A poetic and nuanced exploration of the human experience of flight that reminds us of the full imaginative weight of our most ordinary journeys—and reawakens our capacity to be amazed.The twenty-first century has relegated airplane flight—a once remarkable feat of human ingenuity—to the realm of the mundane. Mark Vanhoenacker, a 747 pilot who left academia and a career in the business world to pursue his childhood dream of flight, asks us to reimagine what we—both as pilots and as ...

THE DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE YEAR'Illuminates the practical reality of piloting in a concise and useful manner' Times Literary SupplementSo, hello! Welcome! Honestly, you look surprisingly relaxed. That's great to see. Have a seat on the left side of the cockpit - that's the captain's seat. Yes, that's right, you're now the captain, and yes, that's the runway down there. Fasten your seatbelt, order yourself a cup of tea, and...

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...

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) ...

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 ...

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.

Brought to you by Penguin.A love letter to the cities of the world, from the airline pilot-author of Skyfaring.Mark Vanhoenacker grew up in his small hometown, spinning the illuminated globe in his bedroom and dreaming of elsewhere - of distant, real cities, and a perfect metropolis that existed only in his imagination. These places were the source of endless comfort and escape, and of a lasting fascination: streets unspooled, towe...

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...

The New York Times-bestselling guide to botany and booze celebrates its 10th anniversary with an updated edition— now including a guide to planting your very own cocktail garden to go with more than fifty drink recipes. This fascinating, go-to text about the plants that make our drinks is the ideal gift book for every cocktail aficionado, the perfect drinks book for every plant-lover.Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barl...

A New York Times bestsellerFor millions of people, travel by air is a confounding, uncomfortable, and even fearful experience. Patrick Smith, airline pilot and author of the web's popular Ask the Pilot feature, separates the fact from fallacy and tells you everything you need to know...How planes fly, and a revealing look at the men and women who fly themStraight talk on turbulence, pilot training, and safetyThe real story on conge...

From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana — stories that illuminate the human drama behind the national plague of campus rapeMissoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team — the Grizzlies — with a rabid fan ba...

The New York Times bestselling Culture novel. . .The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization.An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the...