If you’re looking for the real scoop on the Wright brothers, park yourself on the couch with this book. From the start, author Mary Kay Carson lets you know why Wilbur and Orville Wright were so successful—insatiable curiosity, persistence, and extraordinary parents.
    The Wright parents were just the right stuff for the brothers—progressive, well-travelled, and educated. In fact, both parents believed in equal opportunity for women. Daughter Katherine, born in 1874, eventually went to college—something neither Wilbur nor Orville managed! Okay, so they were a little busy changing the world.
The Wright parents encouraged problem-solving behaviour and early on both boys were busy inventing things. Their first printer was made using an old gravestone, hinges from the folding top of a horse buggy, and scrap metal. It worked. It was also their first partnership together, publishing the West Side News. From there, the partnership rose to—as we all know—incredible heights.
    The Wright brothers success built on the research and experiments of other flying dreamers, and Carson gives them ample credit. She also does a good job explaining why flight works. It’s a concept the brothers thought about long and hard and they were the first to really approach the problem in a scientific way. And who knew that because of their knowledge as bicycle manufacturers, this aerodynamic duo had an inventing advantage?

(Originally published in the Nov/Dec 2003 issue of YES Mag.)