According to W. Scott Olsen, there are two reasons for flying. The first is just to get somewhere. The second has nothing to do with destination. It is this second reason, expressing our deepest curiosity and our longings for infinity, grace, and clarity, that Never Land explores. At once frankly philosophical and engagingly practical, the book combines accounts of touring in the air, the history of flight, the sensations of flying, and the technical acts and facts of navigating, piloting, lifting off, and landing.
As it brings together many views on flight, Never Land also chronicles Olsen’s own personal journey—his experiences and the shift in his perspective as he goes from green beginner to seasoned pilot. Whether reflecting on airmail delivery, plotting routes from above, interviewing veterans, learning aerobatic moves, or encountering history in the making, Olsen makes the feel of flying a reality for his earthbound readers. Albeit a personal narrative, his book is ultimately a celebration of aviation that brings to bear the intellectual precision, emotional passion, exhilarating risk, and incalculable reward behind the human desire to fly.