Book. “Rêves d’Icare – Pionniers et aventuriers du vol non motorisé”
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Editions Paulsen
This richly illustrated book presents the inventors and other dreamers (of course!) who dared to “take the leap” into unpowered flight – to get a little closer to the stars.
After conducting meticulous research, the author has put together an amazing portrait gallery of adventurers in unpowered flight, from ancient times to the present day. From a Chinese emperor who threw himself into the void in the 22nd century BC, to modern-day base jumpers, Gérard Guerrier paints a portrait of those who, over the centuries, have aspired to fly like birds in the sky.
The myth of Daedalus and Icarus features in “Rêves d’Icare”, of course, as does the story of the Montgolfier brothers, among the best-known names. Plus, there is also a collage of other less well-known forerunners, such as Frenchmen Auguste Piccard (physicist and aeronaut) and Jean-Marie Le Bris (a sailor who designed one of the very first gliders), Germans Otto Lilienthal (a physicist who also worked on gliders) and Hanna Reitsch (a specialist in gliding), the Australian John Dickenson (who worked on hang gliders), and Americans Paul MacCready (who worked on muscular energy and solar power) and Samuel Franklin Cody (a cowboy posing as Buffalo Bill’s son and a fan of giant kites).
In short, different types of people who have all enabled “many forms of nature-friendly flying to blossom and grow, with minimal resources,” says Gérard Guerrier.
Book. “Rêves d’Icare – Pionniers et aventuriers du vol non motorisé” Author: Gérard Guerrier. Editions Paulsen. ISBN: 2375023080.
