The Prehistory of Flight

Library Journal

In the years before systematic scientific inquiry, humanity found itself with the desire to emulate the birds and the angels but without a hint of what was involved. This academic excursion into that early search for knowledge begins with a long description of how the ancients viewed air itself; continues with pages and pages of conjecture by many early observers of the flight of birds, most notably Leonardo da Vinci; proceeds to a sketchy collection of attempts at flying machine construction and the possibility that some may have attained gliding flight; and concludes with appendixes of the known attempts at flight before 1783, various illustrations (in good color renditions), 68 pages of footnotes, bibliography, and an index. An unfocused curiosity, with great attention to detail; for larger subject collections. Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.