Take a seat—the captain's seat, that is—and relax. You're about to land a Boeing 747. "Brilliant." — The Sunday TimesA Daily Mail and Spectator Best Book of the YearA Points Guy Best Book of the YearThe mystery of flight is magical; the reality even more so—from the physics that keeps a 450-ton vehicle aloft, to the symphony of technology and teamwork that safely sets it down again. Take...

Soms is het genoeg dat iemand je laat zien dat het kan.Als je altijd al op de stoel van een piloot hebt willen zitten, is Hoe land je een vliegtuig? dé manier om in de cockpit te kruipen. Marc Vanhoenacker, de vliegenier-dichter die poëzie weet te maken van de wetenschap achter vliegen, geeft jou de stuurknuppel in handen.Hij loodst je al pratend door het naderen en landen heen en bouwt zo je kennis over vliegen van de grond ad (of beter gezegd, vanuit de lucht) ...

**Sunday Times Bestseller****Book of the Week on Radio 4**'A beautiful book about a part of the modern world which remains genuinely magical’ Mark Haddon'One of the most constantly fascinating, but consistently under-appreciated aspects of modern life is the business of flying. Mark Vanhoenacker has written the ideal book on the subject: a description of what it’s like to fly by a commercial pilot who is also a master prose stylist and a deeply sensi...

This love letter to the cities of the world—from the airline pilot–author of Skyfaring—is "a journey around both the author's mind and the planet's great cities that leaves us energized, open to new experiences and ready to return more hopefully to our lives" (Alain de Botton, author of The Art of Travel).In his small New England hometown, Mark Vanhoenacker spent his childhood dreaming of elsewhere— of the distant, real cities he found on the illu...

In Skyfaring, airline pilot and flight romantic Mark Vanhoenacker shares his irrepressible love of flying, on a journey from day to night, from new ways of mapmaking and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Here, anew, is the simple wonder and transcendent joy of motion, and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love.

In this 2022 interview with Justine Willis Toms, long-haul commercial pilot Mark Vanhoenacker opens our vision to a more expansive landscape. He is a seasoned pilot and a brilliant lyrical writer about his journeys as experienced both from the air and on the ground where he chronicles for us some of the planet’s great cities. He is also a regular contributor to The New York Times and a columnist for the Financial Times.He says, “I get to so see so much of the ...

This love letter to the cities of the world—from the airline pilot–author of Skyfaring—is "a journey around both the author's mind and the planet's great cities that leaves us energized, open to new experiences and ready to return more hopefully to our lives" (Alain de Botton, author of The Art of Travel).In his small New England hometown, Mark Vanhoenacker spent his childhood dreaming of elsewhere— of the distant, real cities he found on the illu...

Sitting on a bench at a communal table in a restaurant in Regensburg, his plate loaded with disturbing amounts of bratwurst and sauerkraut made golden by candlelight shining through a massive glass of beer, Simon Winder was happily swinging his legs when a couple from Rottweil politely but awkwardly asked: "So: why are you here?"This book is an attempt to answer that question. Why spend time wandering around a country that remains a sort of dead zone for many foreigners, surrounded...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman, read by Patience Tomlinson.How to be a Victorian - a time traveller's guide to Victorian Britain by the BBC's Ruth GoodmanWe know what life was like for Victoria and Albert. But what was it like for a commoner like you or me? How did it feel to cook with coal and wash with tea leaves? Drink beer for breakfast and clean your te...

From the end of the Middle Ages to the First World War, Europe was dominated by one family: the Habsburgs. Their unprecedented rule is the focus of Simon Winder's vivid third book, Danubia.Winder's approach is friendly, witty, personal; this is a narrative that, while erudite and well researched, prefers to be discursive and anecdotal. In his survey of the centuries of often incompetent Habsburg rule which have continued to shape the fate of Central Europe, Winder does not...

In 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts was introduced to the world—twenty-nine men and six women who would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the space shuttle program. Among them was USAF Colonel Mike Mullane, who, in his memoir Riding Rockets, strips the heroic veneer from the astronaut corps and paints them as they are—human.Mullane's tales of arrested development among military flyboys working with feminist pioneers and post-doc scientists ar...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of First Light by Geoffrey Wellum, read by Andrew Brooke.Two months before the outbreak of the Second World War, eighteen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF...Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, cau...