Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air

The balloon's pivotal role as the first form of flying technology has often been overlooked. Holmes (biographical studies, Univ. of East Anglia), the formerly self-described "romantic biographer" (e.g., Coleridge) who moved to the history of science with his previous book The Age of Wonder has brought romance to technological discovery in his latest work. The balloon, which played a minor role in The Age of Wonder, soars to new heights as the sole subject here. The author's own love of aerostats and aerostation (Holmes's favorite word for "ballooning") shines through in the buoyancy of his text. His daring and dramatic stories of the history of balloon bravado, even when tragic, catch the spirit of wonder that these "hanging observation basket[s]" brought to 19th-century scientific dreamers, from Edgar Allan Poe to French photographer Nadar to English meteorologist James Glaisher. The balloon provided an aerial platform for spectacular acrobatic stunts, as well as for the first aerial photograph of Paris. Holmes also shows how, in addition to playing a vital role in two major wars, balloons have flown across the Atlantic and even sought to reach (unsuccessfully) the North Pole.