Books

The Wright Brothers

David McCullough documents the Wright brothers’ engineering triumph. 

The book does justice to its story, and the story is every bit as good as one would hope, given the technical and cultural impact of flight. 

I especially liked the parts about their time in Kitty Hawk, which was more or less wilderness at that point. 

McCullough also does a great job dispelling the myth that the Wright brothers were simple mechanics who tinkered their way to success. They were serious businessmen, serious engineers, and serious scientists. They also possessed a species of focus and drive that we now associate with successful founders. 

I never realized how slow the world was to accept the reality of the Wright Flyer. It was such a different world back then. 

Strongly recommended. This and Bill Bryson’s 1927 book would make a great one-two punch. 

Five stars for its class.

The River

Gary Paulsen tells another story in the Hatchet universe. 

You should not read The River. You should not even read this review unless you have kids. Go and read things for grown ups. 

…

OMG I love these books. Brian is such a likable hero. I’ve reread them all in the past couple years to my kids and I enjoyed them every bit as much as I did as a tween. They’re a mainline injection of “I could definitely hack it as a caveman” delusion. 

My boys also like them for the same reason plus, to quote from my 6yo’s reading journal, “I liked it because it was the kind of story I could really understand.”

Start with Hatchet, the original story of a teenage boy stranded in the remote woods. From there you can pretty much bounce around anywhere in the series. 

Five star YA adventure lit.

Loved reading Hatchet in school! I didn’t know there was a sequel!