Spread Your Wings: Icarus to 1912
Spread Your Wings: Icarus to 1912
Flight, The Men and Women by Jacqueline A. Gibbons
Table of Contents ~ Excerpt ~ Author Bio
This is a book for the curious. Why did humans ever decide to fly? How did birds soaring above us inspire the airplane?
Gibbons takes us behind the scenes to the earliest longings for wings to protect and to soar. Starting from Icarus’ flight over the Aegean Sea, she takes us on a journey from magic carpets through to Harry Potter to show links and symbols of inspiration for human flight. We travel through time to learn how Leonardo da Vinci in the 1400s experimented with and illustrated for us the helicopter and a version of the hang glider.
This fascinating cultural history of flight takes us to the cusp of the First World War, bringing to life those key champions, pioneers and entrepreneurs who brought our planet into the 21st century.
Produced on premium quality paper with lustrous full-colour illustrations, this is a book you will treasure for yourself or as a meaningful gift.
Learn more about Spread Your Wings here
Advance Praise for Spread Your Wings: See the Reviews section below.
ISBN 978-1-927375-83-9 Civil Sector Press 2022
soft cover | 8 x 8 in | 266 pages | full colour
Spread Your Wings: Icarus to 1912
Flight, The Men and Women by Jacqueline A. Gibbons
Table of Contents ~ Excerpt ~ Author Bio
This is a book for the curious. Why did humans ever decide to fly? How did birds soaring above us inspire the airplane?
Gibbons takes us behind the scenes to the earliest longings for wings to protect and to soar. Starting from Icarus’ flight over the Aegean Sea, she takes us on a journey from magic carpets through to Harry Potter to show links and symbols of inspiration for human flight. We travel through time to learn how Leonardo da Vinci in the 1400s experimented with and illustrated for us the helicopter and a version of the hang glider.
This fascinating cultural history of flight takes us to the cusp of the First World War, bringing to life those key champions, pioneers and entrepreneurs who brought our planet into the 21st century.
Produced on premium quality paper with lustrous full-colour illustrations, this is a book you will treasure for yourself or as a meaningful gift.
Learn more about Spread Your Wings here
Advance Praise for Spread Your Wings: See the Reviews section below.
ISBN 978-1-927375-83-9 Civil Sector Press 2022
soft cover | 8 x 8 in | 266 pages | full colour
Wonderful book!
In a lavishly illustrated book, Jacqueline Gibbons takes the reader on a stardust-sprinkled voyage through early aviation. We meet many of the accepted pioneers, including women, and learn about the Canadian contribution heavily supported by American inventor Alexander Graham Bell and brilliant US engine designer Glen Curtiss.
… this unashamedly enthusiastic and ambitious account of the early heroic age of aviation takes the reader along at a spanking pace and truly makes time fly by.
… Lt. Col Peter Reese. Aviation Author, UK
The history of human flight is a story interwoven among cultures, myths, and individual stories. Spread Your Wings: Icarus to 1912 portrays the progression from imagination to experimentation in a fascinating look at the people who led humanity to machine-powered aviation. Dr. Gibbons captures unique narratives of perseverance among a diverse cadre of individuals who overcame barriers, both social and engineering, through collaboration and inventiveness. It is fascinating to juxtapose the stories of well-known inventors and experimenters with the little-known stories of so many others whose achievements are brought to light in the book.
… James Quint, Executive Director, Glenn H. Curtiss Museum, Hammondsport, New York, USA
Men and Women across the world and throughout the ages have dreamed of defying the gravity that prevents them from seeing the world in all of its beauty. Jacqueline Gibbons has beautifully and eloquently told the many stories that belong to the narrative of our ambition to take flight. Spread Your Wings is a narrative that is rich in storytelling, illustrations, and photographs, from the Greeks & Egyptians, through the Middle Ages along the way to the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk and Ingenuity on Mars.
… Shawn Perras, Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Hamilton, Ontario Canada
Anecdotes and interesting incidents are to be found in every chapter, and one of the great features is the inclusion of many women aviators who each well deserve a place in the history of pioneering flight, but who may not be so well known to readers. Edith Berg, Thérèse Peltier, Blanche Stuart Scott, Bessica Raiche, Harriet Quimby … are all described in a way which truly brings them and their exploits to life.
The pictures are all very well chosen, including people as well as flying machine photographs and early drawings, and the reproduction quality is exceptionally high, as is the design and presentation of the whole book, which comes complete with a useful glossary, selected aviation websites and references. A most excellent publication, a real joy to read, and certainly one to keep handy for references!