Dirigible Dreams: The Age of the Airship

I bought this book by mistake on kindle, but decided to read it anyway. It is filled with facts, but the bottom line is that dirigibles were a fantastic concept. I totally understand how the inventors became obsessed with them. The explorations of the Arctic were very precarious, but it seemed to be an age when people never thought about a plan B, which is such an ingrained part of our thinking nowadays. Also, dirigibles were very dangerous, but flying in them seemed to be delightful. I wish I could have been one of the passengers crossing back and forth across the Atlantic, although I think one had to be pretty rich to do it. It seems so much nicer to float rather than the harsh reality of jet travel. Also, great photographs!

In a very readable account, the author gives us a thorough overview of the mad rush to make commercial dirigible transport a reality.Dirigible technology at that time was full of danger and unknown challenges that those early designers were willing to confront. The engineering challenge in the safe design of a viable commercial dirigible at the time pushed men and equipment to the very limit as we see here in this well-done story. This story captures all of the excitement and all of the danger.Dirigible Dreams is a fun informative read on the dream of dirigible travel. Unfortunately, that dream remains to this day unfulfilled.

After reading this book I think it should have been called Dirigible Nightmares. The book mostly relates one disaster after another by every country that used this technology, the Germans being the most successful at developing ships and operations. I did learn many new things from reading this book and when I finished it felt that if things had gone a little different the dirigible may have been at least an interim air transport before jets.

It was a good historical source on the history and problems with airships. I read a number of details and references I didn't know before and I am a retired history teacher. Now that I am retired I have time to read many historical books to fill in the gaps of my own knowledge.

Enjoyed reading the history of air ships and the attempts made to set records. You can still take a ride in an air ship in Germany at the Bodensee. Would have perhaps liked a timeline of the different attempts.

It covers Arctic exploration nearly as much as it covers airships. That's fine since I'm interested in both, but if you're not, the first chapters may seem slow.I'd have preferred a more in-depth look at the history of airships, but this is a good intro.

An entertaining and gripping read. A few quibbles are the description sometimes of airship gas capacity in square ft instead of cubic feet, and fuel consumption numbers in units which are hard to relate to others. Fuel consumption in plain pounds per mile travelled, across all the time it’s mentioned, might be easier for the average reader. These small concerns aside, I’d definitely recommend this well-researched and written book.

Very factual and fascinating story of the airships, including aspects not revealed elsewhere about accommodations, weather issues, and so on. The part where an admiral's wife is asked to find her husband so he can be told that an airship was lost was particularly poignant. This illustrates what a bold attempt was made in flimsy craft that could easily be destroyed. It took great courage to fly in them, military or civilian.

The most informative and entertaining book I have ever read on airships.A lovely style which blends high tech information with humour..As a primer to this subject it can't be beaten.Could read it all in one go but I have to stop to eat.Excellent

Enjoyable.