While William Langewiesche (Sahara Unveiled) is best-known as a gifted and accomplished writer, his life has been intimately concerned with flying as both an occupation and an avocation. His father wrote Stick And Rudder, a classic book on aerial navigation; and as he grew up, airplanes were as ordinary to him as automobiles. He made his first solo flight at 14 and worked for many years as a cargo pilot. Still, after compiling a lifetime's worth of experience, Langewiesche maintains that the greatest joy of flying is looking down and taking in the view. Inside The Sky is a collection of seven engaging essays on the phenomenon of human flight, from Otto Lilienthal's early experiences to the interesting and dramatic but rather unimportant effects of turbulence, to the high-tension boredom of air-traffic control. In each chapter, Langewiesche easily maintains his aura of reverence and awe at the mere fact of flight; although most people will have flown at least once in their lives, and many will have ceased to be amazed long ago, Langewiesche's zeal at merely seeing so far from so high might just shame them. Of course, Inside The Sky serves as an incisive commentary on the human experience of and attitude toward flight. What sets the book above a mere exploration of a mechanical phenomenon is the simple human joy it expresses; it's at once a celebration of human flight and a condemnation of jaded humanity.