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To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers
 
 
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To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "By four years old, disdain for my fellow man starts to show: I climb onto everything to distance myself..." (more)
Key Phrases: reach the clouds, balancing pole, yellow rope, New York, Papa Rudy, World Trade Center (more...)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On the morning of August 7, 1974 having already illegally rigged and walked steel cables between the towers of Notre Dame in Paris and Australia's Sydney Harbor Bridge French funambulist Petit illegally rigged 200 feet of 7/8" steel cable between the two World Trade Center towers and walked between them repeatedly, lying down at one point and making eight crossings in all. This incredible feat resulted from six years of obsessive planning and problem-solving, meticulously documented in this engrossing, truly exhilarating account of how he pulled it off. Petit has penned four previous books in French regaling his various exploits, and here establishes an elegantly energetic and quirkily poetic English as he tells of secretly (and benignly) casing the World Trade Center, assembling his team of helpers for the enormously complicated (and improvised) rigging job, getting the heavy cable and rigging tools to the roof, running the wire across in the dead of night (via an arrow shot between the towers!), and tightening the cable: "Even in the midst of the hardest rigging job or most demanding clandestine adventure, I never fail to pause and admire the moment when tension brings my cable to what I consider its most seductive shape. Then I pause and smile back." The way in which the walk itself stopped traffic and galvanized the city is captured in Petit's descriptions and the 140 b&w photos (including Petit's notebook sketches), a most fitting remembrance of the World Trade Center as a piece of New York social architecture. The spirit behind Petit's form of trespass undertaken with enormous care, to the point of wrapping the rigging in carpet so it would not damage the towers acts directly against the violation of the city's structures and the murder of its people.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal

On August 7, 1974, French funambulist Petit, then 24, performed an astonishing high-wire act on a cable that he and his accomplices had surreptitiously rigged between the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. In short, predominantly one-page chapters, Petit details the entire adventure, from its inception in a Parisian dentist's office in 1968 through his hour-long aerial feat of eight trips across the cable, 1350 feet above the ground, while more than 100,000 New Yorkers watched. Wonderfully documented are the assemblage of his confederates, the innumerable covert trips to the towers, the exhaustive planning, and, especially, the seemingly endless frustrations, problems, fights, and difficulties throughout the six-year period that led up to the "artistic crime of the century." Part Houdini, part Evil Kneivel, Petit is certainly fascinating; if his prose sags a little under the weight of too many exclamatory and interrogative sentences and hyperbolic tropes, he is to be forgiven; after all, he spent an hour suspended between heaven and earth. The 140 drawings and photographs are by Petit and his comrades and tend to be a bit amateurish, but they do give readers an idea of just how audacious a feat it was. Essential. Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: North Point Press; 1st edition (September 4, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0865476519
  • ISBN-13: 978-0865476516
  • Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,770 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Philippe Petit
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
By four years old, disdain for my fellow man starts to show: I climb onto everything to distance myself. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
reach the clouds, balancing pole, yellow rope, lower ledge, north tower, south tower
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Papa Rudy, World Trade Center, Jim Moore, Central Park, John the Divine, Circus Sarrasani, Fisher Company
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Last Man Down by Richard Picciotto
 

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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dreams Do Come True!, April 30, 2003
This is a beautiful book that proves dreams do come true if you really want something bad enough and are willing to work hard enough no matter what the risk to reach that goal. It was Paris, 1968, when young 18-year-old street performer Philippe Petit saw a sketch of the proposed World Trade Center towers, and he was so awestruck that he drew a line between the two rooftops of the towers, and decided then and there that his ultimate goal was to one day walk on a high wire between the two towers. Over the next six years he perfected his craft. He did public performances atop Paris' Notre Dame in June, 1971, and he walked between the northern pylons of the world's largest steel arch bridge in Sydney harbor, as well as other high wire acts. One day in late summer 1974, Petit's dream came true. As thousands watched he made eights crossings between the towers, 110 stories above the ground, in less than an hour.

I think the most fascinating aspect about this story, was the lengths that Petit and his co-conspirators went to plan, train, and carry out this unauthorized feat. It's all here in vivid detail. And even if you didn't bother to read the text in this book, the photographs are amazing and breathtaking by themselves. This is a captivating memoir that captures the excitement, triumph, and joy of Petit's stunning achievement. Now that the towers are, sadly, gone, it's all the more important as a part of the towers history. I more than enjoyed this memoir, I was fascinated by it. It is certainly a positive and enlightening ray of hope for those who dream of the impossible!

Joe Hanssen

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ode to achieving dreams. The magic of balancing in the air., June 13, 2003
By Raja Mannar "rajmannar" (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Firstly, i am so surprised that this book does not figure in the "Hype list" of any Media outlet. Luckily, i came across a short review of this book in a magazine and was intrigued to know that Sep11'2001 was not the first time that the towers of World trade centre captivated the attention of millions around. It was way back in 1974, when a French tightrope walker did the unprecedented daredevilry act of walking between the peak of two towers on a cable which he had rigged illegaly the previous night. He walked for 45 minutes from one tower to another, making the sky his theatre. Why did he do it?? Was it for fame? Money? Lunacy?? Philipe Petit's book explains the whole adventure in simple prose accompanied by sketches and photographs which were done during the unfolding of his "project". It is an amazing adventure. Reading it is like reliving it- Petit achieves that magic of retelling a story and giving his readers a feeling of experiencing it vicariously.

When Petit was asked by a TV crew why he did it - his answer was, when i saw three oranged, i juggle. When i see two towers, i walk ! ;-)

Petit was not alone in his effort to breakthrough the security of the towers and implement his plan. Aiding him where his friends who believed in his ability and went to great lenghts against all odds in planning and pulling off the feat.

This is a great book, in the true spirit of adventure and the endless capacity of a human to set and achieve his goals. One more imporant thing to note, Petit doesn't sound arrogant or egoistical. At the peak moment of his success, he is modest and humble, bowing to the gods in every element which helped him in the feat - the wind, the sea, the people below, his dear friends, the friends who stood by and the friends who gave up- he sees gods in all of them and thanks them for their role.

I am not given to effusive praise and there is nothing like a perfect ten. But, this is a fine read.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wit, Charm, Bravery, An Impish Sense of Fun, November 1, 2002
By A Customer
Philippe Petit pulled off the ultimate caper: to connect two post-modern towers by a slender thread, which he then danced upon, smiling, to the surprise of the world. The ultimate tribute to the towers is this story, written by a guy whose cleverness and hard work led to a celebration of the height of our aspirations. This Frenchman, who refused all the profits of fame, still aspires to create moments to remember. Do you dream? Do you look at the dullness of the world and see infinite possibilities? Then you should read this funny, poetic, inspiring book. This is a how-to book for dreamers.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Autobiography of Greatness
To Reach the Clouds is a short, concise, true adventure story and autobiography about the life of a man who reached for the stars. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Gapa Jones

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing story
This story so intrigued me.I watched the documentary three times and then read the book.The book goes into much more detail regarding the breathtaking ordeal of engineering the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sarah

5.0 out of 5 stars clubikon
Man On Wire is a great memoir/diary by French street artist Philippe Petit documenting his legendary walk on wire between the North and South towers of the WTC in 1974. Read more
Published 9 months ago by clubikon

5.0 out of 5 stars "The wire is always ready to kill me by surprise,..."
Philippe Petit shaped his story with guidance from Marlon Brando: "By practicing the discipline of self-imposed intellectual immobility -- akin to the stillness Marlon calls for... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Robert C. Ross

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Time New Yorkers looked up at the Twin Towers in disbelief.
I have been living near the Twin Towers for over 30 years, and try as I did, I always had to go into length about Minoru Yamasaki's wondrous structure that architects loved to... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Pristine Angie at www.d332.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Passion and Spirit
Petit's autobiography of his absolute single minded passion to defy gravity and walk between the Twin Towers is the most beautiful book I have ever read. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Dave Harvey

5.0 out of 5 stars So improbable and exilerating
I recently saw "Man on Wire" in the theatres (more on that later), and having seen this movie prompted me to seek out the book that high wire walker Philippe Petit wrote about his... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Paul Allaer

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally inspiring!
This book pulled me out of the doldrums. What an appealing person Petit is! Daring, ingenious, and courageous to an insane degree, he pulled off the greatest feat of street... Read more
Published on June 16, 2005 by Clare Howell

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and Inspiring
I remember seeing the WTC towers being built, still partly framed in steel, as a child in the late 1960's. I also remember a snippet of this event in the news in the 70s. Read more
Published on March 26, 2005 by Ironmike1

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping stuff!!
I have just finished reading this book. The tension was unbearable as the operation in the sky was carried out and as I read on I realised.... my feet were sweating!! Read more
Published on November 2, 2004 by Garry Heald

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