In 1799, over a century before the Wright Brothers’ historic flights at Kitty Hawk, Sir George Cayley engraved, on a silver disc about the size of a British shilling, the design for an airplane and the earliest recorded description of the forces by which a wing can fly.

Over the next 50 years Cayley published his findings on aircraft and balloon flight, a revolutionary new form of aviation engine, optics, prosthetics, political and economic reform as well as inventions for railway safety. He patented the first practical caterpillar track though failed to capitalise on his invention of the wire-tension wheel. In between his technical discoveries Cayley was caught within a hectic social, political and family life made all the more demanding through the religious fervour his mother, the mental instability of his wife, plus the needs of his six daughters and one surly son. The culmination of his lifetime’s work came at the age of 79, when his design for a full-sized man-carrying glider finally flew.

Richard Dee tells the story of this remarkable man and his remarkable time and finally reveals the name of the first man to fly by airplane.

"...Dee paints an enormously entertaining picture" - Quill and Quire (full review)

"...this fascinating biography, which adroitly captures the conjunction of character and circumstance..." The Globe and Mail (full review )