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Book Reviews
Fiction
- Seeing Through Clouds: The Story of an Airship Apprentice
Paul Lagasse
Dog Ear Publishing 2006 paperback 173 pp
ISBN: 1598581155
- The Phoenix
Henning Boetius
HarperCollins 2002 Reprint Softcover 401 pp
ISBN: 0007109520
Non-Fiction
- Disaster at the Pole: The tragedy of the Airship Italia and the 1928 Nobile
expedition to the North Pole
Wilbur Cross
The Lyons Press 2000 Revised Hardcover 316 pp
ISBN: 1585740497
Summary: To be summarized.
Review: To be reviewed.
Rating: To be rated.
- Dr Eckener's Dream Machine: The historic saga of the round-the-world Zeppelin
Douglas Botting
HarperCollins 2001 Hardcover 356 pp
ISBN: 0002571919
Summary: To be summarized.
Review: To be reviewed.
Rating: To be rated.
- Hindenburg: An illustrated history
Rick Archbold
Widenfield & Nicholson 1994 Hardcover 230 pp
ISBN: 0297814230
Summary: Next to be summarized.
Review: Next to be reviewed.
Rating: Next to be rated.
- Hindenburg: The story of Airships from Zeppelins to the cargo carriers of the new
millennium
Mike Flynn
Carlton 1999 Hardcover 96 pp
ISBN: 1858687179
Summary: This book begins with the crash of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey. It
then traces the history of lighter-than-air aviation from the earliest days of ballooning
through to the evolution of Airships. As other nations abandoned Airships the Zeppelins,
with their reputation for safety, grew ever larger. They culminated in the most famous Airship
of all, the Hindenburg, which crashed with massive loss of life. The book concludes with an
overview of recent Airship developments.
Review: This book is as beautiful as it is boring. There are many photographs but the
text is padded and there is proliferation of brackets. The author tries to cover far too much
ground. If you want a well illustrated book with colour illustrations buy Inside
the Hindenburg: A giant cutaway book by Mireille Majoor or for black and white photographs
of a British Airship buy the R101: A pictorial history by Nick Le Neve Walmsley.
Rating: 4/10
- Inside the Hindenburg: A giant cutaway book
Mireille Majoor
Allen & Unwin 2000 Hardcover 32pp
ISBN: 1865083275
Summary: The story of the Hindenburg and its final flight told from the perspective of two
young people onboard. This is a large format book with illustrations by Ken Marschall, who also
contributed to Hindenburg: An illustrated history. There is a four page central cutaway foldout
of the Airship and also a small glossary.
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I found the large format only mildly annoying. The
illustrations vividly bring to life what it was like onboard as the Hindenburg travelled the
world. They contrast delightfully with the black and white photographs and the lone colour
photograph. I felt that the central foldout was somewhat overshadowed by some of the other
illustrations. And the fate of one of the two main characters is a real surprise.
Rating: 8/10
- R.101: The Airship disaster, 1930
Official Report
The Stationery Office 1999 Abridged Softcover 162 pp
ISBN: 0117024074
Summary: To be summarized.
Review: To be reviewed.
Rating: To be rated.
- R101: A pictorial history
Nick Le Neve Walmsley
Sutton 2000 Hardcover 142 pp
ISBN: 0750925027
Summary: The government built Airship R101 was in contention with the R100 for use in
the Imperial British Airship Programme. Through 164 photographs and images this book covers
in great detail the people involved in the construction and design through to the crash on the
maiden flight to India. The appendices are the final specifications of the Airship and the
passenger and crew list.
Review: The major limitation of this book is that is primarily a visual record. However,
you can actually see the Airship being built. This includes the massive 1,920 ft2 /
178m2 passenger saloon. The tension builds as political imperatives overrode safety
concerns and Coxswain 'Sky' Hunt said to his own son that the Airship wouldn't make it to India.
The author strongly disagrees with the views of Nevil Shute that the design of the Airship was
unsound.
Rating: 9/10
- Slide rule
Nevil Shute
House of Stratus 2000 Reprint Softcover 171 pp
ISBN: 1842322915
Summary: To be summarized.
Review: To be reviewed.
Rating: To be rated.
- The log of HMA R34: Journey to America & back
Edward M. Maitland
Lighter-Than-Air Institute of New Zealand 1997 Reprint Hardcover 88 pp
ISBN: 0958369305
Summary: This is the log of the British Airship R34 of its outward flight from East
Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, New York and the return flight to Pulham, England. There are many black
and white photographs of the Airship and crew. It also includes a letter from Rudyard Kipling
and seven appendices including an advertisement from Oxo and a fold-out chart of the flight.
Review: I found this book to be utterly riveting. Whilst it took a few pages to become
accustomed to the log format, I enjoyed every word and photograph. As the log was written in
flight, except for the footnotes and appendices, there is always a sense that unforseen danger
can never be far away. I just wished the book could have been longer than 88 pages. I was most
surprised to read of the crew sending and receiving sending an estimated 20,000 words during the
flight. This book has my highest possible recommendation.
Rating: 10/10
- The Zeppelin: The history of German Airships from 1900 to 1937
Christopher Chant
David & Charles 2000 Hardcover 112 pp
ISBN: 0715311018
Summary: To be summarized.
Review: To be reviewed.
Rating: To be rated.
- USS Los Angeles: The Navy's venerable Airship and aviation technology
William F. Althoff
Potomac Books 2004 Softcover 287 pp
ISBN: 1574886215
Summary: To be summarized.
Review: To be reviewed.
Rating: To be rated.
- Zeppelin: The age of the Airship
Andrew Donkin
Dorling Kindersley 2000 Softcover 48pp
ISBN: 0751328529
Summary: This book is from Level 3 of the Dorling Kindersley
Readers series. The book begins with Count Ferdinand launching his
first Airship, the LZ-1, and then continues with a brief description of the
internal structure of an Airship. It then discusses the crash of the USS
Shenandoah, the flight by the Norge to the North Pole and a near-accident
involving the Los Angeles. The book concludes with crash of the Hindenburg
at Lakehurst. There are numerous black and white photographs in addition to
the extensive colour illustrations.
Review: This book successfully achieved its' objective: a book
suitable for children describing the history of Airships. The text is brief
and to the point and the highly evocative colour illustrations bring the
story to life. With its' handy size and brief chapters this book
would be ideal for young children. If you want a larger book with fold-outs
suitable for children buy Inside the Hindenburg: A giant cutaway book
by Mireille Majoor.
Rating: 8/10
- Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship 1900 - 1939
Guillaume de Syon
The John Hopkins University Press 2002 Softcover 295pp
ISBN: 0801886341
Summary: This book examines, through the perspective of Cultural Studies,
the effect of Zeppelins on popular culture and how those meanings changed over time.
Review: Under no circumstances buy this book it is just that bad. This book
examines the effects of German Airships through the joke social science that is
"Cultural Studies". And only a Cultural Studies ideologue could turn this
fascinating subject into a mind-numbingly banal drone. This book was originally
his thesis, that is something to be marked, and should have never become a book,
that is something to enjoyed. I rate the text at zero with one point
begrudgingly given for the illustrations.
Rating: 1
- Zeppelins: German Airships 1900-40
Charles Stephenson
Osprey Publishing 2004 Softcover 48 pp
ISBN: 1841766925
Summary: This book is part of the New Vanguard series by Osprey.
The book begins with the launch of the LZ-1. Then its' onto the lead up to the First
World War and the extensive role that Zeppelins played during the great war.
After that there is a fairly brief section about the armistice and through to the
Hindenburg disaster and finally the destruction of the remaining Airships by Allied
bombing in 1940. In the centre are colour plates of various Zeppelins, including the
LZ-104 Africa ship and even an observation vessel suspended by rope beneath a
Zeppelin in flight. There is a glossary, four pages of comments on the photographs
and a Airship data table covering five full pages.
Review: Whilst some of the photographs, such an anti-aircraft machine
gun atop a Zeppelin, caught my interest for the most this book was a chore to read.
This book is dull beyond belief. Some, and I repeat some, of the photographs
and illustrations are interesting. But they are the exception.
Rating: 4/10
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