Kite Lines - Vol.3 No. 1 - KiteLife

what's New. . . Continuedthe wind and walk backwards ." (Italicsmine-GDA . )Because of its small size (12-inch spanand 91h-inch diameter), it would seem tobe efficacious to reverse the kite's membranecoverings ; that is, apply the aluminizedmaterial to the airfoil and the transparentmaterial to the disk . The resultinglight-blink would make the vehicle morevisible to the flier .UFO flies-not too efficiently, butfairly stably . For anyone who has not yetflown a rotor kite and is willing to shuckout the asking price, UFO can be aninteresting introduction to the Magnusforces phenomenon and, yes, to TheBull-roarer Effect .BEAUTIFUL SINNERKites and Kite Flying, by Ambrose Lloydand Nicolette Thomas (Hamlyn, distributedby A & W Publishers, Inc ., 95 MadisonAve ., New York, NY 10016 ; 1978), 96pages, $6 .98 (+ 75d postage & handling) .Big and beautiful, full of color andbargain priced, this looks like a great book .Unfortunately, it's disappointing .The pages in Kites and Kite Flying are9 x 12 1/2 inches, the largest of any kitebook in print . And this plus the fact thatfull color pictures are lavished on 44 ofthe pages is justification enough for mostbook buyers . Which is fortunate for thepublishers, since the writing has all thespark and authority of hired space-filling .Why another abbreviated retelling ofkite history? The more times Clive Hart's*work is "researched," the more it's degraded. For example, the theory of the"spread" of kites from China through theorient and Oceania and eventually to theWest is here accepted as fact, although it'sonly Hart's speculation . (It's an interestingone . I'd like to see an anthropologistmake a study of kites as an example ofculture spread .)Why another pass through world kitecustoms? And if we must so pass, why iskite fighting barely discussed? (It is mentionedunder Japan and Korea ; India isignored in this book .)Like most kite books, this one turnsup a few good items, such as an amusingadventure told by Baden-Powell . But theerrors are abundant, beginning with themisspelling of some important kite names,continuing with misidentification of picturedkites (a Flexifoil Eurostack is called"a parafoil") and cresting with the garbledsection on "How Kites Fly ." Glaring gapsare reels and the current kite scene . Thereis a bibliography of nine books, a scrambled,out-of-date list of kite associationsand no index . Instructions for making sixkites are included . I will say the drawingsare very neat and clear . While the bookmay aim to delight rather than enlighten,one wonders if so much inaccuracy is anecessary corollary to that purpose .The layout of Kites and Kite Flying ishandsome enough to disguise not onlythe textual weaknesses but illustrativeshortcomings as well . It is inexplicablethat some of the kite choices receivedtwo-page spread treatment . Nor does thequality of the photography in every casewithstand the enlargement ; some of thepictures are overblown in both senses ofthe word .By contrast, some scenes are full ofexciting content, but they are monstrouslyundercaptioned : the kitefliers in themare unidentified . I cry out-Who are you,gentleman with the large bird kite, youngman bridling the huge pink Cody, studiousfellow next to a white Conyne twice yourheight? The reader ought to know . Butmore than that, the authors' worst sin istheir failure to credit the people to whomthe book owes so much of its value . 0