I began reading David K Randall's books on the recommendation of my father. We rarely overlap in taste but Randall's books are the exception. They're always a fresh take on an interesting subject and well researched.

Into Unknown Skies is yet another engaging history from Randall. Focused on the 1924 chase to be the first to circumnavigate the world by plane. Considering the scope of the story, it's not surprising that there's a large cast of characters. At times it can be a bit much to keep up with but I thought that Randall navigated that challenge well and I was very invested in the story.

Engaging and interesting, covering a subject that most people probably aren't super familiar with, Into Unknown Skies will be a great holiday gift for the history reader in your family.

I had never heard of these men or their accomplishments before this book [they are often, unrightly so, overshadowed by "greater" aviators ie The Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, and my personal favorite, Amelia Earhart], but I am still in awe [four days later] by the bravery, tenacity, and pure luck [and pluck] of these men, who set out to do what had never been done before and ushered in aviation as a feasible mode of transportation. What they did and accomplished [and endured] is nothing short of miraculous IMO, and there were many moments where I found myself holding my breath all while hoping they'd come out of whatever mess/trials/danger they had gotten themselves into [this happened more often than not through much of this book].

This was a completely fascinating read, well written and expertly researched [though at times I DID struggle with all of the players who were involved; keeping them all straight really required a chart LOL] and I will be recommending this to all my history AND aviation buff friends. I highly recommend this even if you aren't really a fan as this is important history that has almost been lost; it is a story that needs to be remembered and told over and over. I am so glad that I was able to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley, David K. Randall, and Mariner Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Best-selling author David Randall tells the story of the 1924 first flight around the world in his new book, Into Unknown Skies.

Into Unknown Skies is a tale of underdogs beating against the tide of the popular sentiments of their times, of seemingly ordinary men doing the extraordinary, of failures and unassuming stragglers becoming popular heroes.

Randall can occasionally be too sympathetic to his main characters, and perhaps over-romanticizes some aspects of his story for dramatic effect. But those are minor complaints, because the story Randall tells is fantastically exciting. And it is clearly told, too. Personalities, international rivalries, and especially the basics of aeronautical science and engineering are seemingly-effortlessly explained.

Into Unknown Skies is a very good popular history about an under-appreciated event (and under-appreciated people) in the history of technological innovation.

Thank you Netgalley and Mariner books for this arc.


In today’s world of long haul flights that can travel non-stop halfway around the planet in a matter of hours, what these men (from all countries) did sounds quaint. But as laid out in the opening chapters, flying then (and in single engine biplanes with open cockpits) was risky. Weather forecasting wasn’t great and the four US planes flew with no communication gear (due to weight). The US planes and one Italian plane flew east to west while most of the others headed east which caused them to head into various seasonal bad weather along the way. And while the US was passing anti-immigration laws against Asians, the three US crews landed in Japan and China to enthusiastic receptions.

That no one died in this race is a miracle given the many times planes had to ditch in the water, dodge icebergs, fly through monsoons, dense fog, and sand storms, and deal with faulty spare parts. The pilots and their mechanics discovered new-to-them cultures and countries and became global celebrities. They were astounded to see European countries’ civilian airlines and came back with the idea that aviation was truly going to “take off” (no pun intended). Some of these men lived long enough to see 747s, Concordes, and space flight. The interest the race stirred in the US led to laws that fostered many private companies (mainly to deliver the mail) that eventually became Delta, United, and American Airlines. Many of the designers went on to found household name air/space flight companies. The first hundred pages or so of the book details the state of planes and aviation at the time but once the race gets going, it’s fascinating. B

I requested this book because I previously read another book by this author, an excellent narrative nonfiction book that I really enjoyed (Black Death at the Golden Gate). I do think this book was well researched and had a lot of information in it. However, this new book had much less flow and gripped me much less than the previous book I have read by this author. I think I would have liked it better if he had focused the book more on one person and took the reader through the history through that persons experience, helping me to experience the anticipation, competition, challenge and passion of the race more personally than factually. It felt like he was trying to cover too much ground so sometimes read more like "this happened, then this happened, then this happened" rather than sweeping me into a narrative.

Small edit: in chapter 5 spirit is spelled incorrectly ("spirt")

I would still be interested in reading more by this author in the future because I really did enjoy his writing style in Black Death at the Golden Gate, and still recommend that one to others interested in narrative nonfiction!

A funny thing happened to me while reading David Randall's Into Unknown Skies. The story, which follows the first flight around the world by American pilots, has everything you need for a page turner. There are underdogs, rivals, near death experiences, and irrational perseverance. Unfortunately, I was not mesmerized by the story. Instead, I found my mind wandering. I wanted to get through the book instead of enjoying it.

I racked my brain wondering why. Randall has some excellent research and his writing doesn't contain anything egregious such as run on sentences or lack of overall story through-line. It took my a while, but I finally put my finger on it about halfway through. The story is not told with a laser-like focus and there are small diversions which are consistently taking away from the main story.

For example, at one point, the pilots are in the vicinity of Bering Island. If you don't know the story of how it got its name, well I assure you it's riveting. Randall takes a page of so to tell a high-level summary of the story. The problem is that this story adds nothing tangible to the one Randall is telling. The pilots aren't forced to live on the island for months and what you have is a diversion to something immaterial (but admittedly, cool as hell) and it breaks the flow. This is not the only example and Randall will often then revert to the type of writing where this happens then this happens then this happens. The pilots are often in death defying circumstances and Randall probably needed to focus on making those sections as strong as possible as opposed to diversions like what I mentioned above or the pilot of another country who doesn't really matter to the narrative.

As always, there is no accounting for taste. Randall chose to tell the story this way and there may be many readers who are not as turned off by the tangents and sometimes stilted writing like I was. I wouldn't warn someone away from this book, but I can't say I was engaged as much as I had hoped.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Mariner Books.)