Libri di Mark Vanhoenacker Migliori da leggere e Consigliati

“Quando conosco qualcuno, a una cena o a una festa, appena dico che faccio il pilota tutti cominciano a bersagliarmi di domande sul mio lavoro. Tre sono più frequenti delle altre, con formulazioni pressoché invariabili. Ho sempre voluto fare il pilota? Ho mai visto qualcosa, ‘lassù’, che non riesco a spiegare? Ricordo il mio primo volo? Queste domande mi piacciono. Sembrano provenire, immutate, da un periodo in cui volare non era di routine. Indicano che ancora oggi, sebbene molti di noi partano con una certa regolarità da un punto sulla terra e ne raggiungano un altro attraversando il blu del cielo, non abbiamo fatto l’abitudine al volo, anche se non vogliamo ammetterlo. Queste domande mi ricordano che, per quanto gli aeroplani abbiano decisamente cambiato molti dei nostri vecchi atteggiamenti, c’è ancora una parte profonda della nostra immaginazione che persiste e risplende in uno strato antico della nostra mente, in mezzo a convinzioni radicate – se non ataviche – che riguardano distanze e luoghi, migrazioni e cieli.” In questo libro Mark Vanhoenacker, pilota di linea e poeta romantico dell’aviazione, condivide con il lettore il suo irrefrenabile amore per il volo, in un viaggio che si muove tra il giorno e la notte, tra le nuove mappe del mondo e la poesia della fisica, tra i nomi dei venti e la natura delle nuvole. E ci fa riscoprire la semplice meraviglia che giace al fondo di un’esperienza che, ancora oggi, rimane unica: la gioia suprema del volo e le inimmaginabili prospettive che l’altezza e la distanza ci donano su tutto ciò che amiamo.

**A Financial Times Best Summer Book of 2022** ‘A journey around both the author’s mind and the planet’s great cities that leaves us energised, open to new experiences and ready to return more hopefully to our lives’ ALAIN DE BOTTON ‘A moving account of personal unbelonging’ THE TIMES ‘Vanhoenacker… has a near-bottomless appetite for fresh sights and guidebook curiosities… Intimate and thoughtful’ PICO IYER, AIR MAIL ___________________ Growing up in his small hometown, Mark Vanhoenacker spun the illuminated globe in his bedroom and dreamt of elsewhere – of distant, real cities, and a perfect metropolis that existed only in his imagination. These places were sources of endless fascination and escape: streets unspooled, towers shone, and anonymous crowds bustled in cities where Mark could be anyone – perhaps even himself. Now, as a commercial airline pilot, Mark has spent nearly two decades crossing the skies of our planet, touching down in the cities he imagined as a child. He experiences these metropolises in short layover visits that repeat month after month and year after year, giving him a unique perspective on the places that form our urban world. Interweaving travelogue with memoir, Mark celebrates the cities he has come to know and love through the lens of the hometown his heart has never left. Exploring the emblematic facets of each city’s identity – the sweeping roads of Los Angeles, the old gates of Jeddah, the intricate, dream-inspired plan of Brasilia – he shows us with warmth and fresh eyes the extraordinary places that billions of us call home. ‘A love letter to the cities he’s returned to again and again… Vanhoenacker captivates when describing the silent beauty of a world glimpsed from above’ Washington Post ‘Eloquent… A love song to cities the world over’ Wall Street Journal ‘Evocative… Lyrical… At the keyboard, Vanhoenacker has danced, and on his pages there is tumbling mirth indeed’ Boston Globe

A Daily Mail and the Spectator Book of the Year (2017) ‘Perfect inflight reading … Brilliant’ The Sunday Times ‘This couldn’t be more highly recommended’ Alain de Botton ‘Explains simply and clearly the abiding mysteries of flight’ Daily Mail ‘A work of humorous and outright poetic travel geekery’ National Geographic Traveler ‘Illuminates the practical reality of piloting in a concise and useful manner’ Times Literary Supplement Do something amazing and learn a new skill thanks to the short and sweet ‘Little Ways to Live a Big Life’ books. By the author of the acclaimed international bestseller Skyfaring, the Economist’s ‘Best book of the Year’ and a New York Times ‘Notable Book’, and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week So, 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 let’s get cracking. Mark Vanhoenacker, the airline pilot who makes poetry out of the science of flight technology, hands over the controls. Walking and talking us through the nitty-gritty of an approach and touchdown, he builds our understanding of flight from the ground up (or rather from the sky down), offering a new perspective of one of the more challenging and rewarding tasks ever.