The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright | 
|  | | | Title: | The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright | | Author: | Tom D. Crouch | | Publisher: | W. W. Norton & Company | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | April, 2003 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 039330695X / 9780393306958 | | List Price: | $21.95 | | You Save: | $7.02 | | Amazon Price: | $14.93 | |
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Book Description
The reissue of this definitive biography heralds the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight. Brilliant, self-trained engineers, the Wright brothers had a unique blend of native talent, character, and family experience that perfectly suited them to the task of invention but left them ill-prepared to face a world of skeptics, rivals, and officials. Using a treasure trove of Wright family correspondence and diaries, Tom Crouch skillfully weaves the story of the airplane's invention into the drama of a unique and unforgettable family. He shows us exactly how and why these two obscure bachelors from Dayton, Ohio, were able to succeed where so many better-trained, better-financed rivals had failed. 50 b/w photographs.
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Customer Reviews:
• The Bishop's Boys Is Fabulous 21 May, 2003
Hi. I've read this book from cover - to - cover so many times that it's actually falling apart. This book is fabulous and I would reccomend it to anyone iterested in flight!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3RPJAGFN65654
• I Couldn't Put It Down 05 September, 2007
An absolutely fascinating story of how two boys from Ohio without college educations, through sheer will, determination and confidence in their own abilities, invented a machine that literally changed the world. It is almost laughable the way they kept plodding along, ignoring the fact that many eminent scientific minds of the period (One can almost hear them dead-panning, "What's that have to do with us.") had repeatedly failed, often catastrophically, to fly a heavier-than-air machine.
- Reviewed by customer ID: APJ1A00SQDDJI
• Book Is Very Boring & Talks To Much Of Their Father's Life 30 September, 2005
This book was a major dissapointment for me. I could not finish the book. The author dwelled more on the problems of the Wright Brother's father, and the chaos he delt with in their denomination. I felt like I was reading their father's life story. Historical bio's are my favorite reading, but this book I had to lay down. After several re-starts, I finaly gave the book away to another history friend. I will choose another bio if the Wright Brothers
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3DAVSXBXCZWC
• In The End Somewhat Disappointing 05 August, 2003
Tom Crouch does a wonderful job in bringing the story of the Wright brothers to life. He explains their social interactions, their different personality types and the family's ideals. However when he starts to tell the story of the invention of the aeroplane (airplane) the disappointments mount. At this point the author could have focussed on the insightfulness and engineering brilliance of the Wright brothers. However the author seems unwilling or incapable of expressing how the Wright brothers were able to distil and redefine the ideas of their predecessors. The redefinition of Smeaton's coefficient, the choice of a dynamic approach to restore equilibrium, the experiments and formulae required to calculate the basic forces of flight and efficient propellor design are all given scant attention. The book's phobia of technical detail is epitomised by its reference at one stage to increasing the octane rating of the fuel to increase power. Unfortunately octane and its potential to produce greater power would not be understood until the '20s. The book then appears to have great difficulty in differentiating what the Wright brothers did in comparison with their rivals. Instead of demonstrating why wing warping was the basic concept behind all control systems in aeroplanes, the author resorts to bold assertions such as the Wright brothers were aware of ailerons and fully described them in their patent application. This is highly debatable and in my opinion WRONG! Furthermore any patent issue which may have gone against the Wrights is always described as a legal loophole and not given any further regard. Instead of defending the Wrights on their own merit the book seems to be compelled to detail feel good stories or nicknames of distant relatives and associates. The relevance of Orville's flying students' ancestors defeating the British (I'm assuming not single handedly as implied by the book) in the battle of Lake Erie in 1813 does seem somewhat irrelevent. I enjoyed the enthusiastic style of the writer, but in the end felt that the book was somewhat flat in conveying what the Wright brothers actually achieved on that historic December day in 1903.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A33WYZ84XEKYWI
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