Download or read book Birdmen Batmen and Skyflyers written by Michael Abrams and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wright Brothers were wimps. Or so you might think after reading this account of their unsung but even more daring rivals—the men and women who strapped wings to their backs and took to the sky. If only for a few seconds. People have been dying to fly, quite literally, since the dawn of history. They’ve made wings of feather and bone, leather and wood, canvas and taffeta, and thrown themselves off the highest places they could find. Theirs is the world’s first and still most dangerous extreme sport, and its full history has never been told. Birdmen, Batmen, and Skyflyers is a thrilling, hilarious, and often touching chronicle of these obsessive inventors and eccentric daredevils. It traces the story of winged flight from its doomed early pioneers to their glorious high-tech descendants, who’ve at last conquered gravity (sometimes, anyway). Michael Abrams gives us a brilliant bird’s-eye view of what it’s like to fly with wings. And then, inevitably, to fall. In the Immortal Words of Great Birdmen... “Someday I think that everyone will have wings and be able to soar from the housetops. But there must be a lot more experimenting before that can happen.” —Clem Sohn, the world’s first batman, who plummeted to his death at the Paris Air Show in 1937 “The trouble was that he went only halfway up the radio tower. If he had gone clear to the top it would have been different.” —Amadeo Catao Lopes in 1946, explaining the broken legs of the man who tried his wings “One day, a jump will be the last. The jump of death. But that idea does not hold me back.” —Rudolf Richard Boehlen, who died of jump-related injuries in 1953 “It turned out that almost everyone from the thirties and forties had died. That just made me want to do it more.” —Garth Taggart, stunt jumper for The Gypsy Moths, filmed in 1968 “You have to be the first one. The second one is the first loser.” —Felix Baumgartner, who in 2003 became the first birdman to cross the English Channel
Download or read book Birdmen Batmen and Skyflyers written by Michael Abrams and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-05-22 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wright Brothers were wimps. Or so you might think after reading this account of their unsung but even more daring rivals—the men and women who strapped wings to their backs and took to the sky. If only for a few seconds. People have been dying to fly, quite literally, since the dawn of history. They’ve made wings of feather and bone, leather and wood, canvas and taffeta, and thrown themselves off the highest places they could find. Theirs is the world’s first and still most dangerous extreme sport, and its full history has never been told. Birdmen, Batmen, and Skyflyers is a thrilling, hilarious, and often touching chronicle of these obsessive inventors and eccentric daredevils. It traces the story of winged flight from its doomed early pioneers to their glorious high-tech descendants, who’ve at last conquered gravity (sometimes, anyway). Michael Abrams gives us a brilliant bird’s-eye view of what it’s like to fly with wings. And then, inevitably, to fall. In the Immortal Words of Great Birdmen... “Someday I think that everyone will have wings and be able to soar from the housetops. But there must be a lot more experimenting before that can happen.” —Clem Sohn, the world’s first batman, who plummeted to his death at the Paris Air Show in 1937 “The trouble was that he went only halfway up the radio tower. If he had gone clear to the top it would have been different.” —Amadeo Catao Lopes in 1946, explaining the broken legs of the man who tried his wings “One day, a jump will be the last. The jump of death. But that idea does not hold me back.” —Rudolf Richard Boehlen, who died of jump-related injuries in 1953 “It turned out that almost everyone from the thirties and forties had died. That just made me want to do it more.” —Garth Taggart, stunt jumper for The Gypsy Moths, filmed in 1968 “You have to be the first one. The second one is the first loser.” —Felix Baumgartner, who in 2003 became the first birdman to cross the English Channel
Download or read book Bird Dream written by Matt Higgins and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heart-stopping narrative of risk and courage, Bird Dream tells the story of the remarkable men and women who pioneered the latest advances in aerial exploration--from skydiving to BASE jumping to wingsuit flying--and made history with their daring.
Download or read book Inventing Iron Man written by E. Paul Zehr and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2011-10 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "E. Paul Zehr physically deconstructs Iron Man to find out how we could use modern-day technology to create a suit of armor similar to the one Stark made"--Jacket.
Download or read book Biomimetics written by Yoseph Bar-Cohen and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 790 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mimicking nature - from science fiction to engineering realityHumans have always looked to nature's inventions as a source of inspiration. The observation of flying birds and insects leads to innovations in aeronautics. Collision avoidance sensors mimic the whiskers of rodents. Optimization algorithms are based on survival of the fittest, the seed-
Download or read book Mayday written by David Darling and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world without aircraft, to believe flight might be possible required a certain kind of character. You had to be starry-eyed, a possessor of practical ingenuity, nerves of steel and a level of sanity that would be best described as deficient. In Mayday!, David Darling tells the stories of the unconventional aviators across history who have been willing to risk all to further their craft. Meet Sophie Blanchard, a balloonist of nervous disposition whom Napoleon charged with organizing balloon displays at all major ceremonies in France. Then there’s the daredevil stuntman Lincoln Beachey, the dogfighter aces of WWI, the man who performed the dance of death – switching planes in mid-air, the real “X-Men” who flew at the edge of space, and the BASE jumpers who want to fly without wings. The cast are eccentric, reckless and extraordinary, and Mayday! is made up of their riveting tales, bizarre contraptions, magnificent achievements and, sometimes, startling folly.
Download or read book Senior High Core Collection written by Raymond W. Barber and published by H. W. Wilson. This book was released on 2007 with total page 1496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Features annotations for more than 6,200 works in the main volume (2007), and more than 2,400 new titles in three annual supplements published 2008 through 2010. New coverage of biographies, art, sports, Islam, the Middle East, cultural diversity, and other contemporary topics keeps your library's collection as current as today's headlines.
Download or read book Four Seasons written by Isadore Sharp and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-04-30 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The founder of Four Seasons Hotels shares the philosophy and values that have made his legendary brand How did a child of immigrants, starting with no background in the hotel business, create the world's most admired and successful hotel chain? And how has Four Seasons grown dramatically, over nearly a half century, without losing its focus on exceptional quality and unparalleled service? Isadore Sharp answers these questions in his engaging memoir, which doubles as a powerful guide for leaders in any field. He recalls the surprising history of his company, starting with its roots in his father's small construction business, which Sharp joined after getting a degree in architecture. Shifting into hotels wasn't easy, and he learned by trial and error. His breakthrough was a vision for a new kind of hotel, featuring superior design, top-quality amenities, and, above all, a deep commitment to service. Sharp realized that customers would gladly pay extra for a "home away from home" experience. But that would be possible only if everyone-from managers and supervisors to bellmen, servers, and housekeepers-was fully engaged. The front-line staff, who have the most contact with guests, can make or break a five-star reputation. Readers will be fascinated to learn how Four Seasons does it, year after year, in more than thirty countries around the world.
Download or read book The Publishers Weekly written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cabinet written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The New Yorker written by Harold Wallace Ross and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 786 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book American Book Publishing Record written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 764 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Forbes written by Bertie Charles Forbes and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 1542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This business magazine covers domestic and international business topics. Special issues include Annual Report on American Industry, Forbes 500, Stock Bargains, and Special Report on Multinationals.
Download or read book Man vs Weather written by Dennis Diclaudio and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2008-10-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A humorous and practical guide to the history and science of understanding the weather?plus, how to build your own barometer! For as long as man has walked upon this earth, he has been forced to survive under the cruel tyranny of weather. Let?s face it: there is no escape. Now, in Man vs. Weather, humorist Dennis DiClaudio offers up the knowledge to beat weather at its own game. Rooting through conventional wisdom, discovered gadgetry, and the advances of science, this book presents the geothermal mechanisms behind weather-related phenomena, the history of humanity?s relationship with the climate, as well as the truth surrounding atmospheric aphorisms. Have no fear: By the time you make your way through this book, you will be able to read, understand, and defend yourself against the elements! ? Is ?Red sky at night, sailor?s delight? a helpful saying or just the ramblings of idiotic drunkards who like to rhyme? ? What are these Santa Ana winds that blow out warmly from the desert, and who is this hussy for which they are named? ? What is this Gulf Stream that flows out from Mexico before crossing the Atlantic toward Africa and Europe, and how can a stream cut through the ocean anyway?
Download or read book Blood written by Douglas Starr and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2012-09-05 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essence and emblem of life--feared, revered, mythologized, and used in magic and medicine from earliest times--human blood is now the center of a huge, secretive, and often dangerous worldwide commerce. It is a commerce whose impact upon humanity rivals that of any other business--millions of lives have been saved by blood and its various derivatives, and tens of thousands of lives have been lost. Douglas Starr tells how this came to be, in a sweeping history that ranges through the centuries. With the dawn of science, blood came to be seen as a component of human anatomy, capable of being isolated, studied, used. Starr describes the first documented transfusion: In the seventeenth century, one of Louis XIV's court physicians transfers the blood of a calf into a madman to "cure" him. At the turn of the twentieth century a young researcher in Vienna identifies the basic blood groups, taking the first step toward successful transfusion. Then a New York doctor finds a way to stop blood from clotting, thereby making all transfusion possible. In the 1930s, a Russian physician, in grisly improvisation, successfully uses cadaver blood to help living patients--and realizes that blood can be stored. The first blood bank is soon operating in Chicago. During World War II, researchers, driven by battlefield needs, break down blood into usable components that are more easily stored and transported. This "fractionation" process--accomplished by a Harvard team--produces a host of pharmaceuticals, setting the stage for the global marketplace to come. Plasma, precisely because it can be made into long-lasting drugs, is shipped and traded for profit; today it is a $5 billion business. The author recounts the tragic spread of AIDS through the distribution of contaminated blood products, and describes why and how related scandals have erupted around the world. Finally, he looks at the latest attempts to make artificial blood. Douglas Starr has written a groundbreaking book that tackles a subject of universal and urgent importance and explores the perils and promises that lie ahead.
Download or read book The Promise of the Grand Canyon written by John F. Ross and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A convincing case for Powell’s legacy as a pioneering conservationist.”--The Wall Street Journal "A bold study of an eco-visionary at a watershed moment in US history."--Nature A timely, thrilling account of the explorer who dared to lead the first successful expedition down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon—and waged a bitterly-contested campaign for sustainability in the West. John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition—starving, battered, and nearly naked—they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before. With The Promise of the Grand Canyon, John F. Ross tells how that perilous expedition launched the one-armed Civil War hero on the path to becoming the nation’s foremost proponent of environmental sustainability and a powerful, if controversial, visionary for the development of the American West. So much of what he preached—most broadly about land and water stewardship—remains prophetically to the point today.
