About this title: This immensely engaging tale relates how an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity--and a future--to his family.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Published: 2009-10-01
ISBN-13:9780061730320ISBN:0061730327
Description: New. This is a paperback ARC with same cover and publisher stickers. This book is the same isbn, but is a paperback. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Description: Like New. 2009-Paperback-May contain minor shelf-wear. Otherwise, volume un-read and in "As-New" condition. -Used-Like New-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperLuxe
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061884986ISBN:0061884987
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First edition. First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061730320ISBN:0061730327
Description: New in new dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 288 p. Audience: General/trade. First Edition/First Printing. New book, brodart protected. Ships in a box. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harperluxe
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061884986ISBN:0061884987
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 9.06 by 7 inches. [allow 1-2 weeks transit to europe]. (00442 pages) william kamkwamba was born in malawi, a land withered by drought and hunger, a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. but william had read about windmills and dreamed of building one that would bring his family electricity and running water large print edition lang=english accessory: no accessory (Paperback ) read more
Binding: Hardback
Publisher: WILLIAM MORROW & CO
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061730320ISBN:0061730327
Description: New. This immensely engaging tale relates how an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity--and a future--to his family. read more
Edition: LRG
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HARPERLUXE
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061884986ISBN:0061884987
Description: New. William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a land withered by drought and hunger, a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. But William had read about windmills and dreamed of building one that would bring his family electricity and running wa... read more
"I heard about William Kamkwamba from a YouTube video. His story sounded interesting and I am so glad I read his book. I loved reading about his curiosity and his sometimes unsuccessful experiments. I do not understand a lot of what he learned from his library books. So I find it amazing that he could teach himself all about electricity and how different electrical things work and then build new ones. His persistance in finding the parts he needed to build his windmill is notable. I love the humor he slips into his narrative. His description of the famine is heartbreaking. He worked on the family farm because he had to. How many American kids would be able to do that? His triumph in the end is awe inspiring. I wish we could appreciate all we have here and remember people all over the world who live more like William and his family did. He has a bright future and I hope he writes another book in about ten or fifteen years."
"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an absolutely inspiring story. I was fascinated and amazed by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the young Malawian boy who taught, equipped, and motivated himself to effect change amid his often brutal and demanding surroundings to better his life and the lives of those around him.
More importantly, it was so refreshing to have a current-day perspective of a very real way of life outside the usual comforts of the United States. The true story, told from the perspective of the main character whose family farms in a small village in Malawi, reminds this otherwise pampered American of the very real hardships of life for much of the world. I've decided to require my 11 year-old son to read this story (before Thanksgiving) to help give him a perspective I hope he will contemplate and understand. In the current, very American society in which we live, it's good to remember that food, shelter and medical care are no more entitlements than electricity."
"I haven't had much time to read lately - this book was a gift, in every possible sense.
Here is the first person story of a boy who had to learn how to build his electricity generating windmill by re-inventing each principle along the way toward its construction. Of course, he couldn't have done it without books to demonstrate the possibility and to provide hints for his experimentation. He couldn't have written this book either without his partner who coaxed the author's own voice to the written page.
But for the rest of us who take our understandings as grants already fully processed, and only assume that we understand what we really take on trust, here is someone who created his understandings pretty much from scratch, despite being told that he couldn't or shouldn't. We have never proven even to ourselves what we think we understand. We might be able to pass an academic test, but we can use what we say we know to change our world?
This is a truly humbling story. What then are we waiting for? Why do we let our schools destroy genius when there are so many who are starving for their resources. Why do we persist to measure what students don't know? Why do we sift out, instead of embracing in?
What William Kamkwamba has done is to demonstrate for the rest of us where true genius must always be engendered. His started in a kind of refusal to be told what is true, whether by poverty or poor scores to prevent schooling, by famine to prevent basic living, by corrupt and ignorant government to prevent basic security, or by the collective magic every one else still lived by. Here is a person who always insisted on discovering his own limitations for himself against truly staggering odds. We'd have given up at boo.
And he truly does believe and makes the reader believe as well, that what he did for his own village can be done for all of Africa. Bring light to the night, water to the fields, sanitation to the living, strong upright sanity to where magical thinking invites corruption. But more than that, he provides his example for what we might do if we also were to ignore the certainties which represent our own powers that be. If we were to overcome our own beliefs in corrupting magic.
We also must unlearn as much as William had to unlearn before we will release our own still hidden genius. Let's not be too sure of the certainties which have been granted us.
I doubt any of us understand anything as well as William understands what he does. And what he understands is not the mechanisms which he realizes, so much as the prior impulse which got "magically" engendered in him by a loving family and community, but also and mostly by William loving himself. Forgiving himself. Being himself."
"Holy guacamole, this book is amazing. Not only was I, understandably, astounded by William Kamkwamba's ingenious techniques, capability for understanding what to me is complete science mumbo-jumbo, and his creativity, but I was constantly impressed by his humor and outlook. This is a man who's separate from me in age by maybe a few months--a year at most. While I was studying in high school and surfing the internet, he was starving in Malawi. Literally. Starving. His story is a triumph and I just can't recommend it enough.
I was also deeply impressed by his voice and humor. Yes, the book was cowritten, but the turns of phrase and the way he describes everything... well, I was just amazed. Hilarity sits side by side with serious, often heart-wrenching, discussion and flows perfectly. There were several times I laughed out loud. During a memoir! I couldn't believe it.
His story also highlights several of the problems confronting Africans today: their lack of support from their leaders and rampant corruption; the persistence of superstition and belief in magic; the lack of access to clean and fresh water; etc. In environments such as that, even the littlest innovation--if it's not barred or squandered by the government--can make such a great difference, as Mr. Kamkwamba's 12 volt windmill proved.
Inspiring and amazing. Well written, and a breeze to read. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Go check it out and buy it--support Mr. Kamkwamba and his ventures."
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