Customer Reviews

The Prodigal Parents, a Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a very good as an advertisement for women to become aviators, but not good as a biography of Amelia Earhart. Though, it has some biographical information that is not the books purpose so a lot of the book is about aviation and women aviators in general. This book is great to see how aviation and women were viewed in the 1920s and 1930s however. It also has a great scene showing the everyday persons reaction to the end of World War II from Earhart's first hand experience.

we often do not have the chance to hear a person from our past but this book is a lyrical transcription of miss amelia earhart putnam. these are her words and observations and she lets us into her protected world to glimpse her passion. i recommend this book for anyone and everyone, the young child who seeks self esteem for the rough years of adolescence, the young adult trying to make their own way and even the well seasoned, this is a story of trimuph, something we are lacking in todays tabloid world.

Unlike Earhart's other works, 20 Hours, 40 Minutes and Last Flight, which focus on flight details and aircraft specifications, this one is about HER and her life and her love of flying. Amelia began her life in Kansas and she became a nurse, a car mechanic, a social worker, a photgrapher, and even an airline vice president before she became America's aviation sweetheart. In this book she tells about those occupations and the impacts they had on her life and choices. She also tells a funny tale here and there like the time she was sledding and barely missed a head on collision with a horse, going between its legs as luck would have it. Another funny tale (that also involves a horse) is when she had one as a passenger!

I got bored, however, when Earhart started about the weather bureau and went on a bit too much about the autogiro (helicopter today). The last quarter saves it from becoming a four star book tho. When today someone says the words "women in aviation" we immediately think about Amelia. Amelia generously hands out the credit tho. In the last quarter, Earhart talks about numerous women and their accomplishments in aviation including but not limited to Ruth Nichols, Elinor Smith, Bobby Trout, Anne Lindbergh, Phoebe Omlie, and even a historical great, Ruth Law. There is also a chapter devoted to the early days of hot air ballooning and the ladies involved.

This is a must read for any and all aviation buffs. I will be reading it again.

"The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation", by Amelia Earhart - Brewer, Warren & Putnam, NY 1932. HC - 213 pages, a list of Aviation Books By Women, and includes 31 B & W photographs, (many full-page and of good quality). 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Dedicated "To the Ninety Nines", this is the 2nd of 3 books Amelia wrote, the 1st being "20 Hrs. 40 Min." after her 1928 Atlantic crossing, whilst the 3rd was "Last Flight" in 1937 on her failed attempt to circumnavigate the globe at the equator.

Herein, AE writes largely a discursive autobiography, reveals her visions of the past, present and future for aviation, impels a strong calling for feminism/equalism of working sexes, ending with a final section about her 1932 solo flight across the Atlantic. AE is quick to point out much of her acclaim is/was due to contribution of others - that, as a girl or woman, she received a luxurience of acclaim, and reveals a modesty not often admitted by others. There is, thoughtfully, and purposefully, only minor mention of her husband George Putnam. AE provides a modest 'tour de force' on the history of flying: -- from balloons, dirigibles, to flying at time of Wright Bros., Dec. 17, 1903 and up to the early 1930's with speculation about supersonic stratoshperic flight, space ships, rocket engines, giant airlines, etc. and discussion of her flights in autogyros which predated heliocopters.

What we find in AE's writing is her directed appeal to encourage women's involvement in each and every phaase of aviation (mechanics, pilotage, meteorology, sales, production, and design): -- AE promotes aviation as an important industry still in its infancy for cargo, mail, transportation and 'for the fun of it'. AE is a skilled writer, making good analogies for her adiences/readers to follow concepts in a book largely free of error, written before 'spell-checker', etc. It is non-technical and should make for a wide reading audience.

I am a female pilot. I felt like I was sitting in an airport lounge with Amelia as she told me the story of her life. Even though there was a recent movie and many other books written about her, this book contains so many more details about the rich and courageous life she lived. For example, her mother did not believe in her daughters wearing skirts at a time when that was considered required by polite society. Amelia truly charted her own course through life from an early age and wrote about it honestly and engagingly. I highly recommend this book!

Of course we know that everything AE wrote had a little "help" from the peripatetic George Putnam. Nevertheless, he does not seem to have snuffed out her voice, which positively shines through with a clear wit, a cool yet observant eye, and a definite love of her life, times, and husband.

Owning a book that was written by Amelia herself is fantastic! I would not have known this book existed without Amazon. Great read!