Bettie's Books

bookshelves: spring-2013, radio-4, published-2013, nonfiction, history, adventure, sciences

BOTW

BBC Blurb: In this heart-lifting book, the Romantic biographer Richard Holmes floats across the world following the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, from the first heroic experiments of the 1780s to the tragic attempt to fly a balloon to the North Pole in the 1890s.

In a compelling adventure story, dramatic sequences include an unscheduled early flight over the North Sea, the crazy firework flights of beautiful Sophie Blanchard and the heart-stopping escape of two families from East Germany.

Early balloons also played a role in warfare - with the legendary tale of sixty balloons that escaped Paris during the Prussian siege of 1870, and a memorable flight by General Custer in the American Civil War.

These are stories where scientific genius combines with extraordinary courage and the power of an imagination that dares to claim the airy kingdom for itself.

1. "Two balloonists take to the skies to raise money for charity. Over 200 years separate them, but both find themselves sailing out over the sea with nothing but danger ahead."

2. "Two balloonists take to the skies to raise money for charity. Over 200 years separate them, but both find themselves sailing out over the sea with nothing but danger ahead."

3: Stories of the first balloon aeronauts and mankind's timeless yearning to be airborne.

4: Crowd-pleasing entertainments and spectacular displays grew in popularity, with increasing numbers of young women performing aerial stunts from balloons.

5: The story of Swede Salomon Andree, perhaps the most daring and ambitious of all the balloon adventurers, and his efforts to reach the North Pole by balloon in 1897.