Book of Firsts: First Time Almost Everything Happened
By Gordon Kerr
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
‘It’s not winning silver; it’s losing gold’, says a famous Nike ad, hammering home the painful truth that posterity has little compassion for those who finish second. They are, more often than not, expunged from history, years – perhaps even decades – of grinding toil and desperate hope cast into the dustbin of history. Who really gives much thought these days to English aviator Percy Pilcher, who almost won the Palm for the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight several years before the Wright brothers, but crashed in a glider and died of his injuries? Who talks much these days about the American astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, the second man to go into space after Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin stunned the world with his daring flight into the unknown in 1961?
All that really matters is being first, whether it is the first hotel in Britain to have a microwave installed – the Kew Gardens Hotel in London – or the first person to ski down Mount Everest – Slovenian Davo Karnicar who did just that in almost five hours in 2000. History is kind to people who have succeeded. Who can forget the magnificent effort of English athlete Roger Bannister, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, a feat said by many to be impossible? And how grateful are we for the inventiveness of men such as Scotsman John Logie Baird and the American Thomas Alva Edison who gave us television and the electric light bulb, respectively?
Gordon Kerr
Gordon Kerr worked in bookselling and publishing before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of several titles including A Short History of Europe, A Short History of Africa, A Short History of China, A Short History of Brazil, A Short History of the First World War,A Short History of the Vietnam War, A Short History of the Middle East, A Short History of Religion and The War That Never Ended. He divides his time between Dorset and Southwest France.
Read more from Gordon Kerr
World Serial Killers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaders who Changed the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Short History of China: From Ancient Dynasties to Economic Powerhouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of Africa: From the Origins of the Human Race to the Arab Spring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of Coffee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Treacherous Women: Sex, temptation and betrayal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Short History of Europe: From Charlemagne to the Treaty of Lisbon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of the Middle East: From Ancient Empires to Islamic State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of the Vietnam War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of the First World War: Land, Sea & Air, 1914-1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFugitives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rats and Squealers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Pocket Essential Short Introduction to Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe War That Never Ended: A Short History of the Korean War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hostages Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Partisan Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Book of Firsts
Related ebooks
The Men Who Gave Us Wings: Britain and the Aeroplane, 1796–1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSky Rivals: Two Men. Two Planes. An Epic Race Around the World. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents & Disasters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Military Staff: Its History and Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory's Greatest Battles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Seasick Admiral: Nelson and the Health of the Navy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of Hydrogen Bomb and Why It Should Be Banned. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Navy: The Voyage of a Submarine Cook. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Olympic Games Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler’s Terror Weapons: The Price of Vengeance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To Save A City: The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949 [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bermuda Triangle: the Cover-Up of Caribbean War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorking the London Underground: From 1863 to 2013 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharles Bean Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fukushima: The First Five Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow We'll Live on Mars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Archaeology of the Second World War: Uncovering Britain's Wartime Heritage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Second World War Explained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey: 1957 - The Space Race Begins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War in 100 Events Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedical Misadventures: 54 Years at the Cutting Edge of the NHS Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld's Greatest Warplanes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPresidio of Monterey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Consul: A History of the United States Consular Service 1776–1924. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLanguage and Globalization: The History of Us All Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife at the Extremes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Buyer's and User's Guide to Astronomical Telescopes and Binoculars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe British Sailor of the Second World War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
History For You
100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The War of Art: by Steven Pressfield | Includes Analysis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ZERO Percent: Secrets of the United States, the Power of Trust, Nationality, Banking and ZERO TAXES! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wise as Fu*k: Simple Truths to Guide You Through the Sh*tstorms of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Book of Firsts
0 ratings0 reviews