Book description
'Nominally a history of the hot air balloon, 'Falling Upwards' is really a history of hope and fantasy - and the quixotic characters who disobeyed that most fundamental laws of physics and gave humans flight' New Republic, Best Books of 2013
CHOSEN AS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR INā¦
Why read it?
1 author picked Falling Upwards as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I was already a fan of Holmesā The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, and there was some overlap in this book, in the best senseāsince what could be more wondrous or terrifying than humans taking flight for the first time. Falling Upwards became the definitive history for me while I researched my book for younger readers. It captures the human experience of flight in a lively, character-rich narrative with philosophical heft, straddlingāas did early ballooningāscience and spectacle. Itās an elegant, rollicking story built over a scaffold ofā¦
From Deborah's list on being lighter than air and above it all.
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