I am not at all technical, and approached this book (first edition 1993) with trepidation. I finished by reading it from cover to cover and enjoying every word. It is of course, engines that make heavier than aircraft possible, but, as the author points out, many early pioneers concentrated too much on the motive power to the exclusion of creating airframes that were actually capable of flying. The results were inevitable and often tragic. The humble Wright brothers succeeded where others failed and solved the flying problems first, adding an engine almost as an afterthought. And in the early days, the actual fact of flight itself was all important, the duration thereof being secondary. Therefore the original engines did not have to be reliable, just light. Nevertheless, it is astonishing how much progress was made in the decade before World War I, much exceeded by that of the next four years, although, as the author points out, longevity was not a requirement for scout aircraft's engines in the Great War, as their life was short anyway.

The first half of this book takes us up to 1919, and all the way through the text is informative and amusing and very readable - very commendable for a technical subject. I liked the drawings and illustrations, of which there are over 150. The later chapters, which take us to the present day, finish with a review of general aviation engines at the end of the twentieth century. Finally, there is a new (to the second edition) chapter about what may be the future, and some hitherto unknown facts about Soviet piston engine technology. It sounds indigestible, but it is not, and a technophobe like me found it all fascinating.

I cannot resist quoting the author's ending to his introduction, which sums up the story and demonstrates the great way in which he tells it: 'I would like to impress upon the reader that liquid cooling is better than air unless it's the other way round, poppet valves are better than sleeve valves (unless----), in-lines are better than radials (unless----), carburettors are better than direct fuel injection (unless----), and the traditional four-stroke Otto engine is better than all alternatives (unless something superior comes along, which it well might)'.