More With Less

In the 1970s a small group of unknown southern California visionaries, working independently as a result of their own whims and hobbies, developed an interest in lightweight low-powered machines. Recognising their talent, a gifted scientist and engineer named Paul MacCready subsequently pulled them together to build a plane capable of winning a long-standing prize for human powered flight. Their success in that project led to a series of even more efficient vehicles: a man-powered plane that flew the English Channel; a solar powered plane that flew from Paris to London; a solar-powered car that won a race across Australia; an 18-foot flapping wing flying replica of a pterodactyl for a Smithsonian-sponsored IMAX film; and more recently, a high-altitude unmanned solar aeroplane that, when fully operational, will stay up for six months at a time performing the same functions as orbiting satellites. Paul Ciotti tells the story of the individuals who made up this group, their inspirations and failures, their quirks and disagreements and their remarkable successes.

A former Los Angeles Times writer, Paul Ciotti frequently writes about technology. He lives in Southern California with his wife and two sons