I will be reflecting on The Wright Brothers by David McCullough.
1) What surprised me the most had to be the humble beginnings of the two inventors, simple bike makers, who viewed a problem differently than others.
What I admired most about the brothers was how they never let anything keep them down, the continued to improve and theorize which in my mind just adds truth to the phrase a good idea can come from anyone, anywhere, and at anytime.
What I hold contempt or disdain for (least admired trait) the brothers was that they used underhanded tactics to secure the funding they needed, so that they could protect their idea. This included attempting to fix a bicycle race that they financed which also increased their funding through the sale of said bicycles. Which while ingenious is still underhanded.
They encountered few major failures but mostly success, they never let anything even the small successes slow down their process of improving, and the failures were also meet with more determination.
2) They showed their competence in their work, that their idea for a flying machine that was not self righting (like a boat) but human (like a bike) was the way to go, they showed their competence in their building skills as they created bicycle after bike and ultimately the first flying machine or airplane.
3) What was confusing in the reading to me was the sentence structure, it didn't seem to flow well in my opinion.
4) What made you strive for the sky, and what made you so sure of yourselves? I would ask these as I want to know the motivation, was is fame, fortune, or just scientific curiosity? As for the second question I wonder what makes people confident in the face of the brave unknown, when the world failed to find the answer what made two bike makers so certain they had? I want that level of confidence.
5) I believe that their opinion of hard work was one that should be admired, they stuck to their guns and always faced challenges with more work. I don't know if I do, I believe adversity isn't the end or a point where you should give up, but I would perhaps rethink how I was attacking the problem then go again in what I would believe be the best action. I would rather work smarter not harder.
Hi connor,
ReplyDeleteI like that you chose to do your reading assessment on the Wright Brothers. They are people that everyone knows for being the inventor of the airplane, but I'm pretty sure most people don't know a lot about them. I too admire the fact that they never gave up, even despite facing adversity or feeling like they were failing from time to time. I did not know that they used underhanded tactics to fund their project, but Understand that financing it was probably a struggle and they did the best they could to help make their dreams into a reality. Overall I enjoyed reading your post and learning about the Wright Brothers!
Connor,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about the Wright Brothers. I read the book on Steve Jobs so it was nice to learn about a different topic. I was surprised to learn about how they fixed a bike race in order to fund their projects. I wasn't aware of that, but it was interesting to read about. I also found your questions to be similar to mine as I really want to know what motivated these people to fulfill these extraordinary accomplishments.
Connor,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. The Wright Brothers were very determined and I believe that they could be some of the best entrepreneurs ever. The airplane was a great invention and they were the start of that. I enjoyed to learn that they were determined to finish their work. They showed hard work and I really admire that. Good Job!