Why Fly

From the New York Times bestselling author Caroline Paul, a thrilling, gravity-defying book that takes us skyward to explore the art of aeronautics-and the depths of the human heart.

Flying has long represented the beautiful, high-stakes human drive to invent, to explore, to experience. Caroline Paul has known this since becoming a pilot at twenty years old. Now she’s in her fifties, and her long-term marriage is dissolving beneath her. She begins to fly a gyrocopter. Isn’t it easier to learn a landing than a human heart?

As Paul examines the descent of love through the ascent of flight, she turns her eye to the history, the physics, and the deep impact of flying on others. From the brave Night Witches who flew biplanes against the Nazis, to the ultralight pilots who believe they can save endangered birds by becoming one of the flock, to the many people afraid to step onto a passenger plane, Why Fly examines the ways flight, like love, confounds and yet transforms us. Often we soar. But we also crash land. Still, we want to fly. Why?

Author Biography

Caroline Paul is the author of eight books, including the New York Times bestseller The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for your Life of Epic Adventure, and Tough Broad: From Birdwatching to BASE Jumping – How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age, as well as the illustrated memoir Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology. She is a longtime member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto.