Product Description

Praise for the hardcover edition:
"The explanation of the physics of flight is one of the strengths of Dalton's text... Dalton's high-speed photographs of animals in flight, combined with color illustrations, beautifully illuminate the sometimes arcane discussions. Overall, this breathtakingly illustrated and well written book is superb."
- Booklist

Insects and birds account for three-quarters of all land creatures. For many of them, the ability to fly has allowed them to live in diverse habitats all over the globe. For humans, the mastery of flight is a supreme technical achievement that has revolutionized our world during the last century.

The Miracle of Flight shows how animals evolved wings and how humans triumphed over the associated physical challenges of taking to the air. The magic of winged flight is passionately revealed in photography and color illustrations.

The main sections cover:

• Insects and the mechanics of their flight
• Birds and their wing structure
• Man's centuries old dream of flight
• The development of flight from balloons to jets and rockets.

Every section of The Miracle of Flight is illustrated by Dalton's stunning wildlife photographs and specially commissioned full color technical drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1676974 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 184 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Nature photographer Dalton (At the Water's Edge) combines high-speed photography, line drawings and text "to explain the basic principles that underlie all forms of winged flight, whether by insect, bird or man." In five abundantly illustrated chapters, Dalton explains the basic principles of aerodynamics, the evolution of flight by insects (the first members of the animal kingdom to take to the air), the adaptations that have permitted birds of all sizes to fly, the history of human flight and the essentials of transonic, supersonic and hypersonic flight. Because each (relatively brief) chapter is responsible for such a broad array of material, his coverage is superficial. Nonetheless, he includes a great deal of intriguing material. From a biological perspective, he reports, for example, that "four-winged insects, such as butterflies, moths, bees and wasps," have evolved anatomical mechanisms to lock their forewings and hindwings together in such a way that they operate in tandem; and we're shown how the albatross can fly "hundreds of miles with scarcely a flap of its 10-foot-long wings." From an engineering perspective, Dalton demonstrates why the Concorde's elaborate fuel delivery system, consisting of 13 interconnected tanks, is the most ingenious portion of the plane. While too technical in parts for the casual reader, this book is sure to engage anyone with even a passing interest in aviationAand the color photos and illustrations of flying machines, both organic (insects, birds, bats) and inorganic (airplanes, gliders, etc.), are magnificent. $50,000 ad campaign. (Oct.) FYI: In October, Firefly will also publish Secret Worlds, a collection, with copious captions, of Dalton's marvelous full-color wildlife photographs. ($35 160p ISBN 1-55209-384-0)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-This volume's simplicity of prose and elegance of illustration cannot fail to delight teen readers. Dalton explains and demonstrates the physics of flight in a straightforward style. In the process of educating readers, however, the author's love for his subject and his belief in its magic come through. Full-color photos, charts, graphs, and diagrams grace every glossy page of this well-produced book. Dalton captures on film the beauty and wonder as well as the science of both natural and human flight, from the breathtaking time-lapse sequences of a hummingbird to an aerial view of the supersonic Saab Gripen fighter. This scholarly yet enthusiastic work will be a treasured addition to any library.
Becky Ferrall, Stonewall Jackson High School, Manassas, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A fine overview of the world of flight from Dalton (Secret Lives, not reviewed, etc.), dramatized by his superb photography, with arresting graphic material that demystifies the mechanics of aerodynamics, and a text that allows the poetry of taking wing to keep its secrets. Flying is one of those things, like fire and ocean waves, that can halt us in our tracks to stand in wonder, so unearthly as to be divine. Dalton is clearly smitten with the subject, both writing of it and catching its displays in his photographs with great affection, though also with a desire to appreciate it further by explicating its fundamentals. Here he ponders the dynamics of fixed wing versus flapping with the same sense of astonishment he devotes to medieval tower jumpers, and a dragonfly hot on the heels of a gnat inspires the same awe as a peregrine stooping on a prairie pond full of ducks. What is understood of the evolution of bird wings is covered, as are the much better understood stratagems in wing design for vehicles of flight, from Leonardo da Vinci's early ornithopters, to Wilbur and Orville Wright's preoccupation with control in the pursuit of ``gaining flying experience without loss of life,'' to the Concorde, which is so aerodynamically efficient that slats and flaps are unnecessary. There is enough detail in the chapter on the control of modern aircraft to get readers, should they be so unlucky, through those sticky moments when the pilot of their small plane suddenly keels over and dies, and Dalton includes recent studies explaining lift in insects by vortices generated in nonsteady airflows, as well as a section to tell hang gliders, madly running down a hill in an effort to go up, just what they are doing. He makes it all sound fun, too. A love song to flying, limpid and graceful as the act itself. (Color photos and illus.) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.