The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
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- ISBN13: 9780061730320
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
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, and a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. But William had read about windmills in a book called Using Energy, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change his life and the lives of persons around him. His neighbors may have mocked him and called him misala–crazy–but William was determined to show them what a small grit and ingenuity could do.
Enchanted by the workings of electricity as a boy, William had a goal to study science in Malawi’s top boarding schools. But in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family tree’s farm devastated and his parents destitute. Unable to pay the eighty-dollar-a-year tuition for his education, William was forced to drop out and help his family tree forage for food as thousands across the country starved and died.
Yet William refused to let go of his dreams. With nothing more than a fistful of cornmeal in his stomach, a tiny pile of once-forgotten science textbooks, and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plot to bring his family tree a set of luxuries that only two percent of Malawians could afford and what the West considers a necessity–electricity and running water. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves, William forged a crude yet operable windmill, an unlikely contraption and tiny miracle that eventually powered four lights, perfect with homemade switches and a circuit breaker made from nails and wire. A second machine turned a water pump that could battle the drought and famine that loomed with every season.
Soon, news of William’s magetsi a mphepo–his “electric wind”–spread beyond the limits of his home, and the boy who was once called crazy became an inspiration to persons around the world.
Here is the remarkable tale about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling misfortune. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual’s ability to change his community and better the lives of persons around him.Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Discarded motor parts, PVC pipe, and an ancient bicycle veer may be junk to most people, but in the inspired hands of William Kamkwamba, they are instruments of opportunity. Growing up amid famine and poverty in rural Malawi, wind was one of the few abundant resources available, and the inventive fourteen-year-ancient saw its energy as a way to power his dreams. “With a windmill, we’d finally relief ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger,” he realized. “A windmill meant more than just power, it was freedom.” Despite the biting jeers of village skeptics, young William devoted himself to borrowed textbooks and salvage yards in pursuit of a contrivance that could produce an “electric wind.” The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an inspiring tale of an indomitable will that refused to bend to doubt or circumstance. When the world seemed to be against him, William Kamkwamba set out to change it. –Dave Callanan
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I agree with most of what comprises the 5-star reviews of this book. Uplifting, inspirational, compelling and incredible lacking a doubt. Sorry to say, the harnessing doesn’t really start in earnest until midway through, and the first half includes a lot of personal and local history that is just too unrelated to the tale’s heart for readers who are looking at this as the tale of how one African villager grabbed a hold of his home country’s natural resources to improve life for his people and himself.
The developed/developing world conflict on climate change has been playing out more publicly as energy and environmental politics have taken on a larger presence both in the Obama presidency and in world politics (especially as the UN Copenhagen climate talks approaches).
US energy legislation is floundering right alongside health care. Developing countries – China and India are the countries most commonly pointed to in media reports – are reluctant to slow the growth of their economies by putting the brakes on energy capacity growth — even if it is dirty. What concessions they are likely to make, they want developed countries to pay for. THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND has the potetial to be a gripping example of how the clean energy future could be both transformative and empowering in a way that levels the playing meadow worldwide. Imagine: a world where more people could delight in the quality of life that is afforded to wealthy Western nations – thanks in part to their ability to consume more energy – lacking proliferation of the harmful environmental impacts that are being borne across the world and regularly by persons who are not the patrons.
While everyone seems to expect the rich European countries to lead the way to a new energy model, this book underscores why the developing world holds the most promise. The developing world is a fantastic laboratory for innovation and experimentation on renewable energy. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is one tale of the promise that such innovations hold for persons nations, and the potential they hold for the world. But, a lot of early stuff on local lore and childhood meanderings makes this more Angela’s Ashes than Silent Spring.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I have read the book but one thing that kept poping in my mind is “was it really possible”?
Here is just one example:
He said he extracted a motor out of a radio than built his first generator but as far as i know a radio does not have a motor but a casette player. Lets assume it was a casette player and he got the motor but from that tiny motor you can not generate enough electricity to run a radio. He said he added some blades and rotated manually and touch the wires to his tongue, it tickled. But if your motor is so tiny you need to spin it really really quick to get something out of it.
His end product may work fine but his book arises more questions that it answers. That reminds me “life tale of a boy soldier”, which turned out to be a hoax.
We need scientific check on the tale and evidence beyond photographs on the expense of ruining a tale of hope and courage.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
William Kamkwamba has an incredible tale of perseverance, brilliant innovation, and overcoming the odds. This should be a tale about William’s character. Sadly, it’s more about conditions in Africa and how the international community SOMETIMES picks a winner to lift up and commend.
This book does William Kamkwamba a disservice. “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” makes this young man’s tale … well, nearly an afterthought.
To start the book, Bryan Mealer treats the reader to 156 pages of the situation on the ground. Drought, famine, witchcraft, cholera, unimaginable suffering, poverty, governmental incompetence. This takes up more than half the book, and additional than providing the motivation for William’s inventiveness, it seems to be merely a way to showcase Bryan Mealer’s descriptive talents. Got it, Mr. Mealer — you’re doing a fantastic job as a writer. Tell me about WILLIAM.
When the book finally starts to clarify the principles of electricity and wind power that William learned through wide reading (in a foreign language, from library books) and examination-and-error, the tale becomes gripping. What William did, and how his invention transformed his life, is awe-inspiring. William never became resentful of his circumstances or depressed because of overwhelming odds. Day by day, he searched the junkyard, and he had lucky breaks that led to his providing electric lights for his room, his house, and his village.
William Kamkwamba had an essential goal of using wind to power an irrigation pump, so his family tree could make two harvests a year as a replacement for of one. But before we get to read that part of the tale (which would have been appealing), we have to read about the tale of William being learned by the media. Suddenly, blessings start to flow to him — schooling, equipment, solar panels, help, attention, language gigs. Outside sponsorship and international aid smooths his way to greatness. There’s plenty of information on William’s benefactors — again… that doesn’t seem like it should be the vital part of the tale.
All in all, there’s only about 100 pages of the tale of HOW William did what he did — the excellent part.
The writing style is excellent, but the book is not very satisfying on the science or the central figure.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
An inspiring book about quest for knowledge by a wonderful human being overcoming nearly impossible obstacles to help his village. Well written and captures conditions of living in a village in Malawi in a matter of fact presentation. William Kamkwamba’s tale is compelling, honest, and heartwarming. This should be at the top of everyone’s reading list.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
William Kamkwamba was born into the family tree of a trader in Malawi, Africa. His father, battling a temper and a drinking problem, decides to become a farmer like his successful brother soon after William is born, raising tobacco as a cash crop and maize for feeding his family tree. William lives in a culture ruled by tradition and magic. Life is excellent, until the government policies increase the fee of fertilizer and a severe drought hits the land. Then, traditions and magic are no answer to empty bellies, rising food prices, and cholera.
In the midst of all this, William has to drop out of school because his family tree cannot afford tuition. He and his friend had permanently dabbled in radio repair, but at a local library, he got a copy of an American textbook titled Using Energy. In it, he learned that windmills can be used to generate electricity. With electricity, his family tree wouldn’t have to buy kerosene for lamps, and could pump water to irrigate the crops even during a drought. As he tinkered, he was accused of being a madman, crazy, and even even a witch, but he did produce a functioning windmill, his “electric wind.” It got noticed, and William’s adventures expanded beyond Malawi. This book is the tale of William’s life to date, told with the help of writer Bryan Mealer.
This book is appealing and inspirational. William is reaping what he has sown; he developed his current opportunities through his hard work and experimentation. I sensed the direction of the tale was the evolution of William’s worldview, from one believing in magic and special powers, to one of a quest for knowledge and the process of experimentation. I am surprised that the women and girls in William’s life are, for the most part, invisible. It’s hard to image that William’s sisters, and the sisters’ friends, were oblivious to all his efforts.
I hope William Kamkwamba becomes successful in his search for cheap and abundant energy for his countrymen and women. Success tales are desperately needed in places where people are desperate.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5