The Best Air Sports Books 2024

1. Reno 2: The National Championship Air Races (Osprey colour series), Used [Paperback]

Reno 2: The National Championship Air Races (Osprey colour series) by Mike Jerram

Reno 2: The National Championship Air Races (Osprey colour series), Used [Paperback]

2. Falling Upwards : How We Took to the Air, Used [Hardcover]

** Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)** ** Time Magazine 10 Top Nonfiction Books of 2013** ** The New Republic Best Books of 2013** In this heart-lifting chronicle, Richard Holmes, author of the best-selling The Age of Wonder , follows the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, the daring and enigmatic men and women who risked their lives to take to the air (or fall into the sky). Why they did it, what their contemporaries thought of them, and how their flights revealed the secrets of our planet is a compelling adventure that only Holmes could tell. ? His accounts of the early Anglo-French balloon rivalries, the crazy firework flights of the beautiful Sophie Blanchard, the long-distance voyages of the American entrepreneur John Wise and French photographer Felix Nadar are dramatic and exhilarating. Holmes documents as well the balloons used to observe the horrors of modern battle during the Civil War (including a flight taken by George Armstrong Custer); the legendary tale of at least sixty-seven manned balloons that escaped from Paris (the first successful civilian airlift in history) during the Prussian siege of 1870-71; the high-altitude exploits of James Glaisher (who rose) seven miles above the earth without oxygen, helping to establish the new science of meteorology); and how Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jules Verne felt the imaginative impact of flight and allowed it to soar in their work. ? A seamless fusion of history, art, science, biography, and the metaphysics of flights, Falling Upwards explores the interplay between technology and imagination. And through the strange allure of these great balloonists, it offers a masterly portrait of human endeavor, recklessness, and vision. (With 24 pages of color illustrations, and black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

Falling Upwards : How We Took to the Air, Used [Hardcover]

3. Fly Low, Fly Fast: Inside the Reno Air Races [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. This first-ever insider foray into the world's fastest and most dangerous aviation sport is as thrilling as Ernest Gann's classic Fate Is the Hunter or Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff In Fly Low, Fly Fast, Robert Gandt takes us into the high-risk world of airplane racing, chronicling the 1997 and 1998 championships at the Reno Air Races, attended every year by more than 100,000 spectators and featured on scores of web sites. Flying wingtip to wingtip around pylons at 500 mph, just feet above the sagebrush, Reno's killing machines are piloted by an adrenaline-addicted, type-A elite whose big talent and big egos spawn a hundred stories. With the same vivid reportage of his Bogeys and Bandits --"about as close as you can get (to the cockpit) without arming the ejection seat," said the San Diego Union-Tribune--Gandt traces the history of this exhilarating but often deadly sport. He follows the evolution of competition planes from the 1930s custom exotics to today's big, throaty warbirds like the Mustang and Bearcat, still the fastest piston-engine planes ever built. Gandt also looks at the evolution of the pilots from famous laconic old-time air cowboys to the younger, slicker hot shots, the jet-fighter-trained "top guns." Fly Low, Fly Fast ignites with fierce rivalries, the struggles to keep the vintage warbirds flying, the heart-stopping drama of the races themselves...with winners, losers, close calls, spectacular crashes, and glorious victories. It's a book for aviation buffs, armchair adventurers and anyone fascinated by the passions that drive men and women to test their limits--and risk their lives--in the quest for speed.

Fly Low, Fly Fast: Inside the Reno Air Races, Used [Hardcover]

4. Parachuting: The Skydiver's Handbook [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Parachuting, The Skydiver's handbook is directed to those looking into the sport for the first time as well as the advance jumper. Every phase of skydiving, canopy flying, safety and equipment is covered. An appendix of skydiving terminology is included.

Parachuting: The Skydiver's Handbook, Used [Paperback]

5. Skydiving, Used [Library Binding]

Describes the history, equipment, and techniques of skydiving.

Skydiving, Used [Library Binding]

6. Three Seasons in the Wind: 950 Km by Canoe Down Northern Canadas Thelon River [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Personal account of a 37-day, 950 km canoe trip down the Thelon River, across the Barren Grounds of Northern Canada.

Three Seasons in the Wind: 950 Km by Canoe Down Northern Canadas Thelon River [Paperback - Used]

7. The Ultimate Book of Power Kiting and Kiteboarding [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. A guide to the amazing adrenaline-filled world of kite-powered traction action.

Ultimate Book of Power Kiting and Kiteboarding, Used [Paperback]

8. Gilding Kit: A Complete Guide to Easy Gilding, Used [Hardcover]

Even if you're an experienced trash-to-treasures dabbler who transforms yard sale finds into fancy furniture, you may have overlooked a terrific way to add extra pizzazz to your creations. This package provides plenty of inspiration, along with most of the supplies you'll need to get started: the lavishly produced book (also available separately) comes with 10 sheets of Dutch metal leaf, red earth bole, size, and sealer. Divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections, the projects range from tabletop items to furniture to statuary and are clearly demonstrated with step-by-step photos.

Gilding Kit: A Complete Guide to Easy Gilding, Used [Hardcover]

9. Schneider Trophy Racers [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Learn all about the trophy racers in this epic tale!

Schneider Trophy Racers, Used [Hardcover]

10. Meteorology for Glider Pilots, Used [Hardcover]

Meteorology for Glider Pilots by C. E. Wallington

Meteorology for Glider Pilots, Used [Hardcover]