Official Review: Cowboys Don't Fly by John Steed
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- Monet_va
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- Latest Review: Cowboys Don't Fly by John Steed
Official Review: Cowboys Don't Fly by John Steed
Cowboys Don’t Fly, Adventures in African Aviation by John Steed is an autobiography about his life and experiences in Kenia, Rhodesia and Mozambique with a specific focus on his passion for flying. The book has a Table of Contents with the Prologue – Plane Crash. This immediately draws the reader in and creates a sense of anticipation.
John Steed was born in India, but his family relocated to Kenia and at the early age of 14 he experienced his first life-changing flight in a Piper Cub. His passion for flying was ignited. He attended the Duke of York School for Boys and after school, his father enrolled him at the Kenia Regiment Training Centre. From there he went to Salisbury where he underwent medical and aptitude tests and eventually joined the Royal Airforce in the Southampton. His training came to an end and he was discharged and went back to Kenia where he started his first real job, fishing for turtles of the Somalia coast. His father’s friend told him about the job and said that he was becoming a real Kenia Cowboy to which he responded “Cowboys don’t fly, whereas I do” - thus the name of the book. The book continues to describe his life, his career changes and relationships and specifically his involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War and later in Mozambique civil war and the NGO’s involved in Africa.
There are very few swear words in the book, the first being on page 34 where one of his fellow trainees were quoted. As an animal lover, I found that some of the activities that the author participated in were cruel but the fact that the author also realized this and did not continue with these activities increased my respect for the author. There are no sex scenes in the book.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars due to the fact that it was, in my opinion, aimed at a specific audience. The book is interesting and fast-moving and the photos create familiarity and enable the reader to engage with John Steed.
It is written in a factual manner and although interesting it is not specifically well written. The book becomes more “humane” towards the end where John gets involved with NGO’s and wildlife. I would recommend this book to young readers who would like to follow their passion, to entrepreneurs and to readers with a specific interest in aviation and the politics and wars in Africa.
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Cowboys Don't Fly
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