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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope |  |
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope | |
William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only 2 percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him misala—crazy—but William refused to let go of his dreams. With a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks; some scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves; and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to forge an unlikely contraption and small miracle that would change the lives around him.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a remarkable true story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. It will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him.
网友对The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope的评论
毛边精装，25块买很值
I love this book. I loved reading it and I have bought several as gifts. It is beautiful and inspiring.
Be aware that there are several disturbing passages in it. Most are okay for younger readers and describe truthfully the extreme hunger he faced (I can never forget the passage where he describes boiling leather for food), but there were a few bits about his early family life which were too mature for me to give this to my middle schooler. So I would recommend the "Young Reader's Version" for kids who aren't ready for this. But it is a very, very good book and inspiring story.
William Kamkwamba also has his own website if you want to learn more about him and his story.
This is an important and amazing story of courage and ingenuity under the most forbidding circumstances. Because of failed crops and a widespread famine a 14 year old African boy from a small farming village had to leave school. It took all his family's resources to pay the inflated cost of food to fed them a single meal that was still less than subsistence. To keep up with his studies, he visited the library (3 sets of tall shelves) and there discovered science books. In one American book, he found a picture of a windmill that generated electricity, and discovered that windmills had been used for ages to irrigate crops. He had no money, but he found scrap materials and built his first windmill, modified it to increase or decrease the power, installed a light bulb and created a light switch. And kept improving it.
There are two lessons. The first is that we humans tend to view people from undeveloped countries as less intelligent; this story certainly refutes that idea. The second is "I want to make and I try," his explanation when he made his first TED talk at age 19 and stage fright made him forget his English.
I absolutely loved this book. The descriptions of rural village life and the struggles to grow enough food for a family was so humbling. When crops fail because the rains don't come people literally starve to death, partly due to the indifference of a corrupt government. This young man has to drop out of school because his family can't afford the school fees (no free education). In addition to helping his father try to raise enough crops so his family doesn't starve he goes to the local grammar school library, three shelves of donated books, and starts reading and teaches himself enough physics, electricity, etc. to figure out how to build a windmill to bring electricity to their house. Then scrounging and finding the materials to build it. Eventually people realize what he has done and he is recognized for what he accomplished and receives help to progress. Even though he gets technical at times describing what he does it flows easily.
Please note: the Kindle sample is not a good representative of the book, and you may find it unsubstantial. But trust me and all the other 5-star reviews, this book is worth it.
Chapter after chapter with mundane details about daily life, you might think "where does it get to the good bit, with building the windmill?" But keep reading. This book is about a lot more than a boy who built a windmill.
By the time you finish reading, you will have a better understanding about life in Malawi and Africa, about people who take nothing for granted because every day is a challenge, about family values and a tight knit community, about the dangers of superstition and corruption, about the unbreakable spirit of innovation and how people can build their own future out of nothing but scraps and hard work if they have the right attitude and thirst for knowledge.
An inspiring and moving read from start to finish.
William's world was not my world. His life was filled with ancient magic and mystery, security was having sacks of corn and not having them was death. A delicious treat wasn't got at the local ice cream shop, but by catching delicious flying ants or trapping birds between a slingshot and a stack of homemade Adobe bricks. Going to school was far from guaranteed, and when famine meant the teachers and students were starving to death, in the schools, it also wasn't a place to find food or shelter. The more William lost, the more he craved. He wanted to learn and when he was blocked from school by his inability to pay the fees, he found the free library, and a book about energy. He figured out how a windmill worked, and "I tried and I made it" barely covers the amazing fact that he built it from recycled trash, only after building the tools he needed, no drill? Heat a nail to red hot and insert it in a corn cob for a handle. The windmill was only one step in his understanding. He had to figure out AC/DC and voltage and insulation, he had to figure out how to make a generator and switches and a circuit breaker to keep his created electricity from burning down the grass roofed hut they lived in, and when his wires collapsed the termite riddled supports of the roof he had to call in the chickens to get the termites out of his bedding. He blended science with hard work and creativity to bring light and a water pump to his village, and to make the world realize that even the starving kids in Malawi have much to offer.
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