From man's earliest expressions on the magic of flying to the chilling last words of some of aviation's giants, here's an utterly unique collection of 1,000 of the most memorable thoughts on flight down through the ages. Concisely capturing flying's special allure and excitement as well as its humor and tragedy, this power-packed anthology of quotations by Leonardo da Vinci, Lindbergh, Armstrong, Yeager, and hundreds of others amply illustrates why, as aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal rhapsodized, "To fly is everything."

Writing the Heavenly Frontier celebrates the early voices of the air as it examines the sky as a metaphorical and political landscape. While flight histories usually focus on the physical dangers of early aviation, this book introduces the figurative liabilities of ascension. Early pilot-writers not only grappled with an unwieldy machine; they also grappled with poetics that were extremely selective. Tropes that cast Charles Lindbergh as the transcendent hero of the new millennium were the same ones that kept women, black Americans, and indigenous peoples imaginatively tethered to the ground. The most popular flight autobiographies in the United States posited a hero who rose from the mundane to the miraculous; and yet the most startling autobiographies point out the social factors that limited or forbade vertical movement—both literally and figuratively. A survey of pilot writing, the book will appeal to flight enthusiasts and people interested in American autobiography and culture. But it will also appeal strongly to readers interested in the poetics and politics of place.

Ever since the caveman gazed longingly at the winged creatures above him, mankind has been enamored with the idea of flight—of just taking off and soaring away. Steven A. Ruffin celebrates that spirit, that sense of wonder, with Aviation’s Most Wanted™: The Top 10 Book of Winged Wonders, Lucky Landings, and Other Aerial Oddities. With dozens of top-ten lists focusing on notable flights, memorable planes, famous and infamous aviators, aircraft combat, air travel—even space travel—and so much more, Ruffin provides a treasure trove of fun facts and amazing anecdotes celebrating the world’s love affair with flight, plus the hurt that accompanies any deep love. Will Rogers died in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska, with aviation legend Wiley Post at the controls. Rogers was writing an article at the time of the crash; eerily, the last word he typed was “death.” Isoroku Yamamoto, who masterminded the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, met his fate in similarly sneaky fashion. U.S. forces intercepted and decoded information on Yamamoto’s travel plans and “Pearl Harbored” his plane, shooting it down into the island jungle of Bougainville. The safest seat in a crash depends on if you crash on takeoff or on landing—so flip a coin! You’ll read about the first and worst of flight, aces and races, and everything from crimes, sex, and controversy to planes so fast they can outrun the sun. With Aviation’s Most Wanted™ you’ll get the history of flight from the early balloon adventures of the eighteenth century until the present, laid out with trivia and tales to amuse and amaze!

Three simple words–“I love you”–capture the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry. These three words form the bottom line and top drawer of all his teachings. And they remain the three hardest words in the world to get right. Two pronouns and a verb have never been so difficult to grasp, much less to practice. Popular culture has ruined love’s reputation by redefining it first as romance, and then as lust. But it’s not just the meaning of the word love that causes so much confusion. To fully understand love, we also need to find out who we are in God’s eyes and whom we are commanded to love. Following Jesus can be described as the daily practice of all three words: I. Love. You. There is nothing more rewarding, and nothing more risky. Join Leonard Sweet in this eye-opening, life-altering exploration of three simple, one-syllable words. After all, the lifestyle of love is the only life that Jesus calls you to live. There is nothing more challenging than adopting the three-word lifestyle of Jesus as your own. Perhaps you have wondered why love seems to work for everyone else, but not for you. Or maybe you’ve done your best to love those around you, but it seems that life has drained your last drop of trust and affection. Nothing is better than love when it’s right; and nothing is more destructive than attempts at love that fail to follow the Jesus prescription for a healthy life. Jesus devoted his earthly life to saying these three words–I love you–and teaching us how to say them. As Jesus defined love, it takes everything you’ve got…and then even more, which only God can give. The lifestyle of love is not something you can master on your own, but Jesus is ready to show you how. Starting today, you can learn to live “I love you”–the three hardest words in the world to get right. Leonard Sweet, PhD, serves as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, and founder and president of SpiritVenture Ministries. He has written many books, including Out of the Question…Into the Mystery and the trilogy SoulTsunami, AquaChurch, and SoulSalsa.

The definitive biography of Alan Shepard, America’s first man in space, with a new Foreword by Chris Kraft “One of the finest books ever written about the space program.”—Homer Hickan, author of Rocket Boys “A wonderful and gripping biography . . . meticulously reported in the best tradition of David Halberstam.”—Buzz Bissinger, New York Times bestselling author of Friday Night Lights Alan Shepard was the brashest, cockiest, and most flamboyant of America’s original Mercury Seven, but he was also regarded as the best. Intense, colorful, and dramatic, he was among the most private of America’s public figures and, until his death in 1998, he guarded the story of his life zealously. Light This Candle, based on Neal Thompson’s exclusive access to private papers and interviews with Shepard’s family and closest friends—including John Glenn, Wally Schirra, and Gordon Cooper—offers a riveting, action-packed account of Shepard’s life.

How did American fighter pilots respond to the challenges posed by increasing automation? Spurred by their commanders during the Korean War to be “tigers,” aggressive and tenacious American fighter pilots charged headlong into packs of fireball-spewing enemy MiGs, relying on their keen eyesight, piloting finesse, and steady trigger fingers to achieve victory. But by the 1980s, American fighter pilots vanquished their foes by focusing on a four-inch-square cockpit display, manipulating electromagnetic waves, and launching rocket-propelled guided missiles from miles away. In this new era of automated, long-range air combat, can fighter pilots still be considered tigers? Aimed at scholars of technology and airpower aficionados alike, Steven A. Fino’s Tiger Check offers a detailed study of air-to-air combat focusing on three of the US Air Force’s most famed aircraft: the F-86E Sabre, the F-4C Phantom II, and the F-15A Eagle. Fino argues that increasing fire control automation altered what fighter pilots actually did during air-to-air combat. Drawing on an array of sources, as well as his own decade of experience as an F-15C fighter pilot, Fino unpacks not just the technological black box of fighter fire control equipment, but also fighter pilots’ attitudes toward their profession and their evolving aircraft. He describes how pilots grappled with the new technologies, acutely aware that the very systems that promised to simplify their jobs while increasing their lethality in the air also threatened to rob them of the quintessential—albeit mythic—fighter pilot experience. Finally, Fino explains that these new systems often required new, unique skills that took time for the pilots to identify and then develop. Eschewing the typical “great machine” or “great pilot” perspectives that dominate aviation historiography, Tiger Check provides a richer perspective on humans and machines working and evolving together in the air. The book illuminates the complex interactions between human and machine that accompany advancing automation in the workplace.

Concisely capturing flying's special allure and excitement as well as its humor and tragedy, this follow-up to the author's popular Slipping the Surly Bonds: Great Quotations on Flight features 600 additional memorable thoughts on flight. * Great gift and general interest book, perfect for museum shops * Subjects include The Wonder of Flight, Airports, Combat, Safety, Space Flight, UFOs, Pilots, and Birds * Includes quotations from Amelia Earhart, Wilbur Wright, and Roger Caras