Reading Reflection No. 1

I read the book The Wright Brothers by David McCullough and was thoughouly entertained throughout the book.  The book tells the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright and their tireless efforts to create a “flying machine.” They were inspired by the countless people who tried to conquer the skies including their friend and mentor Otto Lilianthal. These two bright men with no college education were able to create a printing press, a newspaper company and a successful “safety bike” company which lead to their involvement in aeronautics. The book discusses their constant trial and errors to eventually making a flying machine that they were proud of.

            What surprised me most was at how sacksful these brothers were without any college education. They were able to build their own bike design that lead to an early success and learned about the dynamics of flight on their own time. I most admired the tenacity of their efforts of constantly pushing through many failures to make slight accomplishments. There tenacity to make this flying machine shows just how much hard work can pay off. There wasn’t anything about the brothers that was striking that I didn’t admire. They faced constant failure and their ability to rethink the problems and to try out multiple solutions allowed for them to overcome obstacles.

            I really enjoy McCullough’s writing because he is very is able to extrapolate complex ideas into easy to understand terminology and has clear writing style. The only thing that was slightly difficult was to grasp was their father. He was a pastor and yet let his sons and daughter have free reign over their beliefs. I would imagine a pastor father would be upset if his children didn’t want to study religion and instead wanted to conquer the skies. If I could ask the Wright brothers two things, they would be: would you have been happy if you stayed with the bike business? And what was the hardest obstacle to overcome when building your flying machine? I think the Wright brothers had a strong opinion for hard work. They were able to get everywhere the wanted through hard work. They overcame and persevered through many tough obstacles that lesser men would have left alone. I also believe in hard work and its ability to open doors for those who tough through the hardships of life. I think that the Wright brothers are two of the greatest entrepreneurs that have shown how hard work can pay off.