Song of the sky [Hardcover]

Guy Murchie (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 438 pages
• Publisher: Ziff-Davis Pub. Co; Revised edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871650304
• ISBN-13: 978-0871650306
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,755,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic yet scientific view of the world of flight., May 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of the sky (Hardcover)

Guy Murchie is extraordinary: a wartime flier who knows the world of science intimately, yet describes it all with the soul of a poet. Go aloft with him: feel the air currents lift your body, yet know why the air molecules move as they do. Whether you are interested in airplanes--or meteorology-- or navigation--or not, this book belongs in your library. Illustrated with numerous tiny drawings by the author.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic book on navigation and flying, February 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of the sky (Hardcover)

Murchie was obviously a great influence on Richard Bach's early flying books. His narrative style of framing topics about navigation within a flight across the Atlantic must have been the inspiration for Bach's "Stranger to the Ground," another great book about flying. Murchie takes you on journies through the evolution of early ocean navigation, celestial navigation, and flight. Fascinating even for non-pilots and non-science oriented readers. A master of explaining complex phenomenon, "Song of the Sky" will leave the reader with an appreciation of man's long struggle to conquer the ocean and sky. If you like Richard Bach or Ernest Gann, you will absolutely love "Song of the Sky."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lore- Bird Flight - Early Flight- War Story - Meterorology, February 8, 2002

By 

Upward Call - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the sky (Hardcover)

Song of The Sky; An Exploration of the Ocean of Air
by Guy Murchie
First Published by Houghton Mifflin 1954

Simple descriptions or labels cannot capture the essence of this eclectic and well-researched book, which proved a popular award winner in its day. The recipe includes one part meterology, one part navigation, one part history of early flight, one part bird flight, one part flying lore, one part travel log, one part war story, seasoned with a dash of Ripley's Believe It or Not. Six pages detail the names of the planet's various winds, in the native tongues of the people who encounter them. In trying to comprehend how the book came to be so varied, it helps to understand that the author was a mariner, a school teacher, a pilot, a navigator, a musician, a war correspondent, and an artist. He has illustrated the book with pen and ink renderings of art deco C-54 transports, majestic sky scapes, and technical sketches of snow crystals. In all, it is as rich and comprehensive response to flight and the sky as any author has recorded for us.