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Airplanes, Women, and Song: Memoirs of a Fighter Ace, Test Pilot, and Adventurer
Boris Sergievsky ,
Allan Forsyth , and
Adam Hochschild
Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0815605455 |
Book Description
Boris Sergievsky was one of the most colorful of the early aviators. He made his first flight less than ten years after the Wright brothers made theirs; he made his last only four years before the first Concorde took off.
Born in Russia, Sergievsky learned to fly in 1912. In World War I, he became a much-decorated infantry officer and then a fighter pilot. During the Russian Civil War that followed, he fought on three fronts against the Bolsheviks.
Coming to America in 1923, the first job he could find in New York was with a pick and shovel, digging the Holland Tunnel, but he soon joined Igor Sikorsky's airplane company. He became chief test pilot for the Sikorsky flying boats that Pan American Airways used worldwide, setting seventeen world aviation records along the way.
Sergievsky also flew pioneering flights across uncharted African and Latin American jungles, flew with Lindbergh, and tested early helicopters and jets. Through it all, his sense of humor remained intact, as did his passion for beautiful women. His story is illustrated with more than 40 rare photographs.
Book Description
On his deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and greatest naked-eye astronomer, Tycho Brahe, begged his young colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let me not seem to have lived in vain." For more than thirty years-- mostly in his native Denmark and then in Prague under the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II-- Tycho had meticulously observed the movements of the planets and the positions of the stars. From these observations he developed his Tychonic system of the universe-- a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief that the Earth stood still with Nicolaus Copernicus's revolutionary rearrangement of the solar system some fifty years earlier. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's arrangement, in which all the planets circled the Sun; and he was afraid his system-- the product of a lifetime of effort to explain how the universe worked-- would be abandoned.
In point of fact, it was. From his study of Tycho's observations came Kepler's stunning three Laws of Planetary Motion-- ever since the cornerstone of cosmology and our understanding of the heavens. Yet, as Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures would have his reputation today without the other. The story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the more memorable sagas in the long history of science.
Set in a singularly turbulent and colorful era in European history, at the turning point when medieval gave way to modern, Tycho & Kepler is both a highly original dual biography and a masterful recreation of how science advances. From Tycho's fabulous Uraniborg Observatory on an island off the Danish coast to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II; from the religious conflict of the Thirty Years' War that rocked all of Europe to Kepler's extraordinary leaps of understanding, Ferguson recounts a fascinating interplay of science and religion, politics and personality. Her insights recolor the established characters of Tycho and Kepler, and her book opens a rich window onto our place in the universe.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Book! Well worth your time!.......2006-04-05
Tycho and Kepler: The Unlikely Partnership That Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens, by Kitty Ferguson, is a 402-page dedication to two astronomical greats of the early seventeenth century, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Beginning with an examination of the society into which Brahe was born, the book traces him throughout his childhood and adulthood, from the building of Uraniborg, Brahe's astronomical observatory on the island of Hven to his banishment from the kingdom of Denmark. Not until nearly the hundredth page is Kepler discussed, but from that point forward, tales from each man's life are alternated. It seems that more time is devoted to Brahe. The two stories come together when the men meet, and it follows them together from that point forward. When Brahe passes away, the focus immediately and entirely shifts to Kepler and follows him to the end of the book. The story comes to an abrupt finish with Kepler's death, though the volume also contains three appendices explaining and elaborating on complex astronomical terms discussed in the body of the book.
I think Ms. Ferguson decided to recount this story because she was interested in both astronomy and history. From reading the book, one can feel the interest the author has in the subject matter. While reading this book, I became interested in the topic as well, but sometimes felt a bit lost. Occasionally, it seemed that she went too much in depth on certain topics, such as the construction of Uraniborg, which she described in great detail. In general, however, Kitty Ferguson seems to like enjoy writing about this topic, and conveys her enthusiasm in her writing.
This is a good book. I read it for a school assignment, and was not especially interested in the topic at hand at first, though I rapidly became drawn into the story. I only grew bored of the book when it began to explain complex astronomical concepts. While all ideas were explained in full and in understandable language, accompanied by appropriate pictures and diagrams, it was still somewhat tedious for someone not especially knowledgeable about astronomy to wade through. The flow of the book is excellent. It never felt rushed, and the transitions between sections focusing on each scientist were smooth. The one thing that I really disliked about this book was its sudden ending. It ends at Kepler's death; it does not even mention the impacts of Brahe and Kepler's work on later scientists. Despite this inadequacy, I was left with a good impression of Ms. Ferguson's book, and with much more knowledge about astronomy, Tycho Brahe, and Johannes Kepler than I had when beginning to read this book.
Tycho & Kepler - a gooooood read.......2005-04-01
Tycho & Kepler - The Unlikely Friendship that Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens is, for the most part, an excellent novel and easy read. Although it is a little confusing and dry at the times when complex astronomical concepts are being explained, they are outweighed by the wealth of historical accounts and gratuitous, but juicy tidbits. For instance, besides explaining the extensive instruments that Tycho built, Ferguson offers that he was also the first Dane to write a poem in Latin, that he had a twin that died at birth, and his aunt and uncle kidnapped him from his parents who wanted a girl and didn't much care. As for Kepler, not only did he develop the Harmonic theory, but had a miserable marriage, a mother accused and tried for witchcraft, and was the first author of a science fiction novel. Kitty Ferguson thus tells the life stories of the astronomers Tycho and Kepler in an informative, educational, yet narrative and interesting way. She effectively spans the 20-year gap between Tycho and Kepler by beginning the book describing Tycho's childhood and indeed his life exclusively up until the advent of a comet on December 27, 1571. Ferguson explains that, when Tycho saw the comet, he was out at one of his 60 manmade fish ponds on his estate at the Danish Isle of Hven, catching fish for dinner that evening. Meanwhile Kepler saw the same comet, but he was only five, and it was during a rare warm moment that he shared with his mother on a hilltop in Leonberg. Thus Kepler enters the story. For the rest of the book, Ferguson fluidly integrates the two men's lives, switching back and forth in an understandable, connected way. She eventually merges the two stories in a dynamic, functional manner, and shows how they used each other, and that many of their final results were synthesized versions of their combined efforts. Basically, Tycho provided excruciatingly accurate data that Kepler confirmed mathematically and extrapolated on. Kepler could have never figured out all that he did with out Tycho's data; he had bad eyesight and could not observe the sky he so dearly slaved for. It was because Tycho initially mistrusted Kepler that Kepler received only slight amounts of data that Kepler discovered that planetary orbits are elliptical - Tycho gave him only data on Mars, which happens to have the most extreme elliptical orbit, otherwise Kepler never would have noticed. Tycho also used Kepler to advance his own work and complete (among other things) the Rudolfine Tables, which are not merely the positions of planets, but guides to figure out what positions they are in at any time, (now, 586 years ago, or one thousand years into the future). The aptly-named chapters are elegantly punctuated with helpful pictures, like paintings of people discussed, illustrations of instruments, maps of the places mentioned, explanatory diagrams, and more. There are also obliging appendixes in the back, explaining astronomical terms (even though they are well-explained in the reading), and an index.
Just as the accomplishments of these men were great, so were their lives, which is probably why Kitty Ferguson felt compelled to tell the story of them. I would highly recommend it, even if you do not much care for astronomy.
The Odd Couple.......2005-04-01
Kitty Ferguson tells the tail of the unique and often humorous relationship between Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe that led to some of the greatest astronomical discoveries of our time. Going against the common belief of the geocentric universe, Kepler changes the world forever with the essential help of Brahe's observation on the heavens. Although the result of their relationship is extraordinarily beneficial to astronomy, the relationship is not as peaceful as one would think. Ferguson makes this evident throughout the story and gives numerous examples of their feuding and bickering over their work together. It reminded me of a 17th century spin off of the odd couple. Both informative and entertaining, this book covers everything from Brahe's golden nose to Kepler robbery of Brahe's information and is definitely worth reading if you are interested in the subject.
Tycho and Kepler.......2004-02-01
An amazing and inspirational account of one of the greatest stories in the history of science. Extremely well written and scholarly. I have average reading skills but at times found the book impossible to put down. In spots I had to stop reading it because emotions took over. The best book I ever read about the classical scientists.
Experimentalist & Theorist.......2003-05-27
As a physics teacher, I like to use the background on figures from scientific history to try to generate some interest from my students. When teaching Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, I always make sure to talk about the contributions of Tycho Brahe. To my mind, the relationship between Brahe and Kepler is one of the earliest examples of the experimentalist/theorist relationship and, unfortunately, it is the experimentalist who is often lost to history while the theorist is remembered. I teach my students the names of both Brahe and Kepler as a small effort to rectify this unfairness. Kitty Ferguson has made a larger effort with this book and I hope she is able to reach a large readership.
Ms. Ferguson has at least given herself a chance by writing a very good book. Her prose is very engaging. She is detailed both science and biography and yet she is quite easy to understand even for those without a scientific background. And she has two extraordinarily interesting characters to talk about--Brahe, the rather spoiled Danish aristocrat who brought glory to himself against the odds in a "ignoble" profession by becoming the greatest naked eye astronomer in history, and Kepler, the poor German Protestant school teacher who had a knack for doing mathematics and finding trouble.
Though I knew the broad outline of Brahe and Kepler's story, I was surprised again and again by all I did not know. I may not be able to incorporate it all into my classes but I am glad to know the story myself. It is always interesting to see how the great ideas came into being, mostly through more fits, starts and mistakes than most people realize. Anyone interested in scientific history would be foolish to pass up reading this book.
Customer Reviews:
Lousy Title -- Great Book.......2007-03-31
Don't judge this book by its cover or its title! Its ugliness is only skin deep. Great beauty lies within.
Students and enthusiasts of the histories of the sciences will find this book both entertaining and enlightening. The heroes of history and science are not just names on pages and dead faces in old art. They were real live people with personalities, attitudes, and mindsets that affected (and effected) their work and their working relationships. This book is proof of it.
The "housedog" reference in the title comes from Kepler himself, a commoner from a family of modest means, as he describes his early relationship with Brahe, the nobleman. The detail the author provides in the individual histories of the two - Kepler and Brahe - and in the circumstances of their meeting and subsequent relationship is impressive.
This is the British edition of this biography of two of the greatest of the Rennaisance astronomers. The book is published in the US as "Tycho & Kepler: The Unlikely Partnership That Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens" with a more attractive cover and internal design.
A really good book.......2006-04-13
What an appaling title! It is difficlt to imagine how anybody could create enthusiasm about a book about Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.
I bought this book at a used book store as a curiosity and it sat on one of my bookshelves for the last few months. The title has no impact but I had glimpsed something about its contents. Nothing about the external covering of this book or the way in which the internal illustrations or plates are presented illuminates how good the book really is. It has an overall drabness about it that I can only attribute to the publisher. The subject matter is hardly riveting and I have ignored the book for some time because I expected it to be drab. What a mistake!
Ms Ferguson has a writing style that makes reading a story about 16th century astronomers and mathematicians run like a detective novel. I loved this book! I give it five stars but even though I think the presentation is lack lustre and the fact that her explanations of Kepler's work are not too clear. The diagrams relating to Kepler's work are poor and you really have to have some other understanding of his work to understand why Kepler is important to modern understanding of the universe.
This criticism aside, I think Ms Ferguson does a magnificent job of portraying the lives of both Tycho (pronounced Teeko - thank you for this) Brahe and Kepler in a way that makes them appear human. These are names I have known almost my entire adult life but it takes a work like this to make them human. I did find a bias towards Brahe but I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I would have to read her other works to see if she has some kind of bias to nobility (I jest).
I can best describe this book as a 'rare treasure'. It really is the kind of book that you can curl up by a fire on a cold night and read from cover to cover.
I am a scientist and I love reading books about the history of science but rarely have I found such a well written and engrosing book as this. I give it 5 stars even with the lack-lustre (I originally wrote poor - but that would be unfare) presentation. This is not to say the way that chapter structres are not good - they really are. I think Ms Ferguson has done a great job, Its just that the final presentation is a little dowdy.
It has to be asked "why would anybody write about such an obscure subject?" and "why would anybody read it?" I can answer these questions with the simple statement that reading this book leaves one a much richer person. I will certainly be looking for some other books by Ms Ferguson - I hope they are as good. Originally, I gave this book 4 stars because of the presentation but, picking it up again, I realise how much I really enjoyed reading it. The mark of a good book is when you wish you hadn't reached the end. This is a book I wish I had never finished.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Kliatt, published by Kliatt on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 351 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Ferguson, Kitty. Tycho & Kepler; the unlikely partnership that forever changed our understanding of the heavens.(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
Author: Edna Boardman
Publication:
Kliatt (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: Kliatt
Volume: 38
Issue: 5
Page: 48(3)
Article Type: Book Review, Young Adult Review
Distributed by Thompson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Queen's Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 3761 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Witchcraft, suspicious death, and planetary orbits.(Heavenly Intrigue: Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and the Murder behind One of History's Greatest Scientific Discoveries)(Kepler's Witch: An Astronomer's Discovery of Cosmic Order amid Religious War, Political Intrigue, and the Heresy Trial of his Mother)(Tycho and Kepler: The Unlikely Partnership that Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens)(Book Review)
Author: Stan Corbett
Publication:
Queen's Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 112
Issue: 3
Page: 416(13)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
You may have waited a long time. You may have tried and tried.
Now your chances of having a baby are better than ever!
There have been remarkable advances in fertility technology and choices in the last few years, with pregnancy success rates skyrocketing. Now Making a Baby provides the information you need to become your most fertile--and increase your chances for having the baby you've always wanted. Up-to-date, comprehensive, written with compassion and clarity, this book reveals how to protect, increase, and extend your fertility, with essential information on:
- The optimal frequency, timing, and sexual positions for getting pregnant
- Surprising new findings on which foods and exercise programs boost fertility--and which ones actually decrease your chances
- Advances in baby-boosting medications--and a complete assessment of risks, costs, and alternatives
- Breakthrough medical techniques that help achieve pregnancy without the risk of multiples
- Avoiding the common--and often hidden--threats to fertility at work, at home, and in public places
- Choosing the A.R.T. (assisted reproductive technology) that's right for you
- Special issues for midlife mothers
- What every man should know about his long-term reproductive health
- How to minimize emotional stress and keep your relationship strong
- How to work with your HMO to get the right treatments--at the right cost
This detailed, insightful, and meticulously researched book will help guide you to a wonderful new beginning as a parent!
Customer Reviews:
WARNING!!! DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION!! DONT BUY THIS BOOK!!!.......2007-01-17
WARNING! THIS BOOK CONTAINS DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION!!! I recently ordered this book from an on-line website (author Debra Fulghum Bruce and Samuel Thatcher, M.D.) On p. 172 the doctors discuss folic acid requirements for expectant mothers...they say that you should be taking 1,000 milligrams. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG!! You should only be taking 1,000 micrograms at the most! The book made me panic! My prenatal vitamin only contains 1 milligram (1,000 micrograms), so I was afraid I was subjecting my baby to possible spina bifida. I called the pharmacist and he confirmed that I should only be taking 800-1,000 micrograms. 1,000 milligrams, as the book recommends, would be WAY TOO MUCH! This book runs the risk of sending expecting mothers into a panic and potentially causing a dangerous overdose of folic acid. Don't read this book! Find another source. Any author that would be this careless is not the source you want to approach for help!
Great book, but make sure you know what it you're buying.......2006-11-23
I was under the impression that this was a book for all couples wanting information on conceiving. It is actually more focused on infertility and oververcoming/dealing with infertility. There are some helpful chapters on BBT charting and drug-free ways to improve your conception chances (which is more what I was looking for), but as I mentioned beofre the primary focus is on infertile couples.
Cover of book misleading .......2006-08-16
I bought this book thinking it would be a good read before my husband and I started trying for a baby. The cover captions looked like there would be some great information inside. However, when I got the book and read the table of contents I immediately realized it was a book about infertility. I only give it 1 star not based on the content but on the misleading cover of the book. I'll have to pay better attention next time!
choose another book!.......2005-10-08
I've recently come into the TTC group and have sought out many books to get prepared...this book looked good, said all the right things on the cover but when I got it home, it was very hard to stay interested! It was like a textbook, not a very difficutlt read but difficult to want to keep reading. Now I'm ordering new books because I dislike this one so much. I'm sure if has useful information, but I'd rather read something more "personable".
Not Very Good for Those Trying to Conceive..........2005-09-20
This book read like a textbook...not very interesting or helpful. In fact, I read through it and was so unimpressed that I returned it the day after I received it!
Product Description
2 Fertility Book Set; Taking Charge of Your Fertility; Making a Baby: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant.
Book Description
Over 1,100 mouth-watering recipes are in this fabulous collection of favorites contributed by Mennonite families from all over the United States and Canada. All the recipes have been brought up-to-date for directions and measurements so whether it's oyster chowder or apple fritters, or the many main dishes and desserts that make Mennonite cooking so delicious, all of them can be enjoyed by the modern cook.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, nostalgic cookbook.......2005-09-21
This is a wonderful cookbook. It made me very nostolgic for my grandmother's upstate NY kitchen. I agree with the earlier reviewer that the recipes are nowhere as specific as those in more modern cookbooks. However that's not a detraction to me: they look just like the ones on my grandmother's recipe cards! There are indeed real gems in this collection and overall it's a good read.
Reprint of earlier book but NOT so marked!.......2001-10-17
This book is a reprint of the authors' _Mennonite Community Cookbook_ ... Every single page is identical, word for word (just a different cover, title, and typeface) - which to me constitutes gross misrepresentation since I couldn't find that mentioned anywhere in the book, and I obviously wouldn't knowingly have ordered a duplicate copy. However, if you don't have the earlier book, you will love it. (The reason I ordered it was because I like the original book so much, and was therefore eager to see a seemingly new title attributed to them.)
It is a compilation of recipes culled from Mennonites. Since the original book was written in 1950, the directions are nowhere near as explicit as they would be today -- and there are very few "warm, fuzzy" notes prefacing recipes, so you can't tell if something was included because it is quick and easy, cheap, uses readily available ingreadients (which may be expensive today and hard for you to locate) or because it is incredibly delicious. But the gems in the collection make it well worth owning, and I love the book. My one and only complaint is that this edition is not marked as a reprint of the original. Once again, if you don't already own the original, this one is lovely.
Good Cooking!.......2000-10-22
Our house burned down in June of this year, taking all my cookbooks with it. This was the first one I replaced and am ordering two more to give as Christmas presents. It is excellent!
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