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    The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
    The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
    The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
    Ebook377 pages6 hours

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

    By William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

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    About this ebook

    Now a Netflix Film, Starring and Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years a Slave

    William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only 2 percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him misala—crazy—but William refused to let go of his dreams. With a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks; some scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves; and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to forge an unlikely contraption and small miracle that would change the lives around him.

    The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a remarkable true story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. It will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 29, 2009
    ISBN9780061937699
    Author

    William Kamkwamba

    William Kamkwamba is a New York Times bestselling author and innovator who designs development projects, including safe water delivery and educational access. William tells his journey of how he achieved his dream of bringing electricity, light, and the promise of a better life to his family and his village in his memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, co-authored with Bryan Mealer. Since its debut, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has sold more than 1 million copies and has been translated into nearly twenty languages worldwide. It has been published in two additional editions, a young reader’s version and a children’s book. After graduating from Dartmouth College in Environmental Studies, William began work as a Global Fellow for the design firm IDEO.org. He is an entrepreneur, TED Fellow, and has worked with the WiderNet Project to develop appropriate technologies curriculums focused on bridging the gap between “knowing” and “doing” for young people in Malawi and across the world. William splits his time between the U.S. and Malawi and is currently working full-time with the Moving Windmills Project to bring the Moving Windmills Innovation Center to life in Kasungu, Malawi.

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    Reviews for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

    4/5

    130 ratings76 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A touching story.
    • 5/5
      Great story and so inspirational- great read for young and old!
    • 4/5
      Excellent story about a boy in Africa who overcame great challenges to work towards a better life for him and his family.
    • 5/5
      It was a well written book that laid the groundwork well for what was to happen, it told William's story very well.

      It was great to see that even though he wasn't given the advantages in life that he had a plan, and although it got sidelined at times, that he persevered.

      It is sad to see that there are places in the world that don't even come close to having the advantages that we do. This was a very though provoking book.
    • 4/5
      William Kamkwamba is from a small village in Malawi, where very few buildings are wired for electricity, and even those are subject to frequent blackouts. Like most people in Malawi, his family are farmers, but from a young age he was extremely interested in technology, often taking radios apart to see how they worked. Then, when he was in his early teens, the country was stricken by a terrible famine. Unlike many, his family survived, but it took all their resources to do so, which meant his parents could no longer afford the fees charged by secondary schools in Malawi and he had to drop out. Afraid of falling behind if and when he was able to return, William began studying from English-language textbooks he found in his village school's tiny library, which led to him teaching himself the basics of electrical engineering from a physics book. Those books also introduced him to the concept of a windmill, to which his main reaction, essentially, was, "Hey, if I built one of those, I could listen to music on the radio any time I wanted! And maybe even run a water pump to irrigate the fields so we could grow more crops and avoid another famine." So he did, MacGyvering the thing together using homemade tools and parts scavenged from a scrapyard. And it worked.Most supposedly "inspirational" stories strike me as emotionally manipulative and just tend to put me off, but this, this sort of thing, to me is genuinely inspiring. Not only is it a wonderfully impressive example of technological ingenuity and drive, as well as a testament to the power of knowledge and learning, but it's also a demonstration of how people anywhere can help to improve their local communities. And while I read this mainly because I was interested in the story of the windmill, I also found the earlier chapters, describing Kamkwamba's childhood and his experiences of living through the famine, extremely interesting, as they offered me a first-hand look at a place and a culture I was almost entirely unfamiliar with.
    • 5/5
      If you haven't read it yet - DO SO !
      Great true story.
      You need to read it.
      Read in 2010.
    • 4/5
      What a powerful example of the human spirit! William describes both the horror of living through a famine and the persistence and creativity that he displayed in learning how to apply science to making his life better. Reading of the conditions of William's life drove home to me just how fortunate we are to live in America and how it will be people like William that will make the changes needed in his country.
    • 3/5
      This story shows the importance of education. William used his knowledge to solve his town's problems. He could no longer go to school, but he still went to the library to learn. Because of that visit, William discovered how a windmill could bring food back to his people. William also showed the importance of doing what you believe is right regardless of what others think. People in his town thought he was crazy when he was trying to build his windmill. William kept building and people were impressed when he was done. If people work hard they can accomplish great things.
    • 4/5
      I cried at times, this was so moving. A boy in Malawi, who cannot afford school and whose family is starving to death from famine, teaches himself Physics to the point of allowing himself to build an electricity generating windmill. Over time this brings him attention which brings funding to lift him and his family from poverty and puts him on the road to be among the new generation of African entrepreneurs. Amazing.
    • 5/5
      What this book lacks in lyrical prose it makes up for in inspiration and hope. Faced with famine in his native land and having to leave school as his tuition fees can no longer be afforded, our 14 year old author scours the library science books and teaches himself how to build a windmill. The local “junkyard” provides most of the materials required and with the assistance of a cousin and friend he creates the country’ first windmill to provide his family with electricity. What really struck me was his total lack of self pity or the tendency of North Americans to expect government to do for him. He saw a need, had a dream and did it. Of course, it helped that he didn't have a government agency breathing down his neck telling him he couldn't build it because he didn't get a permit. I believe students in the west could benefit greatly from reading this book.
    • 4/5
      Charming and descriptive book about life in rural Africa, and benefits of a curious and determined boy who brings light to many (literally). I'm rooting for the author, wherever he is now.
    • 4/5
      An inspiring story. Regretfully, the first half of the book is full of short attention-span stories of the family, history and general life in Malawi. While interesting, this part adds nothing to the story, and perhaps would have made a good second book. However, this book is advertised as the story of the boy who Harnessed the Wind, and that is an excellent story. The young man, about fifteen years old, build a wind turbine to bring electricity to his village in Malawi. He got his information from a public library, where he read a book on science, donated by Americans to his community. Using scrap metal, cast off parts and pieces of broken bicycles, he is able to bring light to his house after dark, and to make some money charging up a few cell phones and other tasks. He gets written up in the Malawi newspapers, and goes on a tour in the US, and finally gets a full scholarship to an university.Called "crazy" by his neighbors who came together to see him fail, he ultimately wins and impresses everyone who meets him. An unusual true story of an unusual young man. The world needs more people like him.
    • 5/5
      My 12 year old nephew suggested this one for me--I thought it would be a nice, straightforward account of a boy who built a windmill ... but it turned out to be one of the more moving experiences I've had reading this year. There's a harrowing longish sequence in the middle involving famine which gives the rest of the book its emotional gravitas.

      It certainly makes me feel privileged to be so blasé about things like the Internet, Starbucks, sandwiches, etc. Malawi is a very different place--more different than I would have thought prior to reading the book. Very much recommended.

      (Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
    • 4/5
      The Premise Much of the first half of the book is the captivating scene setting of day to day life in his village whilst William is a young boy. It then moves to the devastating impact of famine on the village and surrounding area including forcing William to give up his much wanted place at secondary school as the family struggle to survive. At this point William avails himself of a small library attached to the primary school and to all intents and purposes teaches himself physics. As the grip of the famine eases but a shortage of funds means William can not return to school he starts to put his learning into practice building, to the initial bemusement of the village, a large windmill which he uses to bring electric light to his family home. Thoughts Kamkwamba and his co-author Bryan Mealer have written in a simple, straightforward narrative style which felt very authentic given the author was a child when much of the book took place. The descriptions of the famine were all the more heart rendering for this candid approach as he factually explains the consequences for himself, his family and the wider community in terms that leave little to the imagination. He also paints compelling pictures of his village and many of its inhabitants. Harder to achieve but still successful is the scene setting of an environment so different to that which most Western readers will recognise. He explains concepts like the role of the chief and the widespread belief in magic in a way which clarify without ever judging. Whilst I was fascinated by William’s ingenuity and dedication as he starts to try and build his windmill (no drill… no worries. He just makes his own from a hot nail and a cob of corn) I did lose focus through some of the latter part of the book which has pages of details about electricity and physics which are not topics where I have any real knowledge or capability! Despite this I was mentally cheering for him as he succeeded and as educational opportunities opened up for him as a result. An inspiring and powerful story about what commitment and effort can accomplish even in difficult circumstances whilst making a powerful point about the power of literacy (and access to books)
    • 5/5
      This book shares a very personal story with struggle and circumstances that, despite the odds, are overcome through perseverance and an exceptional hunger for learning. It is a wonderful example of how people can excel beyond what others expect and despite others' lack of faith. But, this boy has also been partly a product of the good nature of those who saw his potential. It is a story that can inspire us to be truly thankful for the seemingly simple things that we enjoy daily (like running water, electricity, and food). It is also a story that should inspire us to reach out to others in need, for that's all it takes sometimes.
    • 3/5
      I went into this book wanting (and maybe even expecting) to love it. I didn't. I liked it, but was overall disappointed-- maybe more so because I had glimpses of the book I was expecting to read.The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind starts with page after page of anecdotes and description of life in rural Africa, of the people, and of the author's experiences growing up. It wasn't until page 67 that I saw anything related to his eventual windmill building.Most of these stories were interesting in and of themselves, and some of it was necessary to set the scene, but they weren't what I was looking for in this book.It wasn't until 2/3 of the way through that the story I was looking for and expecting really kicks in, and I really enjoyed the final 1/3 of the book. I spent a lot of my reading time thinking about how the story could have been told differently to make it work. I came up with a number of ideas (interweaving the early and later parts of the story, having the book be a series of inter-related short stories, not all of which had a technological theme, adding in a parallel story of one of the other people he met late in the book).What it came down to was that the story I wanted wasn't really enough to fill the book.Except I'm not even sure that was true. In spite of the author's narration, I only felt I had a superficial knowledge of him and how he thought. One example is his school exams. He's obviously a bright guy, and he talks about the time he spends studying for the exams that determine what school he will be allowed to attend. He anxiously awaits the results. They aren't good, and he is assigned to a very low ranking school. I never found out why, and how he felt about this.If you are interested in a stories of the challenges of African life, give this book a shot.
    • 4/5
      I am glad to have read this book, EXCEPT I really wish it had been made clear that a large portion of this book was about how the author's family and country were affected by a devastating famine. While I think it helped to understand the author's life and dreams, it could be hard for more "sensitive" readers (I have a hard time reading about horrors because they stick in my head). The portions of this book that were about engineering would make great reading for a junior inventors club. I wanted to try some of the things myself! I just wish they had been a bit clearer.
    • 4/5
      William Kamkwamba grew up in an African country, Malawi. His family were farmers and relied on the land and weather to be able to eat. When a famine hit the country and many people starved, William’s family made it through, but there was no money to send William to school. He so desperately wanted to go to school and learn. Instead, he went to the library and took out science books, from which he taught himself. He managed to build a windmill to provide his family home with electricity and had ideas for more things he wanted to build to make life better/easier. This started off really slow for me, and I wasn’t hopeful at first. But, about ¼ of the way through (when the famine hit), it really picked up for me, and just seemed to get better and better. The parts that weren’t as interesting to me was when he talked about the superstitions and magic and the hold they sometimes have over the Malawian people. I’m not sure why those parts lost my interest, but they did. Overall, though, I was excited with William when he showed off his windmill to all the people gathered, and was happy for all his successes after.
    • 5/5
      An inspiring book about a young boy who's family was too poor to afford school, so he checked out books from the library to teach himself. Through books he learned about electricity and eventually built a wind generator for his parent's farm. It makes you aware of how many opportunities and resources we have in the United States that are just taken for granted.
    • 5/5
      My two-word opinion on “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope” by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer?READ IT.This is a very readable book about a boy (now young man), growing up in drought- and famine-stricken Malawi. William Kamkwamba manages to overcome starvation and being forced to drop out of school because his family no longer can afford it. He figures out how to build a windmill to power his home. This drew much attention, and made news in parts of the world; not just locally. As a result, Bryan Mealer, author of a previous book about war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (”All Things Must Fight to Live”), heard about William and his windmill. To write this book, the two of them would meet together — William would tell stories through an interpreter to Mr. Mealer. This book is so much more than how William came to build his windmill. William shares with us the local beliefs, customs, village and farming life; along with the hardships his family, the villagers and he has had to endure.I was fascinated as soon as I started reading this book, when William shares with us stories about his countrypeople’s beliefs in magic, and the powers of the local witch doctors. William relates an incident that happened when he was about 6 years old — he was given some stolen bubble gum — and he fears that the witch doctor will come and get him. He says:“But then, as if a dark cloud had passed over the sun, I felt the great eye of the wizard watching me through the trees. I’d eaten his juju and now his darkness owned me. that night, the witches would come for me in my bed. They’d take me aboard their planes and force me to fight, leaving me for dead along the magic battlefields. And as my soul drifted alone and forsaken above the clouds, my body would be cold by morning. A fear of death swept over me like a fever”.William also adds what his father thinks of magic: “In a land of poor farmers, there were too many troubles for God and man alone. To compensate for this imbalance, he said, magic existed as a third and powerful force”.By the time William is a teenager, he loves to tinker with things; taking apart radios just to try to figure out how they work. He gets good enough that he repairs radios for people in his village and the surrounding villages. The famine hit Malawi when William became a teenager. His family struggled financially as a result. William tells us how he kept sneaking into school even when his dad didn’t have the fees, but eventually he was caught and told not to come back again until the family could pay. As he says:“…Instead of going home to ask my father for the money, for the next two weeks I tried to go to school for free.I had to calculate my movements carefully…..” We take for granted education here in the United States, don’t we? There are so many children, not just William, who want an education but can’t get it. However, William’s thirst for learning does not end when his school career does. When he is not helping his family out, he goes to the library and reads as much as he can. This is when William realizes he can build his own windmill and creatively uses various items, such as an old bicycle, a tractor fan, and random metal pieces.I was constantly impressed at how resourceful William was and is. Due to the publicity from his windmill, he is currently attending African Leadership Academy, a high school in Johannesburg, South Africa. He hopes that more Africans can be educated, because he feels education is key to self-empowerment and the key to Africa ever reaching success.He says:“I hope this story finds its way to our brothers and sisters out there who are trying to elevate themselves and their communities, but who may feel discouraged by their poor situation. I want them to know they’re not alone. By working together, we can help remove this burden of bad luck from their backs, just as I did, and use it to build a better future”.Now that I’ve read “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, I feel even more convinced that Africa’s future depends not on politicians, but rather, the citizens themselves. Citizens like William Kamkwamba.Again, I strongly recommend reading this book. Yes, it is always inspiring to read about someone “beating the odds” — but this also is a very readable account on the state of one African country, which in turn gives the reader a good idea of the issues facing Africa overall. I think my only complaint is that it isn’t clear when and how Bryan Mealer comes into this book, and how William is the co-author.
    • 5/5
      This is a really inspiring story of famine and energy, struggles and successes. William Kamkwamba is a Malawian who along with his family suffers under a famine - but is a natural tinkerer and becomes inspired to build a windmill to generate electricity and pump water for irrigation after reading some physics texts in a local village library when he is forced to drop out of school due to poverty. William successfully builds his windmill, becomes famous, and connects with other inventors as a TED Fellow. Really powerful stuff. Ghost written (William admits he doesn't know English well), but well told anyway. Recommended. I heard about this book on The Daily Show and am glad I got it and got around to reading it. Fast read - about half of it in a day or so.
    • 5/5
      The tone of the book makes me feel I am talking with a next-door neighbor—casual and low key. This, despite descriptions of obviously different customs, such as a funeral, meals, and family relations. He boasts about his father’s strength and tells of his life growing up, working in his father’s fields and playing with friends. When famine hits, Kamkwambe doesn’t treat it in a dramatic way but simply relates his observations and experiences: how his hunger makes him feel, how his mother works to get the next day’s food, the sight of people looking to work for food and, later, dying of starvation. All this is additional to the main theme of the book: Kamkwambe’s intense interest in electricity and how, lacking the money for schooling and with poor English skills, he finds a book in the small local library and teaches himself how to wire his family’s house for electricity and build a windmill out of an odd assortment of broken bikes, machines, and cast off trash. This theme is very inspiring and is every home-schooling parent’s dream of what their child could do if unfettered by a restrictive teach-to-the-test educational system. The book ends with Kamkwambe’s belief that , with dedicated work by its citizens, Africa can move into the modern age.This was not rated as a 5 because of a tendency, mid-book, to stray into didactic explanations of how electricity works—of interest, perhaps, only to another fanatic or third world inventor. There was also a duplicate recounting of how tobacco is grown. Since this review is based on an advance reader-s proof, it is possible that an editor has modified these problems before publication.
    • 5/5
      How does a 14-year old high school dropout in a small famine-stricken country in south eastern Africa build a windmill? William Kamkwamba tells how he did in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a memoir of a young man who wanted to ensure a better life for his family by using ideas inspired by science books and his own innovation to build them.Kamkwamba’s memoir starts at the beginning, giving a brief history of his parents and grandparents as well as the cultural background of not only his local village but of his native Malawi itself. He then relates the adventures, and misadventures, of his earlier childhood in the relatively stable time before the 2001-02 famine that struck his country. Next comes the hard times of the famine and the struggle his family endured to survive it, but what also forced him to drop out of school. Yet all of this is important in understanding how Kamkwamba was able to construct the windmill that would change his life forever because he explains how not only he, but his family and friends would reuse material to create toys, or hunting traps, or repair other machines.A little over halfway through the book Kamkwamba begins recounting how he got the idea to build the windmill and his motivation behind it. The ingenuity of his reuse of materials found from junkyards to random materials he could all over his village to engineer his first windmill is fascinating, but given the earlier examples from his childhood the reader understands how Kamkwamba was able to use everything he found for the purpose he wanted. But Kamkwamba does not neglect the contributions of his friends and members of his family that helped and supported him throughout his building, even while some in his village though him a madman.Only in the last 30 pages of the book describes Kamkwamba experience from local curiosity to giving a presentation at a TED conference to eventually writing this book along with Bryan Mealer. Both Kamkwamba and Mealer knew that the why and how of building the windmill was the central point of this entire book and that while all the fame that Kamkwamba has gained is interesting, it only happened because of the windmill. The book is Kamkwamba’s, but he would be the first to acknowledge that English is his second language and Mealer’s contribution was to ensure that this book was very readable without losing Kamkwamba’s voice.If I was forced to write a review of this book in ten words or less, I would only needed three: “Just read this”. This book is of a young man who survived trying times that potentially put a limit on his expectations for life and the future, but he found a way to expand not only his own horizons but that of his family and village with an idea and hard work. So just read this book.
    • 4/5
      This is a story about a young boy, William, who sees a problem and works to solve it. Early in the story the reader is introduced to the setting: a small village in Malawi, Africa. William is always dreaming of creative inventions and asking questions about machines and other technologies he sees on a day-to-day basis. Growing up working in the fields, harvest season is vital for the survival of his family and community. As harvest season began, the lack of rain and abundant amount of sun scorched the fields leaving everyone with no food. One day, William found the energy and passion to go to a local library (created by Americans) to see if he could create something to solve the problem: no water. He discovers through his readings that if he can make a pinwheel then it can produce electricity to pump the water they needed. William and a few friends worked together to create a pinwheel and tested it to see if it could create electricity. After some testing, he finds out it is a success and creates more in order to save the harvest and his community.
    • 3/5
      The nonfiction book by Malawi author William Kamkwamba about his youth in the small African country where his family farmed maize at the mercy of drought and poverty. William wanted to go to school and learn science but because of the drought and loss of the crop he could not pay the fees. William did not give up but would study from science books from a small library. He used junk to build his first windmill and wired his parents home with electricity that could run small amount of lights. It is an interesting book that looks at a country that makes repurposing a way of life. They recycle junk all the time. Not like life where appliances are built to be thrown away every 6 years if you're lucky to get that much out of it. I can't say that I got into the electricity so much. It just isn't my interest but I was inspired by this young man who never quit trying and his desire to make things better for his country.
    • 5/5
      Genre: non-fiction (informational)Why it fits this genre: The book contains accurate information.How I would use this book:1. I would use this book to beginning a study with students about wind power, droughts, and water sources.2. The book says that William used the library across the road, "a gift from the Americans", to have access to the information found in books. I could have students focus on this section of the book and ask questions regarding William's success and the role the United States played in impoverished countries.Summary: This book is about a boy named William who lived in the town of Malawi, Africa, an impoverished town. As a child, William worked in the fields with his family and went to school. However, all of this changed when there was a drought that dried the maize field. Due to this, the people of Malawi began to starve and were unable to make money. William had to drop out of school because he could no longer afford it. One day, William went to a library in his town. The books were all in English but William used a dictionary to understand the information in the books. He read about windmills and learned that the can produce electricity and pump water. William thought that if he built his own windmill, he would be able to help out his community. The people in his town thought that he was crazy. However, William's was able to create a windmill that produced electricity and aspired to build one that could soak up the ground and end the famine. Media: oil and cut paper Critique: "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" is a good example of an informational book because all of the book is based on the accounts of a first person. For example, the book was written by William Kamkwamba and another author. Therefore, William had a huge influence on the information that is presented in the book.
    • 4/5
      I struggled through the first 40ish pages as it just didn’t grab me – it was feeling like one of those books which would be a chore to read. However, I persevered and I was so glad I did!

      This isn’t just a tale about windmills and science, but is about William’s life in Malawi. His father had been a market trader and a bit of a rogue, but then he met William’s mother and his life changed. He moved to be near his brother and started farming the land, growing maize and tobacco, and although the family didn’t have much money, life was good.

      But then came the drought in 2001 which obviously affected the crops. The situation was terribly bad for Kamkwamba’s family and considerably worse for many other people. William had to drop out of secondary school, a fact that upset him considerably as he had a thirst for knowledge. The majority of this memoir is about the family’s struggle to feed themselves in such terrible circumstances.

      William has always had an interest in science – particularly energy. He manages to make crude sources to run the family’s precious radio (purchasing batteries, as a luxury, are out of the question) and eventually finds his way to the village library. There he borrows textbooks and an idea forms that, if he could bring it to fruition, would change the family’s fortunes for the better. The rains finally come and although the family still struggle, things do improve. Armed with his new-found knowledge about harnessing wind to make electricity, William starts exploring the local tip for parts, and soon constructs a windmill. The villagers, and to some extent William’s own family, think he’s ‘misala’ – crazy – but with the help of his cousin Geoffrey and his good friend Gilbert (the villagers’ Chief’s son) William constructs a crude windmill – and it works!

      Reported in a local newspaper, the story was blogged and quickly went spread, leading to Kamkwamba being invited to speak at conferences in Tanzania and then America. His fame led to offers of help and since the first windmill was built, William has not only brought electricity and fresh water to his home but to his village, as well as refurbishing the primary school and various other projects. William’s story is truly inspirational and once I’d got into it I couldn’t put it down.
    • 4/5
      An inspiring story that opened up my awareness to something of what it is like to live in a society primarily dependent on subsistence farming in the 21st century. There is a fascinating juxtaposition of old and new: e.g., many people have cell phones, but not many have electricity, so there are charging stations where you can pay a small fee to recharge your phone. Although the title makes you think it's really all about the windmill, it takes half the book to get there. First we need to get a picture of life in this African family, the desire for education and stability, and the precarious situation that a family is placed in when dependent on weather and government policies. Very interesting, and a joy to get to know this young man.
    • 4/5
      I found this story of a boy who manages to bring electricity to his family's home in a Malawian village rather uneven. The subject matter was a bit of a mismatch for me, really, since I have no background nor much of an interest in science. When he began describing the details of his experiments with voltage and electricity, I could definitely appreciate and admire the ingenuity, but I still skimmed to get back to the more general topics. I enjoyed the book, though, and feel that it has a lot to offer in terms of the experience of life in Malawi and the horrible reality of famine, in addition to the ability of the human spirit to triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds. Sometimes not knowing any better is the only way to accomplish something.
    • 4/5
      William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger, and a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. But William had read about windmills in a book called Using Energy, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change his life and the lives of those around him.

    Book preview

    The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba

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