The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed [Paperback]

John McPhee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

This is the fascinating story of the dream of a completely new aircraft, a hybrid of the plane and the rigid airship - huge, wingless, moving slowly through the lower sky. John McPhee chronicles the perhaps unfathomable perseverance of the aircraft's sucessive progenitors.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Since the explosion of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst, New Jersey, energy-efficient, lighter-than-air ships have given way to gas-guzzling jet aircraft. But in the 1960s, an unusual band of inventors, engineers and investors, again in New Jersey, created the Aereon, a strange, wingless hybrid airplane/dirigible. The Aereon--the Deltoid Pumpkin Seed-- promised to be a safe workhorse of the skies, capable of carrying the payload of entire freight trains with minimal cost.

In this exquisitely crafted tale of back-to-the-drawing-board perseverance, McPhee tells the story not only of the Aereon, but of any product development team. He astutely delineates the team members' personalities and interactions, delves back in time to the origins of lighter-than-air craft and the history of propellers, and in the end, makes us wonder why this promising technology hasn't been perfected. Like Aramis: Or the Love of Technology, this is a splendid book about a potentially superior aircraft which has yet to be adopted.

Review

"It's a book Leonardo da Vinci would have warmed to, a set of experiments he's have changed."—Paul West, The Washington Post

"What gives [McPhee's] writing its powerful fascination is the strange, raw quality of fact: it all really happened, just the way . . . McPhee watches so intently that the Aereon and its people become real and important to the reader."—John Skow, Los Angeles Times

"McPhee has a genius for writing about unusual people whose activities border on the eccentric, and the Aereon project abounded with them. His engrossing account can be read at a sitting."—Donald R. Morris, The Houston Post

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374516359
• ISBN-13: 978-0374516352
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #652,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. The same year he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with FSG, and soon followed with The Headmaster (1966), Oranges (1967), The Pine Barrens (1968), A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles (collection, 1969), The Crofter and the Laird (1969), Levels of the Game (1970), Encounters with the Archdruid (1972), The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (1973), The Curve of Binding Energy (1974), Pieces of the Frame (collection, 1975), and The Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975). Both Encounters with the Archdruid and The Curve of Binding Energy were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For a sense of wonder and anticipation that stays with you, April 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Georgia, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (Paperback)

This is the first McPhee book I ever read-- way back when it first came out. How well I remember it! How many years I have continued to look for news of the needed technology for large scale commercial use of lighter than air craft finally being mastered (and we still seem on the brink of making it work). A bookstore clerk had told me as I picked up the book, "That is one strange book. We do not know where to put it. Should it be in history, science, biography, reference, the technology section on air craft, business? No place seems quite right." I knew I would read more books by McPhee after this exquisite find, but I did not expect the next one to be on-- oranges! What a book The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed is; what a writer McPhee is. His books always leave you with the feeling that you now have a special insight into something out of the ordinary. And indeed you do.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great McPhee work, February 7, 2002

By 

"hassnick" (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (Paperback)

I am an unabashed fan of John McPhee, and believe him to be one of the todays's best non-fiction writers. _The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed_ does nothing but reinforce my impression.

I knew very little about 'lighter-than-air' history or technology before reading _Pumpkin Seed_, but McPhee assumes no prior knowledge. Indeed, one of the things I like best about McPhee is his ability to explain topics of a complex nature to a lay audience.

The story's 'characters' are exquisitely developed, and their interactions with each other are sometimes tragic, often hillarious. A number of them would make fascinating subjects for biographies in their own right.

If you have any interest in avaiation history, or just enjoy reading a well-crafted non-fiction work, I highly recommend this book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating bad sad, January 31, 2010

By 

Karl Matheson (Utah) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (Hardcover)

interesting story, sad that they ran out of money and were not able to pursue the project. the company still exists and makes drones for military I belive.