"He captures the sheer exhilaration, at moments approaching exaltation, that he experiences up there." -- "San Francisco Chronicle."
Once in a generation a book, a vision, a writer, capture the imagination and emotions of millions. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" was such a book. Richard Bach's unique vision again shines forth, touching with magic the drama of life in all its limitless horizons. Once again Richard Bach has written a masterpiece to help you touch that part of your home that is the sky.

A Gift of Wings is a collection of essays and short stories centering around the author's experience with and love of flying airplanes. The subjects range from his time in the military to barnstorming across the Midwest and from flying antique biplanes to new planes. Most of the book is very philosophical in nature, and it is sometimes hard to tell where the author crosses the line from nonfiction into fiction.

I really waffled about whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. Some of the stories were really great, some were hard to get through, and some were just average. While the star rankings of all the stories probably averages to 3 stars, in the end I decided to bump it up to 4 stars because the author really made me want to be able to fly an airplane and experience the world the way he experienced it. I wish I could fly across the country in an antique, open cockpit biplane, land in any rural field I happened to be passing, spend the night camping under the wing of the plane, and take off again the next morning to see the whole country from above. I do wish, however, that there had been less technical aviation jargon in the book. Not a bad read, but it's probably best to take the stories in small doses to avoid getting burnt out from the parts that are not that great. ( )

My first thought as I started reading this book was that it was not as inspirational as "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" or "Illusions;" but as I read along I changed my mind. The author is very perceptive and he shares his views through his flight experiences for example when he warns us that whatever we pray for we get. He himself finds out that the perspective he has found in flight means something more than all the miles he's gone.One of the more interesting essays in the book is where he compares "aviation 'and "flying."The most important lesson learned from this book though was that everything we need to know, is already within us, waiting till we call it. ( )

there was a good bit that i liked in this little book, which was kind of a relief after how much i disliked the last one of his that i read (the bridge across forever). i thought that most of this was decently written and much of what he had to say i was more than willing to listen to. it's a book of short essays (some of them only a couple of pages) and there were a few that seemed repetitive or not on par with the rest; i think it would be an improved book if it was a little shorter. but overall it was alright. and i ended with a feeling of - well, i've never been remotely interested in flying, but maybe i should try it somehow. so he certainly managed to impart his love. (of planes and flying, that is; he's still pretty much a jackass to women - or the only woman he mentioned in one of the essays.) ( )

Is there anyone who can read this and not feel like they're in the cold and dark with him? I love this book and have read it so many times that I lost count.