Sticks & Wires & Cloth

Rating:
Summary: A modern tale about flying as it was in the early days.
Review: Anne Hopkins takes you back to the early days of flying - but her adventures have taken place in recent times. Her vivid descriptions of learning to handle an airplane designed in the 20's really captures your attention. Through her eyes, you learn that, even in the 21st century, there are still new vistas to explore and challenges to undertake.
The book itself is beautifully crafted with pictures carefully woven into each chapter. The cover photo shows Anne's biplane resting comfortable on a grass field - looking much more at home than on a big city runway - that is the environment for which it was designed. And her book tells the reader that this is the environment in which Anne feels most at home.

Rating:
Summary: A Love Story between a woman and her airplane
Review: Anne Hopkins' book is for anyone who knows that flying is more than machines and destinations. She will place you in the front cockpit of her Great Lakes biplane and take you on a thrilling adventure filled with the awesome sights and sounds of flight. If you are a lover of the gift of flight this book is a must for you collection!

So check your harness, tighten your belt and buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: Pure poetry...
Review: For everyone who has dreamed of flying off beyond the horizon, to adventures unknown, in a vintage open cockpit biplane.

And for those who have yet to dream this dream, this is the place to start. This dream comes with all the senses, to see the world as eagles do, to feel what it's like to touch a cloud with your fingers and face, the scents of forests and rivers, farms and oceans, the rumbling sounds of a trusted engine pulling you along...

To suggest that you read this book is to suggest that you do something beautiful for yourself...

Pleasant dreams!

Rating:
Summary: Pure poetry...
Review: For everyone who has dreamed of flying off beyond the horizon, to adventures unknown, in a vintage open cockpit biplane.

And for those who have yet to dream this dream, this is the place to start. This dream comes with all the senses, to see the world as eagles do, to feel what it's like to touch a cloud with your fingers and face, the scents of forests and rivers, farms and oceans, the rumbling sounds of a trusted engine pulling you along...

To suggest that you read this book is to suggest that you do something beautiful for yourself...

Pleasant dreams!

Rating:
Summary: A Love Story between a woman and her airplane
Review: My copy of "Sticks & Wire & Cloth" arrived from Amazon.com on a Friday afternoon. I started reading it that evening and couldn't put it down -- I finished it that Saturday around 7PM! What a wonderful, magical book. It was a joy to read, and a joy to fly "behind Anne Hopkins' eyes" and watch the wonder of Nanna's flights and the country unfold beneath him. I can't get the book out of my head. I've been searching for a way to describe the feeling it gave me, and what finally occurred to me was a surprise. This is a love story between a woman and her Great Lakes biplane. Thank you, Anne, for sharing the romance with me.

When I read this book my feeling was, "if I could only write one book, I would wish for it to be like this!" It deserves a wide audience, which I hope it will enjoy. I've urged the book on friends, and I've already decided to buy several copies for friends for Christmas. This is a book which pilots will love of course, but its appeal is much broader -- to anyone who can take joy in freedom and in engaging life with a passion.

I discovered that Anne Hopkins has a website and was covering her barnstorming book promotion tour there. I logged on and was surprised to find that the tour ended in Tennessee. I was heartsick when I clicked on that locale and discovered why. I had just discovered Nanna, and now found that he might be lost. I hope that by now the news is better; after all, he apparently survived a flip over in the past, so perhaps after a lengthy recuperation...? Here's hoping that his recovery time is short. He and Anne have got a lot more flying to do.

Rating:
Summary: Replete with study, preparation, and firsthand memories
Review: Sticks & Wires & Cloth by Anne Hopkins is the personal story of a woman who pursued her dream to fly in a 1929-design biplane. Replete with study, preparation, and firsthand memories of the wind in one's face and one braves the sky, Sticks & Wires & Cloth is an invigorating and involving testimony recommended for aviation buffs and armchair travelers, offering the most vivid impressions of biplane flying experience to be had without actually climbing into one and taking off. Sticks & Wires & Cloth is a unique and welcome addition to any personal or community library Aviation Studies collection.

Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Tale of the Magic of Flying Across America
Review: Sticks & Wires & Cloth is an almost magical description of a woman's adventure in flying across America at 500 feet in a small open-cockpit biplane. Beautifully crafted, the book weaves vignettes about America and the people she has met along the way. When you read it you experience the adventure of flying right along with her. I will admit to a modest amout of bias since I flew with her on most of the miles covered.