More with Less: Paul MacCready and the Dream of Efficient Flight

by Paul Ciotti

Book Overview

In the 1970s a group of California visionaries developed an interest in lightweight, low-powered machines. Scientist and engineer, Paul MacCready, pulled them together to build a plane capable of winning a long-standing prize for human powered flight. Their other successes included a man-powered plane, a solar powered plane, a solar-powered car, an 18-foot flapping wing flying replica of a pterodactyl for a Smithsonian-sponsored IMAX film, and a high-altitude...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893554503
• ISBN13: 9781893554504
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Encounter Books
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Museum of Flight Docent's review

More with Less provides details and picture not included in the book on the Gossamer airplanes. I was especially intrigued by the statement that the plane that made the channel crossing was the 'dirty' airplane'; not the 'clean' one. The Gossamer Albatross hanging at The Museum of Flight (MOF) in Seattle is billed as the backup for the plane that made the successful crossing. Is the MOF plane then the 'clean' version? The book includes interesting items about Paul MacCready that added to my knowledge as a Docent. MOF Docent

Too Little About More With Less

I've had the pleasure of hiking into the San Gabriel Mountains with Paul MacCready. I've gone to lectures at Caltech where MacCready was in the audience and I've looked on his [ever present] notebooks with wonder. More With Less is a good read and a quick read, but it left me wanting a full-fledged biography of Paul MacCready AND a more complete volume on efficiency in this high tech world. Despite this, I enjoyed Paul Ciotti's take on both subjects. As an introduction to both subjects, More With Less does a very good job. If you are looking for a more detailed book on either subject, my guess is that you'll be disappointed.

A fascinating look at aviation

I had hoped "More with Less" would be an in-depth biography of Dr. Paul MacCready, former National Soaring Champion, designer of the Gossamer Albatross and Gossamer Condor, and engineer extraordinaire. It's not. The book focusses on MacCready only as a central figure in the evolution of efficient flight. The author spends far more time talking about other people and things (like the southern California hang-gliding scene in the 70s) than he does tracing MacCready's life. There is very little here for hungry little glider pilots like me that want to read in depth about MacCready's adventures in the beautiful Orlik sailplane, his contest successes, etc. That is the bad news. The good news is that the author weaves a fascinating tale of the people and machines (albeit with little technical detail) involved in this corner of the flying world. The author describes the people in the book candidly, warts and all. Not knowing any of these people I can't vouch for his accuracy, but he paints far more interesting portraits than the "hero engineer" so often presented in this kind of book, and it is this aspect that makes the book so interesting to read. The illustrations are terribly reproduced, mislabled in at least one case, and there are far too few of them! I know from seeing two of Paul MacCready's slide shows that there are many great photographs in existence that could have and should have been used in this book. That aside, anyone interested in flying machines that do more with less, and the people who design, build, and fly them, will enjoy reading this book.