Below are my favorite reviews on the Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
"I try, and I made it!"
That quote from William Kamkwamba pretty much sums up this book. It is an amazing, inspirational, and deeply humbling story of a teenage boy from an impoverished farming family in Malawi. The first part of the book gives you insight into Kamkwamba's life and struggles. His challenges are the type that you can already imagine in broad strokes, but Kamkwamba and co-author Mealer help you experience them in a visceral way. The description of the famine was nearly too much to bear. At the same time, you see the sparks of curiosity, resourcefulness, determination, and intelligence that eventually lead him to try to build a windmill. His dream is to create electricity to help his family and maybe even his whole village. But this is no naively idealistic Quixote. Kamkwamba may be visionary but he has an ability to balance that with an acceptance of the realities he faces. I think that makes you want to root for him even more. I realized that I was holding my breath much of the time I as I read about the day he first hooked up the windmill and waited to see whether it could power a light bulb. A fabulous story and a well-written book.
That quote from William Kamkwamba pretty much sums up this book. It is an amazing, inspirational, and deeply humbling story of a teenage boy from an impoverished farming family in Malawi. The first part of the book gives you insight into Kamkwamba's life and struggles. His challenges are the type that you can already imagine in broad strokes, but Kamkwamba and co-author Mealer help you experience them in a visceral way. The description of the famine was nearly too much to bear. At the same time, you see the sparks of curiosity, resourcefulness, determination, and intelligence that eventually lead him to try to build a windmill. His dream is to create electricity to help his family and maybe even his whole village. But this is no naively idealistic Quixote. Kamkwamba may be visionary but he has an ability to balance that with an acceptance of the realities he faces. I think that makes you want to root for him even more. I realized that I was holding my breath much of the time I as I read about the day he first hooked up the windmill and waited to see whether it could power a light bulb. A fabulous story and a well-written book.
Oh my.
I was prepared to like the book because I had heard some bits and pieces of what this boy did.
But then you find out what he really did, and where he did it, and how he did it. And it is overwhelming how smart and creative and giving he is.
This boy (a man now) is a reminder of how good and creative humans can be, how much we can give to each other.
Starting from just an innate curiosity and prompted by need, young William, a drop-out from middle school due to a near-catastrophic country-wide drought and famine, ends up reading one book after another on physics. He and his family struggle to survive on less and less food, and people are desperate for help--so he tries to figure out a way to help his family and his village acquire power and light and security. By watching others, by reading books, by doing a lot of thinking and experimentation on various fragments of technology along with his best friends, William gradually figures out the principles of generating electricity from a windmill, and then scrounges the countryside for various pieces to stick together into a Rube Goldberg-like windmill, constructed of poles and bamboo and rope and a broken bicycle, PVC pipes melted and flattened into blades, and other scraps from a junkyard. Finally the windmill is constructed, and begins turning--and electricity flows into his home and into his life and the lives of his family, giving them the beginnings of a life based on technology.
The thing that got me wasn't so much that he is simply brilliant and creative, but that he is good and giving as well. There is a spirit within him of giving to his community, raising everyone up with hope and accomplishment. This man is transformative to the people he touches.
I do not know the next chapters in his life, but this book is only the beginning for this wonderful journey.
I was prepared to like the book because I had heard some bits and pieces of what this boy did.
But then you find out what he really did, and where he did it, and how he did it. And it is overwhelming how smart and creative and giving he is.
This boy (a man now) is a reminder of how good and creative humans can be, how much we can give to each other.
Starting from just an innate curiosity and prompted by need, young William, a drop-out from middle school due to a near-catastrophic country-wide drought and famine, ends up reading one book after another on physics. He and his family struggle to survive on less and less food, and people are desperate for help--so he tries to figure out a way to help his family and his village acquire power and light and security. By watching others, by reading books, by doing a lot of thinking and experimentation on various fragments of technology along with his best friends, William gradually figures out the principles of generating electricity from a windmill, and then scrounges the countryside for various pieces to stick together into a Rube Goldberg-like windmill, constructed of poles and bamboo and rope and a broken bicycle, PVC pipes melted and flattened into blades, and other scraps from a junkyard. Finally the windmill is constructed, and begins turning--and electricity flows into his home and into his life and the lives of his family, giving them the beginnings of a life based on technology.
The thing that got me wasn't so much that he is simply brilliant and creative, but that he is good and giving as well. There is a spirit within him of giving to his community, raising everyone up with hope and accomplishment. This man is transformative to the people he touches.
I do not know the next chapters in his life, but this book is only the beginning for this wonderful journey.
I stumbled upon this book when a story about William appeared in my alumni magazine. I found myself amazed and inspired by his story, his accomplishment, and his perseverance in the face of many obstacles. His abilities and ingenuity challenged some of my assumptions about what's necessary to enact lasting change in a given community, while also nudging me to explore what sorts of gifts and talents I'm afraid to risk using, lest I fail. Moreover, I found his narrative of living through a famine to be deeply touching– it helped me to better appreciate the physical and psychological suffering in such an experience, and how this particular tragedy had human factors as well as environmental ones.
This is a book that I'll be recommending to people, as I hope that William's story can awaken something in them, just as it's awoken something in me. I'm not entirely sure yet what that is, but deep down, I know that I want to find out. We need folks like William who have dreams as well as diligence, and we need communities to support and celebrate people like him.
This is a book that I'll be recommending to people, as I hope that William's story can awaken something in them, just as it's awoken something in me. I'm not entirely sure yet what that is, but deep down, I know that I want to find out. We need folks like William who have dreams as well as diligence, and we need communities to support and celebrate people like him.
Below is my review on the Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
This was a amazing non-fictional book! The detail William Kamkwambe writes the book with is outstanding and seems as if he can remember all the conversations that he had with reporters and his parents. The first two hundred pages are a introduction and explanation for why he wanted to build a windmill and learn so much.
This is a fantastic book that I recommend for anybody (above 9 years old). I learned some things from this book about magnets and how to build certain things. I also was inspired by William's drive to make his home and village a better place. This book tells what poor in the world are pushed to do to climb out of poverty.
This is a fantastic book that I recommend for anybody (above 9 years old). I learned some things from this book about magnets and how to build certain things. I also was inspired by William's drive to make his home and village a better place. This book tells what poor in the world are pushed to do to climb out of poverty.
Below are the links to the last projects I did in this class.