The wind is a fickle source of power. Windspeeds are frequently too low to be of any practical use, so that windpower has generally remained a marginal resource. Since the inception of windpower around 1000 AD, technology has been deployed to obtain the most economical power from wind. The author traces its technical evolution, concentrating on the growth in understanding of wind and charting crucial developments in windmill design. The history of the windmill is focused on North Western Europe, drawing on the origins of the first horizontal windmills in Persia, Tibet and China. Industrial applications such as in textiles, papermaking and mining are examined. Gradually, windmills were improved but were finally eclipsed by steam engines in the nineteenth century due to increased levels of industrialisation. The book concludes with a look at the recent re-emergence of windpower as a viable source of power in the wake of the energy crisis.
A self-proclaimed knight Señor Quexada has read so many books about knights in shining armor that he thinks he is one. He gives himself a name more fitting for a knight -- Don Quixote -- and sets off one evening with his squire. At dawn they come across what Don Quixote recognizes as an army of monstrous giants. "Master!" cries Sancho Panza. "They are only windmills!" But Don Quixote knows what he has to do . . . Don Quixote is the creation of the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Eric A. Kimmel skillfully and cleverly crystallizes the character, and with his powerful line and vibrant color Leonard Everett Fisher completes the funny, loving portrait.
This is more than a "how to" book about installing, maintaining and repairing. While the book was written to help the professional windmiller as well as the rancher, farmer or country gentleman who is a do-it-yourselfer, it will be of interest to the fan of western Americana
Cervantes’ Don Quixote is the most widely read masterpiece in world literature, as appealing to readers today as four hundred years ago. In Fighting Windmills Manuel Durán and Fay R. Rogg offer a beautifully written excursion into Cervantes’ great novel and trace its impact on writers and thinkers across centuries and continents. How did Cervantes write such a rich tale? Durán and Rogg explore the details of Cervantes’ life, the techniques with which he constructed the novel, and the central themes of the adventures of Don Quixote and his earthy squire Sancho Panza. The authors then provide an insightful, panoramic view of Cervantes’ powerful influence on generations of writers as diverse as Descartes, Voltaire, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Twain, and Borges.
From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes a provocative and unlikely love story that starts on a New York subway car and blossoms under the windmills of the Mojave Desert.Both Sebastian and Maria live in worlds ruled by fear. Sebastian, a lonely seventeen-year-old, is suffocating under his dominant father's control; Maria, a young mother of two, is trying to keep peace at home despite her boyfriend's abuse. When their eyes meet across a subway car one night, these two strangers find a connection that neither can explain or ignore. They dream of a new future and agree to run away together, only to find that each has kept a major secret from the other. In this tremendously moving novel, Catherine Ryan Hyde shows us how two people trapped by life's circumstances can break free and find a place in the world where love is genuine and selfless.
A lively study of the story behind the creation of the classic tale of Don Quixote follows the trials and tribulations of Cervantes just as he begins to enjoy success with his comic masterpiece, as he discovers that his fictional hero has an all-too-real counterpart, a rival poet plots to humiliate him, and he falls in love with an unattainable duchess. A first novel. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.
Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village. When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land. Retold for a younger audience, this exciting memoir shows how, even in a desperate situation, one boy's brilliant idea can light up the world. Complete with photographs, illustrations, and an epilogue that will bring readers up to date on William's story, this is the perfect edition to read and share with the whole family.