Reviews for Flying on the Gages

The average rating for Flying on the Gages based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-07-02 00:00:00 Nina Schjnsby Guillaume de Syon's publication, Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship, 1900-1939, follows the history of the German airship company. Various aspects of German culture are reflected from the time frame which the company held it's glory; reflecting pessimistic attitudes towards flight and those that believed the opposite. Count Zeppelin's desire to prove German society's overall attitude wrong results in the cash cow that his invention becomes. One line summarizes the overall theme of the novel; "Such activities were common in many nations, but outsiders found it difficult to take seriously the activities of enthusiasts who looked more like avid bird watchers than would-be masters of the skies."(de Syon, George. Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship, 1900-1939. Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, 2002. Print). Personally, I found the book a decent presentation of the companies history. I like how it includes one individual desire to prove society's standards as archaic in the sense of not believing man's ability to fly. I found the writing a little odd at first, partly because of some of the witty remarks by the author. It did however, finally click after about ten pages. De Sion's inclusion of Zeppelin's numerous test flights left me intrigued as to whether future flights would prove successful enough for public transportation, a sort of foreshadowing of the company's fate. I personally enjoyed this book, however, I do not believe it is a read for everyone, as I find it's field would be more in line with aeronautic fanatics.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-24 00:00:00 Terry P. King I picked up this book because I've recently gotten interested in the Graf Zeppelin. This book is a survey of the genisis of the airship from early beginnings through the first part of the 20th century. It focuses on Count Zeppelin and how his efforts to further his ideas about this technology eventually caught the imagination of the German people. While it includs historical background and technical information, its real purpose is to understand how the zeppelin became part of the mass-culture of Germany and eventually around the world. Such an impressive technological marvel required massive amounts of resources and money to develop, build and operate yet was inherently risky and never reached its promised potential. Yet even today the sight of such a vehicle gives a thrill to the people on the ground. This is a scholarly work, impressively researched and moderately easy to read - not for entertainment but for enlightment. The parallels to present day technological marvels are not lost to the reader or the writer. While those could have been pursued further, that would properly be the subject of another work.