accomplishments.

In or out of the classroom I highly recommend Mr. Padowicz's book on tape having found it to be both entertaining and informative.

This six hour, five cassette audiobook presentation of Julian Padowicz's experiences and observational commentary showcases the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt museum and home. Julian describes their lives, the history that surrounded them, and the history they made. Listeners will learn about such contemporary notables as Sara Roosevelt, George VI and Elizabeth of Britain, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Howe, Lucy Mercer, Al Smith, Harry Hopkins, and many, many others. The times and circumstances of the innovative 32nd American president include the Great Depression, the new Deal, World War II, and the personal drama of disability and marital challenges. This highly recommended "theater of the mind" format is superbly recorded and provides listening that is as entertaining as it is informative.

This is an exceptional reference guide for anyone interested in writing. I have been referring to it for years and take delight in all that I have learned and put to use in my daily life. It has enhanced my ability to communicate on a different level. It is priceless!

One of the best resources I have ever seen. It is much more complete and easier to use than a thesaurus.

I got a copy of this book long time ago and still remember almost as if happens yesterday. The positive effects of this book have in my life are unforgetable. Actually one of the reasons I decided to became a scientist was because the way Francois Jacob found his way in hard times. The book details his experiences during the second world war and after. In these days, we are in a new century and it seems that we haven't learn much about peace and respect and we have quite similar hard time as Francois Jacob describes. However, I totally believes that this book will be a positive hit for all students in Jr college and high schools and for sure will encourage the scientist of the future to take over this activity. The future of those that identify themselfs with Francois Jacob's life will be significant as time advance.

Even though I am a molecular biologist, I began reading The Statue Within with a bit of prejudice that it would be good for me but not necessarily interesting. I figured it would be beneficial to learn more detail about the work of one of the founders of my field. Boy was I surprised! What I got instead was the examination of a complex and vivid personality, a life filled with great flux, confusion, but most of all, a passion for knowledge. Dr. Jacob started off as a reluctant medical student, went to England to escape the Nazi takeover of Paris, signed up with DeGaulle's unofficial French army and served as a medic in a messy, confusing war. Afterward he returned to Paris and his medical studies, but, lacking direction, found himself in the midst of new and interesting biological research about genetics. Fascinated and obsessed, he pestered and cajoled his way into a top laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and began to experiment. His work of course was fundamental to the understanding of the mechanical functioning of genetics, and he went on to win the Nobel. But the beauty of the book is that it isn't about the glory and accolades - it is about the thirst for knowledge and the collaborative bonds that form between bright minds. It is very good for a scientist to be reminded of the essential nature of curiosity and the trial and defense of ones hypotheses. I will be reading this one for the rest of my career!

For a meteorologist, this is clearly a must read if you're at all interested in knowing more about some of the most influential people in our field. The author obviously has done considerable homework and made some of the pioneers in this field come alive, instead of just being names and old b&w photographs. Since the book is unprecedented and I didn't know many of these people personally, it's not possible for me to say how accurate these word descriptions are, but they have the "ring of truth" to me. Some very interesting parallels can be drawn from the past to the present with the information in this terrific book!

John Cox is, and has always been, a phenomenal reporter and writer. This book deserves to be widely read. As a work of history, it is very much welcome -- a book that sheds light on the past of a subject which is, too often, shrouded in myth.
-- Keay Davidson, Science Writer, San Francisco Chronicle

This is a book of high interest to my 5th and 6th grade students. Benjamin Franklin came alive on the pages of this book, and even inspired one young man to do further research into the life of this truly amazing American. The language is simple and straight forward making comprehenshion possible even for my students who are struggling with a very limited knowledge of the English language. I believe that this book is not only appropriate for children, but also an enjoyable reading experience for adults that are reading along with their children, or adults who are building their own reading skills. It never "talks down" to the reader. The world is hungry for heroes, and leaders who live and teach old-fashioned virtues. This book meets this need in an entertaining way.

This book has been very informative for both my 6th grade and my college-aged ESL students. It brings to life one of the most inventive and creative personalities in American history. He is presented in a very positive way, making him a role model that can be an example to younger and older people alike. This book is written in language that is easily understood by young or foreign readers. While it uses vocabulary that stretches the limits of a young person's ability, it also gives explantion for difficult passages. It gives thoughtful insight into American history preceding the Revolutionary War and the reasons for the War.

Father O'Meara presents a survey of the state of ministry in the church in a manner to be understood easily, so that it appears simple, yet is a profound insight into the needs and directions of the Church today. Its a fairly easy read and a good text for anyone interested in Christian ministry, ecclesiology, or theology in general.

This book presents a very solid and eye opening theology of ministry for the Church. O'Meara develops his theology by examining the history and theology of ministry in Church. This book is an absolute must for those involved in ministry.

Great read about the top leaders, their strengths and deficiencies.

The best overall view of World War II - learned more than I had in any other book.