Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wind, Sand and Stars
Book Review: A wonderful, easy reading
Summary: 4 Stars
Only on a few occasions in a lifetime is one given the chance to read a novel that so captures the lightness of the human spirit and the joy of living as in Antoine de Saint-Exup?ry's Wind, Sand, and Stars. With elegant, nearly poetic writing, he presents a small collection of stories from a lifetime of philosophy and adventure. Saint-Exup?ry was a French pilot who flew for the postal service A?ropostale in the 1920s, a time period when aviation was still a revolutionary and dangerous activity. Any fears he had were shadowed by his absolute love of flying and passion for soaring high above the earth, away from the material desires and violence of society. This endearing relationship between Saint-Exup?ry and his aircraft shows one of the many ways, as Wind, Sand, and Stars documents, that he finds happiness in his everyday life.Book Review: Adventure, Philosophy, Aviation . . . all of it
Summary: 5 Stars
A wonderful, wonderful autobiographical work by the French aviation pioneer. Antione de Saint-Exupery was among those first who flew the scheduled air mail runs over the Sahara in the 1920's and 30's. Engine failures, crahses, and falling into the hands of hostile Bedouins was not uncommon. Those stories alone would make for fascinating reading.
Add to that the author's genuine talent as a poet philospher, and this is a unique and great piece of historical literature. Saint-Exupery finds magic and value in everything . . . the lights of his primitive dashbord at night, the world scrolling under him while in flight, the hallucinations while dying of thirst face down in the desert sand. And his observations of people! - the love-hate relationship with the Arabs of the desert, a pair of little princesses living in fantastical (because the author makes it so) house in a remote jungle village, the heroics of Spanish revolutionaries and patriots.
The adventure aspects rival any fiction I have read . . . flying while held stationary in a tremendous offshore windstorm off the South American coast . . . the magic of nightfall while in flight . . . slamming into the Libyan desert floor while flying blind.
As he is wont to do, Saint-Ex frequently treks off into the motivations and worth of mens' efforts, and the human situation in general. But always good stuff, some of it ingenious. Thoughtful, posing many truths and questions.
A wonderful work. I had to read it in English, and doubtlessly something has been lost in the translation from French (transl by Lewis Galantiere). Still, not to be missed.
Book Review: Barely made it through
Summary: 1 Stars
I finished this book only because I had to. Pages and pages describing a single grain of sand. Not for me.Book Review: Fabulous adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading this thrilling autobiographical account of the authors adventures it is easy to understand why this book has been rated by National Geographic as one of the top 10 adventure books of all time. The reader is treated to a series of dangerous adventures including airplane crashes, desert survival in Libya, flying a mail plane above and through the Andes and Pyrenees mountain ranges, visiting inhospitable regions of Chili and Argentina, and observing up close the Spanish Civil War.
All the way through the book the author gives us his thoughts about men and mankind and what drives some to risk their lives for their beliefs, and how that impacts all of us.
A great read. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Flying is just the cover theme
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just finished this book I feel compelled to write a review. This book is about more than flying and the adventures of the French Airmen of that era. This book is a flight into the author's views of self-fulfillment, discovery, and his opinions on humanity, specifically the willingness of certain individuals to sacrifice themselves for a cause. The author relates tales of near misses with disaster and the feelings of redemption and a renewed sense of appreciation for life. There are also times when he feels himself completely isolated from the world below since he is constantly teetering on the brink (naturally, flying was much more dangerous back then)
One theme that is constantly brought up by the author is the value of human relationships and the constant struggle to make them work. The only thing truly valuable we attain in life are hard-earned friendships, especially those that share a common sense of hardship.
Overall this is a very insightful book with a lot of truth. Flying is the cover theme, but the pages and words reveal so much more.