Customer Reviews

Chasing the Wind: The Autobiography of Steve Fossett

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Before his disappearance on 9/4/07 Steve Fossett was a world class adventurer. He's the holder of some 115 world records & many "firsts" in aviation, sailing, and last but not least ballooning. This book takes the reader through the various phases of each major feat the highlight of which is his solo circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon after six attempts. It does become a little bit belabored, but since it's such a unique account of some truly extraordinary feats you can forgive him for some of the "flexing" he does throughout. The actual biographical info on his life is somewhat scant focusing more on his many adventures. It's clear though after reading this that he never did any of this stuff for the publicity. He really wanted to challenge himself and raise the bar for others. You come away from this biography of a hyper-motivated adventurer & successful businessman feeling anything is possible with the right amount of effort and persistance. Perhaps besides his many records that's the real legacy left to the world by Steve Fosset. It's not necessarily what he accomplished so much as what it represents!

"Chasing The Wind" is an amazing autobiography. One of the most heart pounding Adventure / True Story ever told in our modern era. By Chasing the Wind, Steve Fossett is chasing his dreams, The Records Book :"Round the World" in flying, sailing and ballooning. Those thought we can only dare to dream...As he's living it passionately. This is like Jules Verne meeting with Jonathan Livingston the Seagull ( by Richard Bach ).

To do so, not only Steve have to overcome many fears, many obstacles ; He also has to overcome the fierce force of nature. He did all that by digging deep inside in a very human & spiritual way : methodical & knowledges, preparation & perseverance, Leadership & Team Works ; For Him, there's no barrier of self-limitation in any how, only with a much calculate risks & learning from his mistake and from others expertises.

He's not fighting against the nature, but working with it. The nature became his allies not enemies. He's doesn't see obstacles, but challenges. And that is very inspiring. Steve Fossett is our modern hero. He has raising the bar of human capacity, endurance & endearing dreams. And he's the only who can jump over it.

Highly recommend this book. There are somes humorous passages that will make you feel like you were in the back seat. So enjoy the ride of a life time.

This is a fantastic read for all age levels. I couldn't put the book down and I really got the feeling that I was along for the ride in all of Steve's adventures. He's the greatest adventurous alive today. I especially liked that you got to know all about Steve's life and that gave me a feeling about the man before I started reading about his exciting and dangerous adventures. I can't believe he swam the English Chanel at 45. That's amazing! I think this book could make several movies. It needs to be in all libraries across the nation to inspire children and adults to seek their dreams and believe that anything is possible. It's a great read.

"Chasing the Wind" is a great opportunity to see what today's technology and the stubborn determination to succeed can acoumplish for Steve Fossett. Here is the story of Steve fossett and the loyal support of his wife Peggy, through their adventures and achievements of life. Each event of his collection of conquests is archestrated by his age an strength.
His great achievement, in my opinion, is his ability to convince a team of dogs to sucessfully complete the Idenorod dogsled race, and then at another time, adjust his body in such a way as to be able to fly around the world in record time, without any sleep. Buy this book, read it, and then give it to the local library in your town!

Our protagonist here makes a a series of comebacks, the kind we like to log, whether coming back from losing all his trading capital (twice) to build a great fortune (he never says how much, too modest), dousing harrowing propane fires in his hot air balloons, separating fighting dogs while competing in the Iditarod in the wilderness, swimming the English Channel. And much, much more.

The feats are truly stupendous, mind-boggling, almost unbelievable that one individual could do so many, yet as evidence that he was, indeed, human, Fossett occasionally fails (Everest climb, e.g.). We have always wondered about another of his "failures," i.e. why Fossett seemed to fail to capture wider acclaim, at least wider vis-à-vis what we thought his status in the pantheon of pop culture should have been (when a close friend described Fossett as "his hero" we realized we had never heard that kind of acclamation applied to Fossett so we sought out this book to read his whole story). The author provides some insights on that: he says he never chased fame, the high of the accomplishment was enough. His recounting of these achievements, and they are staggering, comes off sometimes a bit like working down the Saturday to-do, he is that matter-of-fact. Maybe that was the "real" Steve...cool, calm, calculating, quiet and modest. No Superman cape. No light shows. Maybe that is the answer to my question, maybe those qualities are not publicizable compared to trials and tribulations of the latest actor or actress going to or coming from rehab?

When he disappeared on a routine flight Labor Day 2007, the mystery of Steve Fossett didn't get any plainer. How could someone who planned his adventures so meticulously (he was a professional risk manager on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, after all), take off without a GPS device, thus making it impossible to track him? We'll never know, but thankfully he was stirred to lay down his account of his remarkable life before that fateful day.

Another good friend, and CBOE trader, (and Mackinaw sail race winner, like the author) knew Fossett personally, and speaks highly of his personal integrity, competitiveness, and personal qualities. We didn't share the experience of knowing him personally, but reading this book is the next best thing. Well worth your time to do the same.

An incredible person whose ambition is to do it better than anyone else and to break records. Almost anything in life that Fossett set out to do he has done. I wish there were more Fossetts around. Good read.
David Bingham

This was purchaed as a gift so I merely scanned through it and found it in excelllent condition and an inspiring account, especially for a young man who just received his Eagle Scout award.

"I always meant to invite Steve to one of our luncheon meetings." And with that, my friend who lives across the street from the Fossett residence loaned me this book to read. Being a retired fighter pilot and airline captain, my fellow club member referred to Steve Fossett's fatal plane crash in that almost clinically detached way people do who gamble with the high risks and experience the high personal rewards.

As I write this review, I keep looking at the book's cover. It is a close-up of Steve standing by the Global Flyer, the plane he flew solo around the world. He is dressed in a white "Right Stuff' looking flight suit. But the round face, thinning hair and cherubic smile on this 63 year old face seems incongruous for an adventurer with a list of "firsts' that runs for pages.

This book stuffs you into the cramped cockpits of airplanes and the windswept decks of unimaginably big and fast sailboats. You and Steve are suspended in the cold thin upper atmosphere in a gas balloon or soaring to great heights and speeds in a high tech glider. He was looking forward to sharing with us his next adventure, a deep submersible trip miles down into the Marianas Trench.

Published scarcely a year before his untimely death in rugged mountainous terrain, the epilogue he wrote is all the more poignant: "There are places yet to be explored and important records to be broken." Perhaps because I know my friend has spoken with her since his death, it is Steve Fossett's wife Peggy's words, at the very beginning of the book that stick with me the most. "Do I worry? Well, of course I do, something might be wrong with our marriage if I didn't...I am proud to be his wife, supporter and a member of his crew."

And this reviewer regrets Steve never made it to our luncheon.

COMPUTER BRAIN
MOLASBA

A really inspiring look at the greatest adventurer of our time. I bought this just before he went missing....
The writing is a little amatuerish, which means he probably wrote it all himself rather than some ghost writer.

As someone who has met Steve many times, I found his book an easy read and interesting. The book filled in for me (at least) some details of his earlier life and adventures that I wasn't aware of. As a pilot I was disappointed that there was only a small (at the end) reference to the adventures that we experienced in Argentina, but I'm biased :-)))

I have to say for a autobiography it was what was expected, mentioning Steve's early childhood, the Eagle Scout influence etc etc. I was also impressed with the detailed accounts of each adventure, be it climbing, sailing, ballooning, and with aircraft. Obviously Steve is a 'driven' man and achieves his goals. On the motivational level - I learnt about Steve the planner and organiser - especially for the longer term. Some of his plans and projects have taken many many years... Steve admits he's not into PR... so the choice of photos that are included in the book are somewhat disappointing, but no doubt there will be a sequel.

The book would be a welcome addition to any person's library who is interested in adventure, achievement and what is possible...