Bird Dream

Bird Dream PDF Author: Matt Higgins
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698163826
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
PEN / ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing (2015 LONGLIST) “[P]erversely entertaining... In a truly intoxicating read that was hard to put down, Matt Higgins has managed to make real a world about as far removed from daily life as it gets.” --Daily Beast "Matt Higgins cracks open this astonishingly dangerous sport and captures the spectacular adrenaline surges it delivers."--The Wall Street Journal "[R]iveting... a must-read. A highflying, electrifying story." --Kirkus (STARRED) A heart-stopping narrative of risk and courage, Bird Dream tells the story of the remarkable men and women who pioneered the latest advances in aerial exploration—from skydiving to BASE jumping to wingsuit flying—and made history with their daring. By the end of the twentieth century BASE jumping was the most dangerous of all the extreme sports, with thrill-seeking jumpers parachuting from bridges, mountains, radio towers, and even skyscrapers. Despite numerous fatalities and legal skirmishes, BASE jumpers like Jeb Corliss of California thought they had discovered the ultimate rush. But all this changed for Corliss in 1999, when, high in the mountains of northern Italy, he and other jumpers watched in wonder as a stranger—wearing a cunning new jumpsuit featuring “wings” between the arms and legs—leaped from a ledge and then actually flew from the vertiginous cliffs. Drawing on intimate access to Corliss and other top pilots from around the globe,Bird Dream tracks the evolution of the wingsuit movement through the larger than life characters who, in an age of viral video, forced the sport onto the world stage. Their exploits—which entranced millions of fans along the way—defied imagination. They were flying; not like the Wright brothers, but the way we do in our dreams. Some dared to dream of going further yet, to a day when a wingsuit pilot might fly, and land, all without a parachute. A growing number of wingsuit pilots began plotting ways in which a human being might leap from the sky and land. A half dozen groups around the world were dedicated to this quest for a “wingsuit landing,” conjuring the pursuit of nations that once inspired the race to first summit Everest. Given his fame as a stuntman, the brash, publicity-hungry Corliss remained the popular favorite to claim the first landing. Yet Bird Dream also tracks the path of another man, Gary Connery—a forty-two-year-old Englishman—who was quietly plotting to beat Corliss at his own game. Accompanied by an international cast of wingsuit devotees—including a Finnish magician, a parachute tester from Brazil, an Australian computer programmer, a gruff hang-gliding champion-turned-aeronautical engineer, a French skydiving champion, and a South African costume designer—Corliss and Connery raced to leap into the unknown, a contest that would lead to triumph for one and nearly cost the other his life. Based on five years of firsthand reporting and original interviews, Bird Dream is the work of journalist Matt Higgins, who traveled the world alongside these extraordinary men and women as they jumped and flew in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Offering a behind-the-scenes take on some of the most spectacular and disastrous events of the wingsuit movement, Higgins’s Bird Dream is a riveting, adrenaline-fueled adventure at the very edge of human experience.

Bird Dream

Bird Dream PDF Author: Matt Higgins
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698163826
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
PEN / ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing (2015 LONGLIST) “[P]erversely entertaining... In a truly intoxicating read that was hard to put down, Matt Higgins has managed to make real a world about as far removed from daily life as it gets.” --Daily Beast "Matt Higgins cracks open this astonishingly dangerous sport and captures the spectacular adrenaline surges it delivers."--The Wall Street Journal "[R]iveting... a must-read. A highflying, electrifying story." --Kirkus (STARRED) A heart-stopping narrative of risk and courage, Bird Dream tells the story of the remarkable men and women who pioneered the latest advances in aerial exploration—from skydiving to BASE jumping to wingsuit flying—and made history with their daring. By the end of the twentieth century BASE jumping was the most dangerous of all the extreme sports, with thrill-seeking jumpers parachuting from bridges, mountains, radio towers, and even skyscrapers. Despite numerous fatalities and legal skirmishes, BASE jumpers like Jeb Corliss of California thought they had discovered the ultimate rush. But all this changed for Corliss in 1999, when, high in the mountains of northern Italy, he and other jumpers watched in wonder as a stranger—wearing a cunning new jumpsuit featuring “wings” between the arms and legs—leaped from a ledge and then actually flew from the vertiginous cliffs. Drawing on intimate access to Corliss and other top pilots from around the globe,Bird Dream tracks the evolution of the wingsuit movement through the larger than life characters who, in an age of viral video, forced the sport onto the world stage. Their exploits—which entranced millions of fans along the way—defied imagination. They were flying; not like the Wright brothers, but the way we do in our dreams. Some dared to dream of going further yet, to a day when a wingsuit pilot might fly, and land, all without a parachute. A growing number of wingsuit pilots began plotting ways in which a human being might leap from the sky and land. A half dozen groups around the world were dedicated to this quest for a “wingsuit landing,” conjuring the pursuit of nations that once inspired the race to first summit Everest. Given his fame as a stuntman, the brash, publicity-hungry Corliss remained the popular favorite to claim the first landing. Yet Bird Dream also tracks the path of another man, Gary Connery—a forty-two-year-old Englishman—who was quietly plotting to beat Corliss at his own game. Accompanied by an international cast of wingsuit devotees—including a Finnish magician, a parachute tester from Brazil, an Australian computer programmer, a gruff hang-gliding champion-turned-aeronautical engineer, a French skydiving champion, and a South African costume designer—Corliss and Connery raced to leap into the unknown, a contest that would lead to triumph for one and nearly cost the other his life. Based on five years of firsthand reporting and original interviews, Bird Dream is the work of journalist Matt Higgins, who traveled the world alongside these extraordinary men and women as they jumped and flew in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Offering a behind-the-scenes take on some of the most spectacular and disastrous events of the wingsuit movement, Higgins’s Bird Dream is a riveting, adrenaline-fueled adventure at the very edge of human experience.

Bird Dream

Bird Dream PDF Author: Matt Higgins
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143127462
Category : BASE jumping
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
A heart-stopping narrative of risk and courage, Bird Dream tells the story of the remarkable men and women who pioneered the latest advances in aerial exploration--from skydiving to BASE jumping to wingsuit flying--and made history with their daring.

Birds in a Book (A Bouquet in a Book)

Birds in a Book (A Bouquet in a Book) PDF Author: Lesley Earle (Children's author)
Publisher: Bouquet in a Book
ISBN: 9781419733932
Category : Birds
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book contains ten beloved birds from around the world, each perched on a branch that you can 'pop up' from the page.

Wild Dog Dreaming

Wild Dog Dreaming PDF Author: Deborah Bird Rose
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 081393091X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
We are living in the midst of the Earth's sixth great extinction event, the first one caused by a single species: our own. In Wild Dog Dreaming, Deborah Bird Rose explores what constitutes an ethical relationship with nonhuman others in this era of loss. She asks, Who are we, as a species? How do we fit into the Earth's systems? Amidst so much change, how do we find our way into new stories to guide us? Rose explores these questions in the form of a dialogue between science and the humanities. Drawing on her conversations with Aboriginal people, for whom questions of extinction are up-close and very personal, Rose develops a mode of exposition that is dialogical, philosophical, and open-ended. An inspiration for Rose--and a touchstone throughout her book--is the endangered dingo of Australia. The dingo is not the first animal to face extinction, but its story is particularly disturbing because the threat to its future is being actively engineered by humans. The brazenness with which the dingo is being wiped out sheds valuable, and chilling, light on the likely fate of countless other animal and plant species. "People save what they love," observed Michael Soul , the great conservation biologist. We must ask whether we, as humans, are capable of loving--and therefore capable of caring for--the animals and plants that are disappearing in a cascade of extinctions. Wild Dog Dreaming engages this question, and the result is a bold account of the entangled ethics of love, contingency, and desire.

Lonely Bird's Dream

Lonely Bird's Dream PDF Author: Ruth Whiting
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 1536240583
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
Longing to fly, a near-wingless paper bird puts her creativity to work in this visually stunning follow-up to Lonely Bird. One night, Lonely Bird has a dream. She wakes with the memory of riding the wind. There must be a way. If Lonely Bird is a bird, why doesn’t she have feathers and wings like the birds she sees through the windows of her home? Why can’t she fly? A curious and inventive soul, Lonely Bird studies drawings of old-fashioned flying machines, conducts delicate experiments with feathers, and constructs her own little marvels as she pursues her elusive goal. Will the inevitable bumps and perils along the way ground her for good, or will she rise up to try again? In Lonely Bird’s second adventure, author-illustrator Ruth Whiting launches her artistic heroine on a tenacious exploration of identity, set in an enchanting miniature world that may just exist on the edge of our own.

How to Make a Bird

How to Make a Bird PDF Author: Meg McKinlay
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 1536215260
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
To make a bird, you'll need hundreds of tiny, hollow bones, so light you can barely feel them on your palm, so light they can float on air. Next you'll need feathers, for warmth and lift. There will be more besides - perhaps shells and stones for last touches - but what will finally make your bird tremble with dreams of open sky and soaring flight? This picture book shows how even the smallest of things, combined with wonder and a steady heart, can transform into works of magic.

Someone Builds the Dream

Someone Builds the Dream PDF Author: Lisa Wheeler
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984814346
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Buildings, bridges, and books don't exist without the workers who are often invisible in the final product, as this joyous and profound picture book reveals from acclaimed author of The Christmas Boot Lisa Wheeler and New York Times bestselling illustrator of Love Loren Long All across this great big world, jobs are getting done by many hands in many lands. It takes much more than ONE. Gorgeously written and illustrated, this is an eye-opening exploration of the many types of work that go into building our world--from the making of a bridge to a wind farm, an amusement park, and even the very picture book that you are reading. An architect may dream up the plans for a house, but someone has to actually work the saws and pound the nails. This book is a thank-you to the skilled women and men who work tirelessly to see our dreams brought to life.

A Songbird Dreams of Singing

A Songbird Dreams of Singing PDF Author: Kate Hosford
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241421101
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Do you know how animals sleep? Otters fall asleep while holding hands; zebra finches practise their songs while dreaming; dolphins keep one half of their brain awake . . . Beautiful poems about sleeping animals are interspersed with fascinating facts and beautiful illustrations - making this the perfect bedtime book!

The Man Who Dared to Dream

The Man Who Dared to Dream PDF Author: Don F. Zullo
Publisher: Author House
ISBN: 148174447X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
This is a story of tragedy, love, heartbreak, hope, humor, forgiveness, and the pure power of human compassion. An old man has been living on his own for many years. Although not considered a recluse or hermit, he does spend much time alone. He is guilt-ridden and has many regrets which he thinks about in his isolation. Mainly, its the guilt of leaving his children on that day, those many years past. His guilt haunts him in the form of dreams and nightmares. The old man is a father whose heart aches with the love for his children, yet he finds it difficult to locate the level ground on which to have a relationship, as well as a level piece of ground to deal with the choices that he has made in his life. A bird of faith, not believed to exist, befriends him and stands by him, even to protect him from a near-death tragedy, and has the ability to locate him, no matter where he is. Although once a solid blackbird, it slowly changes to white as the man sheds his guilt. He develops a passion to make sketches of the bird, and this becomes a source that creates the problem. Due to certain circumstances, he ends up in a hospital mental ward. A continuous barrage of technicalities and other circumstances make it difficult for him to attain his freedom. He captures the love of a middle-aged, not-so pretty, recovering drug addict who along with her illiteracy had a speech impediment. A dedicated doctor finds he is not too old to learn a lesson about life from his patient. And two compassionate ward nurses befriend him and help him make life-changing decisions. His impact on them is no less life-changing. Hopefully, the man who dared to dream will capture your heart, as well.

The World Dream Book

The World Dream Book PDF Author: Sarvananda Bluestone
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1594775567
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
A unique self-help guide to dream interpretation using techniques and icons from cultures around the world. • Challenges the assumption that all symbols universally signify the same thing to all dreamers. • Includes numerous stories, games, and exercises for inducing, recalling, interpreting, and utilizing dreams. • Extends beyond Jung and Freud to include dream theory from numerous world cultures, including the Temiar of Malaya, the African Ibans, the Lepchka of the Himalayas, and the Ute of North America. Dreaming can be used as a tool for understanding our own consciousness, enhancing creativity, receiving visions, conquering fears, interpreting recent events, healing the body, and evolving the soul. Tapping into the vast dreaming experiences and lore of the world's cultures--from the Siwa people of the Libyan desert to the Naskapi Indians of Labrador--Sarvananda Bluestone challenges the assumption that all symbols universally signify the same thing to all dreamers. The World Dream Book encourages readers to develop their own, personalized symbols for understanding their consciousness and provides a series of stories, multicultural techniques, and games to help them do so. Playful explorations, such as the aboriginal "Sipping the Water of the Moon," teach how to induce, recall, interpret, and utilize the power of dreams. Readers will discover how a stone under a pillow can help us remember a dream and will explore their own dormant artist and writer as they reclaim the power of their sleeping consciousness. Sarvananda Bluestone applies his uniquely engaging style to demonstrate that, with a few simple tools, everybody has the capacity to unleash their full dreaming potential.