Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de
Saint-Exupery
Timeless
Recipient of the Grand Prix of the Académie Française, Wind, Sand and
Stars captures the grandeur, danger, and isolation of flight. Its exciting
account of air adventure, combined with lyrical prose and the spirit of a
philosopher, makes it one of the most popular works ever written about
flying. Translated by Lewis Galantière.
Personal Review: Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-
Exupery
Fear of flying nowadays mainly involves a strong distaste for the crowded
planes, fear of drawing a far too overweight passenger as your next seat
companion, the comedy of the search routines prior to boarding, including
a fear of more than 3 oz. of water, and the reminders over the

loudspeakers about the "threat levels" to one's existence. "Il etait une
fois..." once upon a time, as Saint Exupery's wonderful, classic book
reminds us, there was a fear, but also the thrill of flying, and pioneering
new routes for the "mail planes" of the `20's and `30's.
The author mastered the technical skills, but also the art of flying. His book
captures the sheer exuberance of flight, and the excitement of a nighttime
aerial crossing of the Sahara. Likewise, he relates finding passages
through the 21,000 ft Andes with a plane whose "ceiling" is 18,000 ft.
Along with his technical skills, and his descriptive powers, he brings the
intellect of a philosopher to his writings. Consider his rebuke to the
Luddites among us: "Numerous, nevertheless, are the moralists who have
attacked the machine as the source of all the ills we bear, who, creating a
fictitious dichotomy, have denounced the mechanical civilization as the
enemy of the spiritual civilization." (p 43) And for those amongst us who
have been thrilled to the austere beauty of the desert, including myself: "I
shall never be able to express clearly whence comes this pleasure men
take from aridity, but always and everywhere I have seen men attach
themselves more stubbornly to barren land than to any other. Men will die
for a calcined, leafless, stony mountain. The nomads will defend to the
death their great store of sand as if it were a treasure of gold dust. And we,
my comrades and I, we too have loved the desert to the point of feeling
that it was there we had lived the best years of our lives." (p84) Or later:
"...it was here in the desert he possessed his veritable treasures--this
prestige of the sand, the night, the silence, this homeland of wind and
stars." (p105)
A strong theme in this book is the lost potential in each person, the
contrast between what they could have become, and what they have
settled for, once the routines have hardened. Consider: "Nobody grasped
you by the shoulder while there was still time. Now the clay of which you
were shaped has dried and hardened, and naught in you will ever awaken
the sleeping musician, the poet, the astronomer that possibly inhabited you
in the beginning." (p11). He ends the book on this theme, writing of the
child Mozarts throughout the world: "This is a life full of beautiful promise."
Saint-Exupery realizes he won't make it to his potential, won't soar among
the stars: "This little Mozart will be shaped like the rest by the common
stamping machine. This little Mozart will love shoddy music in the stench of
night dives. This little Mozart is condemned."
Saint-Exupery is most famous for his children's classic, also of potential
and loss, "The Little Prince." This book is a most worthy complement for
adults, particularly those who have fought the hardening of their own clay.
The author lived as he wrote, perhaps taking one too many chances. His
plane crashed in the Mediterranean during WW II, but his mission at the
time appeared not to be related to the war, but rather the oldest and most
common of peccadilloes, the pleasures of the flesh. The airport in his place
of birth, Lyon, is named after him.

Overall, an excellent read, even if you are stuck in the middle seat.
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