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Title: Wings of Madness : Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight by Paul Hoffman ISBN: 0-7868-6659-4 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 11 June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.08 (12 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good But In Need Of A Little Editing
Comment: * Paul Hoffman's WINGS OF MADNESS is a biography of Alberto
Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian who was one of the pioneers of
aviation. Although largely forgotten except to Brazilians
and aviation buffs in contrast to the Wright Brothers,
Santos-Dumont was an important figure in the development of
modern flight.
He was born on 20 July 1873 into a wealthy family, his
father owning one of the largest coffee plantations in
Brazil. He grew up to a petite man, weighing
not much more than 100 pounds (45 kilos) and about
5 foot 5 inches (165 cm) tall, generally quiet, absorbed,
and solitary.
In 1891, Santos-Dumont went to Paris, where he
would take up residence and conduct most of his flight
experiments. He first got into automobiles, which were
all the new rage at the time, then balloons, and then
finally began to work on a series of airships, what we
would call "blimps" these days, of increasing capability
that made him a celebrity in Paris society.
Although he was skeptical of heavier-than-air machines
for a time, mostly because of the lack of availability
of adequate engines, competition from the US turned him
in that direction, and in 1906 he became the first
person in Europe to fly in an airplane. Unlike the
Wrights, he was never concerned about patenting his
work, and went to great lengths to give his ideas away.
However, although he did work on improved aircraft for
the next several years, he was becoming increasingly
eccentric and finally abandoned his work on aircraft.
He was appalled to see the airplane used as a weapon
during World War I. He returned to Brazil and became
increasingly reclusive. On 23 July 1932, during a
revolutionary conflict in Brazil, he heard an airplane
dropping bombs, and went up to his hotel room and
hanged himself. He was 59 years old.
It is good that Mr. Hoffman has written a biography of
the underappreciated Santos-Dumont, and he appears to
have done his homework on the subject. He tells the
story carefully and thoroughly. However, WINGS OF
MADNESS suffers from the fact that it's about twice
as long as it needs to be.
I usually will say this about biographies, and
immediately add a qualification that I understand that
a biographer needs to be thorough to write a salable
book and get some respect. I can't add that qualification
in this case, because WINGS OF MADNESS is not so much
overly thorough as overly digressive.
Mr. Hoffman tends to go off on tangents that aren't
that relevant to the story at excessive length. For
example, after Santos-Dumont's death, his heart was
preserved in a jar, and Mr. Hoffman uses this somewhat
bizarre tale to spend over a page going on about other
famous people whose miscellaneous vital parts were
preserved. I think that this book didn't have an editor
who could come back to the author and politely ask:
"Is this trip really necessary?"
Possibly Mr. Hoffman did this because the book would have
been very brief otherwise -- even with the digressions
it's not all that long. Santos-Dumont was not very
charismatic; he was solitary and quiet, and when he did
talk he had an unfortunately tendency to go off on insecure
boasting sessions that got worse as time went on. He
never did acknowledge that the Wright Brothers beat him
into the air.
However, all that said, I find this a good book, worthwhile
for most aviation enthusiasts (though I am not sure a
more general reader would enjoy it), and I think Mr. Hoffman
deserves praise for preserving the memory of Alberto
Santos-Dumont.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating invocation of a lost world
Comment: Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian who emigrated to Paris at the age of 19, was perhaps the most celebrated man in France in the early 20th century. An effete eccentric with a genius for mechanical invention, Santos designed and regularly flew about Paris a series of airships. Most of these were powered, lighter-than-air vessels--hydrogen balloons to which he had attached a motor. But later in his career Santos also experimented with heavier-than-air flying machines--though not, to his great disappointment, before the Wright brothers had themselves achieved sustained flight. Among the aviator's airships was the world's first, and only, personal flying machine. Santos hopped around Paris in his "Baladeuse," or "Wanderer," alighting to order an aperitif at some sidewalk café, or dropping anchor at a club where, upon disembarking, he would hand the reins of his machine to a valet.
Paul Hoffman's seamless account of Santos-Dumont's life and career follows the aviator from his childhood on his father's coffee plantation to his sad death in 1932. Always somewhat tormented--Santos craved the adoration his pioneering exploits won for him--he ended his days apparently guilt-ridden over the lethal use to which airplanes--which were to his mind his own invention--were being put.
Hoffman's well-written book is fascinating for its invocation of a lost world. The author is to be applauded, too, for bringing the flamboyant, troubled Santos-Dumont once again to the attention of the public.
Rating: 5
Summary: Santos Dumont a Brazilian Indiana Jones
Comment: The beauty of this book is that reading it, you will feel going back in time, participating in the life and adventures of Mr. Santos Dumont.
The author did a very good work in presenting not only history, but recreating the personality of Alberto Santos Dumont, a man that is totally focused on his inventions.
As I read the book I found many reasons to think that Mr. Steven Spielberg would have material for a very good film....Santos Dumont was quite a man, great imagination, and a truly courageous person.
Hoffman descriptions of the way inventors in the end of the XIX century risked their lives, to develop and use the new technologies of their time, provides a good framework to understand Santos Dumont behavior, risking his life on many experiments for the good of mankind.
My perspective as to where Santos Dumont should be placed in aviation history differs from most Brazilians. The airplane was the product of several inventions done by different people, each one contributing with a piece of the puzzle. There is room for the accomplishments of many inovators, like Otto Lillienthal, the Wright Brothers, Alberto Santos Dumont, Glenn Curtiss... and many others.
I think Hoffman gives a balanced view of aviation history and Santos Dumont accomplishments.
The book is worth reading and you will enjoy it.
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Title: My Airships: The Storyof My Life by Alberto Santos-Dumont by Alberto Santos-Dumont, Adam Starchild ISBN: 0898752450 Publisher: University Press of the Pacific Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Man Flies: The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont, Master of the Balloon, Conqueror of the Air by Nancy Winters ISBN: 0880016361 Publisher: Ecco Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers : The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman ISBN: 0786884061 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 12 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: To Conquer the Air : The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight by James Tobin ISBN: 0684856883 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 14 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Unlocking The Sky : Glenn Hammond Curtiss and the Race to Invent the Airplane by Seth Shulman ISBN: 0060196335 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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