Yes, it’s true! I actually finished an “unfinished book”. 1 out of 2 before March 2011 yo! 😀
I finished “Made in America” by Bill Bryson earlier this week, at lunchtime. Why is that important? To show that sometimes I read books at lunchtime. 😛
This book took me, in total, 6 years to finish. Homaigash.
But really, it’s a terrific read. There is a lot about word and phrase etymology, but I find that rather interesting. The stories contained within – about famous and not-so-famous people in America, who were either part of beginnings, endings, or in-betweens of cultural evolutions – are a delight to read.
In my very proud banner above, I’ve shown an excerpt from Chapter 19, “The Road from Kitty Hawk”, a chapter about flying. I didn’t think I’d find the Wright brothers’ story so interesting. As Bryson writes:
…there is still a feeling, I think, that the Wrights were essentially a pair of tinkerers who knocked together a simple contraption in their bike shop and were lucky enough to get it airborne.
But he shares with us a more revealing vision. They knew their stuff, and they succeeded. It is amazing to look at the Boeings of today and, although you may initially think of the humble beginnings of aeroplanes as quaint and primitive, appreciate how much work went into the theory and mechanics of flying even then. And once the basic concept was achieved, there continued to be innovations throughout the years allowing everyone to have the opportunity to experience flying.
And that’s only 12 pages out of 431.
If anyone wants to borrow this from me, head over to Brunei Bookswap and let me know 🙂 (I still have plans for Brunei Bookswap… Website plans…)
Image credit: Library of Congress, Flickr
