The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope in Science and Inquiry

Aug 29, 2011 Katy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: math-science, favorites

A great story of hope and not giving up.
Love the line, "If you want to make it, all you have to do is try."
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Jan 06, 2020 Navi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: everand, nonfiction, science, memoir

This was an inspiring book about a young Malawi boy who brought the power of electricity to his village.

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Dec 17, 2010 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, read-in-2013, africa

Most of my friends gave this 5 stars too. At first I was unsure it was that good...but then I fell in love. This book made me want to jump for joy in a way I don't remember any book doing before. Usually it is the sad stuff that moves me the most. It's a great and inspiring story! ...more

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Jan 09, 2010 Tippy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, technology, physics, 2011

This books is definitely one of my favorites this year. A fantastic account of William Kamkwamba's motives, education and struggles that led to him creating a windmill to power his house, eventually being discovered by scientists and getting funding to work on furthering his education and his other technology projects.

First off, one of my favorite things about this book is that it demystifies the engineering of a windmill. One of the things that I love about physics is that at the end of the day This books is definitely one of my favorites this year. A fantastic account of William Kamkwamba's motives, education and struggles that led to him creating a windmill to power his house, eventually being discovered by scientists and getting funding to work on furthering his education and his other technology projects.

First off, one of my favorite things about this book is that it demystifies the engineering of a windmill. One of the things that I love about physics is that at the end of the day, so much technology is made from the same basic machines, concepts and systems. Motors can be nothing more than a fixed magnet and an electromagnet. In this book, he talks about how he is introduced to basic physics concepts from everyday things around him-bicycle lights and radios for example. And to read about someone with only a primary school education, little to no access to tools, no internet and only sporadic access to parts build not just a windmill, but a generator, a circuit breaker and switches in the rooms of his house- not to mention the capability to switch between DC and AC- it not only boggles the mind (he used a corn cob and a heated nail as a drill, for cryin' out loud!), but reminds me of how little most of us know about the technology we use everyday and the very basics of engineering.

The book starts with a brief discussion on magic. He then talks about a crushing famine that hit their country and the scandals and politics that destroyed their back up plans. Of course, his family didn't have enough money for food let alone school. He had to drop out. So, thinking he would be able to go back the following semester, he went to the local library to try to keep up with the classes on his own. There he came across 3 books, including one with images of windmills, and got his bright idea. If he could have a windmill, he could stay up past 7 o'clock and more importantly, he could use it to power a pump to get enough water so that his family could have 2 harvests a year, even in times of drought. They would never be hungry again. He built a model windmill and it worked. And then he set to work on the real deal.

These events were not only amazing, but they easily remind you that there is so much more in your reach than you realize. ...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Casey rated it really liked it

Shelves: knowledge-is-good, all-around-the-world, relevant-for-teachers, memoir-writers-this-is-your-life, audiobook

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is not just a story about about an African boy who created a windmill. Of course, it is about that, but it's also about so much more. This book had been on my radar for awhile, but I never picked it up, mostly because I didn't see how the story could be that interesting. I was completely wrong, of course. I should have read this ages ago!

Malawi is a country in eastern sub-saharan Africa, the precise location of which I shamefully had to look up (it borders Mozambiq The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is not just a story about about an African boy who created a windmill. Of course, it is about that, but it's also about so much more. This book had been on my radar for awhile, but I never picked it up, mostly because I didn't see how the story could be that interesting. I was completely wrong, of course. I should have read this ages ago!

Malawi is a country in eastern sub-saharan Africa, the precise location of which I shamefully had to look up (it borders Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania, and is home to a large lake, Lake Malawi). In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William Kamkwamba tells the story of his life in a rural farming community. An aspiring scientist, Kamkwamba was forced to drop out of secondary school when a famine struck Malawi (his family ate only one meal per day). He was not able to return to school, because he was unable to pay his school fees of 1200 kwacha, which is the equivalent of US $3.70 (that's about what I pay for a latte at Starbucks). It's an honest and interesting look at living in a developing nation, so honest that sometimes I had to set the book aside to think about things.

At the time when Kamkwamba was starving, I was busy driving around an awesome car and begging my parents for my own computer (even though we already had a family iMac that I used constantly). I was never hungry; like many Americans, my family ate meat for dinner almost every night. In Malawi, meat is a special occasion food: in a particularly evocative section of the book, Kamkwamba describes the special meal of chicken and rice reserved only for Christmas dinner. I took school seriously, but I never worried that one day I would no longer be able to go. I had so many opportunities, while Kamkwamba had the deck stacked against him.

There's a little joke from The Office, where Michael Scott meets someone who was a surgeon back in India. Michael says "I wonder what I would have been back home," his belief in his own exceptionalism so high that he takes it as a given that he would have been even better off had he had to rise out of poverty. When I consider what I would have been if chance had put me in Malawi, I don't know that I could have made it. With limited access to education, I don't see how I would have been able to go to college, let alone graduate school. I don't think I would have shown the initiative to go against the grain and create something from scratch, to try to make my life better. Kamkwamba's story inspired me, and made me realize how blessed my life has been. ...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Adam Hallihan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book takes a look at William's life in Malawi and his efforts to build a windmill to provide electricity to his family. I went into the book wanting to find out information about how he built the windmill and left learning about more than just windmills. I learned about William's view of politics and his everyday life in Malawi. For me, those parts dragged on at times (i.e. the witchcraft sections) but then intrigued me at other points (i.e. how his family survived starvation). This duality ...more

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Nov 03, 2009 bup rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010

This is an unbelievably inspiring story that makes me want to putter in my garage until I've invented an alternative energy source. What he did was so simple and so brilliant, and the stuff he taught himself about electricity just blows me away. Coiling his own whatever-ma-callits to increase voltage, and making his own circuit breakers out of magnets and ball point pens. He's like a real-life MacGyver. And he did it during a famine. And he couldn't even buy the parts. He had to find them in the ...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, lwv-suggest

What an amazing young man! Kamkwamba grew up in a village in Malawi. With his intelligence, persistence, determination (and charm) he built a windmill that generated electricity for his family home.
He and his co-author, Bryan Mealer, have told his story beautifully.
The story gives us a picture of what village life is like including the hard work, family ties, trading, superstitions, transportation, illness and famine.

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Mar 11, 2019 Sunshine rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a good story. It's actually an amazing story peopled with amazing people. Kamkwamba just isn't the strongest writer to tell it. His brilliance and dedication cannot be denied, his loyalty to family, teachers, community and country is apparent in every page, I just found myself a bit bogged down in the writing style and technicality of certain parts of the narrative. ...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, science

I read this book to complement a recent wind energy education workshop I attended. This is the story about how one boy's persistence helped him improve his life and the lives of his family and friends in his home village.
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