Reading Reflection No. 1- 13A

1. The Wright Brothers were the first humans to take flight. They were not students of prestigious schools or came from a family of money. Instead they were homeschooled and spent much of their time reading. It is so surprising that two individuals who were not seen as educated individuals by the public were the two who were about to piece together mankind's knowledge and be the first to fly. They also only spent about $1,000 total on their projects. They were able to do so because they were able to learn to design the majority of the things on their own. They also did not want any investors to be a part of this. I admired their mindset. They did everything on their own and would go to Kitty Hawk every summer and attempt to fly. After succeeding in creating an airplane, the Wright Brothers stopped being entrepreneurs in a way. They stopped at their last invention and let the competition out beat them. I felt like they were no longer striving to better their invention because they were happy to achieve what they did. Therefore what I least admire is that they stopped the progress they were making in aviation. During the process of building the first airplane they faced many challenges. Their projects kept failing and crashing. They used the information from each test run to revise their plan and continue building. They never seemed to give up. Even after Wilbur crashed and suffered broken bones, the two continued to attempt to fly. The biggest obstacle they had to overcome was to figure out a way to power the airplane. Engines at the time were too heavy. They overcame this obstacle with the help of Charlie Taylor. He created an engine built from aluminum that was able to propel the plane and not be too heavy. The Wright Brothers were able to overcome all their failures and adversaries by either enlisting the help of someone else or taking knowledge from other fields and applying it to theirs. 
2. Both Orville and Wilbur were very educated. They were not educated in a traditional sense, they learned everything from reading. The two were able to connect concepts between different subject matters that no one else could. By doing so they were able to create the first plane. Their observational skills were also very outstanding. By observing the flight of birds, the two were able to apply what they learned to their plane. This created wing tips which gave the plane lateral control. The Wright Brothers worked at a bicycle shop where they repaired and manufactured bicycles. The skills they obtained from this occupation translated into their ability to craft a plane. 
3. The most confusing part of the book was a small detail. During Wilbur's demonstration to the French they did not allow photographs to be taken. This confuses me because they are trying to promote awareness of what they have accomplished. Therefore by not allowing photographs it would result in the opposite effect. 
4. 
   
1. What did you envision for the future of airplanes and aviation?
• I want to know this because I would like to know about their possible future endeavors as well as if they had a dream for their creation. 
1. Who was the engineer and who was the brains behind the project?
• The book as well as other sources state they are both tied in intellect however I believe that their is a difference and want to know. 
5. I think they believed hard work was something you could spend all your time doing and not give up. They were worked on their projects for years and never gave up therefore I don't believe they would assign a certain degree of difficulty to the term hard work. But rather define it has work that envelops the individuals, work in which you become free from the world and solely focus on.