Two interesting and important books on flying are Mr. Harry
F. Guggenheim's The Seven Skies (Putnams, 105. 6d.) and Mr. Charles Dixon's Parachuting (Sampson Low, 12s. 6d.). The former is by the son of the founder of the Daniel Guggen- heim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, himself a pilot of thirteen years' standing, and an intimate friend of Colonel Lindbergh : we know of no better short conspectus of the history and future of flying. Parachuting is exceptionally. wed written: every one of the adventures described--and. many have befallen those -who have jumped from aeroplanes —is so graphically recorded that the .reader's heart stands still. There are also some exceptionally good photographs, and much information of an unusual kind. It is news to us, for instance, that the maximum speed attainable by a human being falling from a height is 119 miles per hour and that this velocity is attained in a little more than 1,000 feet after that, no matter how high the fall, the rate of descent 'does not increase, owing to the retarding effect of air resistance. With the parachute open, the speed is reduced to about 14 miles an hour.
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