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Stranger to the Ground
A man alone in the sky has a chance to touch the stars. But as Richard Bach, flying a lone jet across Europe, reaches for the eternal, he must also confront the fear and danger that shadow the unknown.
A portion of this book originally appeared in the July 1963 issue of Harper's Magazine.
A portion of this book originally appeared in the July 1963 issue of Harper's Magazine.
178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
47 people are currently reading
707 people want to read
About the author
Richard Bach
163 books3,775 followers
Since Jonathan Livingston Seagull - which dominated the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List for two consecutive years - Richard Bach has touched millions of people through his humor, wisdom and insight.
With over 60 million copies of his books sold, Richard Bach remains one of the world's most beloved authors. A former USAF fighter pilot, Air Force captain and latter-day barnstorming pilot, Bach continues to be an avid aviator-author, exploring and chronicling the joys and freedom of flying, reporting his findings to readers.
His most recent works include Travels with Puff, which recounts Bach's journey from Florida to Washington state in his small seaplane, Puff, and Illusions II: The Adventures of a Reluctant Student, which incorporates Bach's real-life plane crash.
In October 2014, the never-before-published Part Four to Jonathan Livingston Seagull was published.
Readers can find more about Richard and his work at www.richardbach.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
June 29, 2008
Not my favorite Bach, but still had some good moments. I really love to read about flight and flying. However, at times he was too much of a Cold War apologist. The way that he tried to justify his involvement rang false to me--it didn't make me sympathetic, it just sort of disgusted me that he was comfortable with killing other humans, even though he fully admitted that he'd probably like them a great deal if given the chance.
November 21, 2024
Nunca dejé un libro. A diferencia de lo que dice Borges que no todo esta escrito para todos siempre creo en la magia del descubrir algo más allá o con lo que uno puede llegar a conectar de cada palabra. Vaya batalla me elegí enfrentar.
La palabra queda olvidada detrás de lo que uno lee. Pero este caso es muy difícil. Salvo quizá alguna que otra palabra que te llega lo demás es demasiado técnico de aviación no permitiendo ni siquiera metaforizar o imaginar algo más allá.
Me acerqué al libro ya que estaban en mi casa (la historia familiar cuenta que lo compró mi abuelo en un momento de angustia muy grande). El autor ya lo había identificado por ser de Juan salvador gaviota y algo de ese mensaje me había gustado.
Lamentablemente no conecté y me pareció bastante aburrido. Lo leí algunos momentos por arriba y me fue ajeno... Si al menos quiero jugar con las palabras de lo que el libro representa.
La palabra queda olvidada detrás de lo que uno lee. Pero este caso es muy difícil. Salvo quizá alguna que otra palabra que te llega lo demás es demasiado técnico de aviación no permitiendo ni siquiera metaforizar o imaginar algo más allá.
Me acerqué al libro ya que estaban en mi casa (la historia familiar cuenta que lo compró mi abuelo en un momento de angustia muy grande). El autor ya lo había identificado por ser de Juan salvador gaviota y algo de ese mensaje me había gustado.
Lamentablemente no conecté y me pareció bastante aburrido. Lo leí algunos momentos por arriba y me fue ajeno... Si al menos quiero jugar con las palabras de lo que el libro representa.
October 3, 2011
It is rare to find someone able to capture in words a love, a passion for something that to the rest of us would be indescribable. Richard Bach does just that. His adoration for flight, and the sky in which it takes place, can barely hold the boundaries of the pages on which it's descriptions are inscribed.
May 22, 2021
I love flight and books by flyers. There was a deep dive into all the Bach books more or less at once. And then years of a queasy aftermath. He's charming. Also, he's approximately one micron thick. Putz.
Library copy
Library copy
April 2, 2013
Annecdotes from a career in aviation told against the backdrop of a hazardous coldwar flight from England to France in the mid 1950's.
Dedicated to Don Slack and a mountain in central France that stands 6,188 feet above sea level.
I vastly prefer this book to Bach's popular fantasy "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", as it deals with real-life aviation adventure and commitment, not an anthropomorphized bird struggling to perfect his flying skills.
Dedicated to Don Slack and a mountain in central France that stands 6,188 feet above sea level.
I vastly prefer this book to Bach's popular fantasy "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", as it deals with real-life aviation adventure and commitment, not an anthropomorphized bird struggling to perfect his flying skills.
September 29, 2008
Yes, OK. He's also the author of "Jonathan Livington Seagull." Whatever. "Stranger to the Ground" offers insight to the experience of flight, though I am only an observer to what Richard Bach and Brian Shul have accomplished (see "Sled Driver" review for Major Shul's book). Read "Stranger to the Ground" to enter a world you've almost certainly never known.
March 12, 2011
First sentence: "The wind tonight is from the west, down runway two eight." This book should be in this list!
January 25, 2009
During my Richard Bach phase; really good book.
Read
July 27, 2010Early Bach isn't really my thing I guess... after reading One, I just really didn't like this...
August 26, 2011
Recommended for pilots. Technical descriptions (which I really enjoyed) maybe a bit long and involved for non-pilots.
June 30, 2012
One of the best books I've ever read. This is Richard Bach at his best. An intense, one-man exploration of the desperation and the loneliness of the Cold War.
July 16, 2012
Spent a lifetime flying jets in the Air Force. This book captures the experience of flying a single-seat jet better than any other.
September 26, 2022
(English Assignment)
My general interpretation of Richard Bach's "Stranger to the Ground" was that it was a professional look into the life of a pilot with the poetic touch of a man who is not quite satisfied with his position as a mortal. Bach describes the ins and outs of his F-84F Thunderstreak jet as if he were the one who designed it, and follows every description with an anecdote about pilot error or the nigh-godliness one feels within an airplane. The stories and plane descriptions become dull after the first forty pages, lulling the reader to sleep until Bach tosses in an existentialist quote about "Man's place in the universe and our futile desires to go beyond it," or the like. "Stranger to the Ground" follows this same pattern to the very end. Description of plane component, anecdote, existentialist quote, repeat.
While I do find the pattern to be a bore, the story itself does have its upsides. Bach generally has a rather carefree tone that - paired with his unamusing text - makes for a calming, unoffensive jaunt of a read. I cannot say I was ever stressed or anxious while reading this book, and had I not been forced to read it in such a rushed manner I would've probably read a few pages at my leisure whenever I felt a little drowsy, as to help me fall asleep quicker. I didn't believe I could ever find a cohesive story with no beginning, middle or end, and yet here I am writing a review for one. I could open up to any page of the book with no knowledge of what Bach was rambling on about in pages prior and still find myself understanding the story perfectly. This could be because "Stranger to the Ground" restates the same information every five pages for one hundred and seventy-three pages, or it could just be Bach's remarkable ability to talk about planes and how they make him feel. I choose to believe the latter. Overall this story gets three out of five stars from me because while it was a soothing and easy-going tale, it was less interesting than watching paint dry.
Looking past Bach's attempts to kill the reader with blandness, he does bring up some very thoughtful ideas here and there. On page sixty-five, right after Bach tells one of his anecdotes, he opens a paragraph with "It would be nice, one day, to know which of my thoughts are mine alone and which of them are common to all the people who fly fighter airplanes." I enjoyed this quote as it brought a more universal idea into Bach's writing, that we as humans are constantly thinking, and that even moreso we think similarly. Bach recognizes that his beliefs and his hopes are all thoughts that his peers share with him, and it carries over to people in everyday life, not just a pilot's life. We all dream of becoming successful, and we all question our place in the world, just like Bach.
Now for my quick summary of the story. I would give a spoiler warning but you must understand that this story cannot be spoiled because nothing actually happens. Richard Bach is a pilot for the US during the Cold War. He is given the task of quickly transporting important documents from England to Southern France. This is seen as any other mission to Bach, and he follows the same set of instructions he always has to get his task completed. While on his way to the destination, Bach encounters a storm like no other and must use all of his experience as a pilot to try and survive. Through his dragging-on encyclopedia descriptions of the noises his plane makes, Bach miraculously makes it through the storm and completes the mission. This story that could have been told in about twenty pages is stretched out into a one hundred and seventy-page novel that is comprised mostly of the author getting off on tangents about how the air smells or how he is no different than you and me even though he flies planes.
My general interpretation of Richard Bach's "Stranger to the Ground" was that it was a professional look into the life of a pilot with the poetic touch of a man who is not quite satisfied with his position as a mortal. Bach describes the ins and outs of his F-84F Thunderstreak jet as if he were the one who designed it, and follows every description with an anecdote about pilot error or the nigh-godliness one feels within an airplane. The stories and plane descriptions become dull after the first forty pages, lulling the reader to sleep until Bach tosses in an existentialist quote about "Man's place in the universe and our futile desires to go beyond it," or the like. "Stranger to the Ground" follows this same pattern to the very end. Description of plane component, anecdote, existentialist quote, repeat.
While I do find the pattern to be a bore, the story itself does have its upsides. Bach generally has a rather carefree tone that - paired with his unamusing text - makes for a calming, unoffensive jaunt of a read. I cannot say I was ever stressed or anxious while reading this book, and had I not been forced to read it in such a rushed manner I would've probably read a few pages at my leisure whenever I felt a little drowsy, as to help me fall asleep quicker. I didn't believe I could ever find a cohesive story with no beginning, middle or end, and yet here I am writing a review for one. I could open up to any page of the book with no knowledge of what Bach was rambling on about in pages prior and still find myself understanding the story perfectly. This could be because "Stranger to the Ground" restates the same information every five pages for one hundred and seventy-three pages, or it could just be Bach's remarkable ability to talk about planes and how they make him feel. I choose to believe the latter. Overall this story gets three out of five stars from me because while it was a soothing and easy-going tale, it was less interesting than watching paint dry.
Looking past Bach's attempts to kill the reader with blandness, he does bring up some very thoughtful ideas here and there. On page sixty-five, right after Bach tells one of his anecdotes, he opens a paragraph with "It would be nice, one day, to know which of my thoughts are mine alone and which of them are common to all the people who fly fighter airplanes." I enjoyed this quote as it brought a more universal idea into Bach's writing, that we as humans are constantly thinking, and that even moreso we think similarly. Bach recognizes that his beliefs and his hopes are all thoughts that his peers share with him, and it carries over to people in everyday life, not just a pilot's life. We all dream of becoming successful, and we all question our place in the world, just like Bach.
Now for my quick summary of the story. I would give a spoiler warning but you must understand that this story cannot be spoiled because nothing actually happens. Richard Bach is a pilot for the US during the Cold War. He is given the task of quickly transporting important documents from England to Southern France. This is seen as any other mission to Bach, and he follows the same set of instructions he always has to get his task completed. While on his way to the destination, Bach encounters a storm like no other and must use all of his experience as a pilot to try and survive. Through his dragging-on encyclopedia descriptions of the noises his plane makes, Bach miraculously makes it through the storm and completes the mission. This story that could have been told in about twenty pages is stretched out into a one hundred and seventy-page novel that is comprised mostly of the author getting off on tangents about how the air smells or how he is no different than you and me even though he flies planes.
April 9, 2018
Collection of bestselling writer Bach's magazine writing on airplanes and flight, at times autobiographical and philosophical more so than nuts-and-bolts stuff. Not being a pilot myself, I was not equipped to nitpick or fact-check. And the long shadows of Bach's bigger sellers like Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions probably lay over the material for folks who have already read those and followed the author's career. But just taken alone, as literary-nonfiction prose Stranger to the Ground glowed for me, truly beautiful writing, on flying and life lessons. Question for me was whether Bach, as he anthologized, polished and reworked old material so that it matched the high gloss of his New Age bestsellers, or did he write that same young/old/wise/guru voice from the outset? I read By-Line, the big book compilation of early journalism by Ernest Hemingway, and must say quite a bit of that was just workmanlike newspaper reportage - the way it was supposed to be to bring the writer a paycheck. In contrast, this book is consistent with the lyrical tone set by Bach's high-profile novels, and I'd recommend it to fans, or just anyone who appreciates luminous description. I guess St. Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars would be the most obvious comparison.
August 4, 2020
La verdad me fue súper difícil tomarle el ritmo para poder terminarlo. Al momento que comienzas a leer te das cuentas que comienzas una aventura por los aires en un mundo desconocido lleno de tecnicismos, en una carlinga llena de botones y sistemas que desconoces y ya habiendo terminado el libro jamás los logré comprender bien. Menos mal Richard Bach va al volante, y junto a él comenzamos esta travesía en una lucha con el clima y conflictos internos en el mundo interior de nuestro piloto experimentado. Poco a poco le tomamos cariño a su nave y comprendemos las tormentas de su mente y las que debe enfrentar fuera de ella.
Es una lectura bastante diferente al estilo al que estaba acostumbrada de Richard Bach, pero igualmente recomendada, sobre todo si eres fanático de los aviones.
Es una lectura bastante diferente al estilo al que estaba acostumbrada de Richard Bach, pero igualmente recomendada, sobre todo si eres fanático de los aviones.
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July 17, 2024Del autor de Juan Salvador Gaviota, Ajeno a la tierra, es un excelente relato que nos hace acompañar a su autor en un avión a reacción norteamericano, sobre los cielos europeos, durante la guerra fría. Los mínimos detalles descriptos nos hacen vivir cada sensación y sentimiento del piloto, dentro de la estrecha cabina, navegando bajo las estrellas o luchando por la supervivencia durante una fuerte tormenta que se cruzo en el camino.
Salvo algunos comentarios propios de un militar norteamericano de la época, este relato es una joyita digna de disfrutarse
Salvo algunos comentarios propios de un militar norteamericano de la época, este relato es una joyita digna de disfrutarse
January 26, 2019
I read this decades ago, when Bach was a HOT author. I still think of some of his stories, and their morals. It has stayed with me far more than JLS. ..the "gear up" buzzer that sounds so reliably as part of the landing sequence that it ceases to be a warning.. Ending a F86 ferry flight with a wave off as another aircraft has declared an emergency and running out of fuel on the go-around, etc. Life lessons that go much farther than just flying an obsolete single engine jet.
February 8, 2020
I loved it. Although Richard Bach is somewhat arrogantly describing his love affair about being a single-seat fighter pilot, I think I can relate... It is a book that actually goes into his thoughts during a single flight, thinking about earlier events in his life. While I couldn't relate to some of his thoughts during flight about death, I am sure I have thought of some weird stuff that others in my field wouldn't relate to. Some great quotes as well.
March 22, 2020
Per tecnicamente appassionati del volo.
Il mio giudizio è probabilmente falsato dall'aver appena cominciato il corso per il brevetto privato di pilota, quindi mi hanno appassionato tutte le accurate descrizioni tecniche della navigazione e del volo. Capisco che per una persona poco interessata al lato tecnico il libro possa risultare anche noioso e l'autore pesante e un po' troppo pieno di sé. Ma i neofiti del volo e gli appassionati saranno sicuramente soddisfatti.
Il mio giudizio è probabilmente falsato dall'aver appena cominciato il corso per il brevetto privato di pilota, quindi mi hanno appassionato tutte le accurate descrizioni tecniche della navigazione e del volo. Capisco che per una persona poco interessata al lato tecnico il libro possa risultare anche noioso e l'autore pesante e un po' troppo pieno di sé. Ma i neofiti del volo e gli appassionati saranno sicuramente soddisfatti.
December 9, 2022
This is a short crisply written book by the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull that is based around a courier trip the narrator made that involved traveling through thunderstorms in a US Air Force jet. Bach gives a detailed overview of the flight - his process, his thinking - while taking a series of divergences to look back on his career, training, and offer some meditations and talk through the philosophy that shaped.
A nice, interesting read.
A nice, interesting read.
November 18, 2018
I loved this book. In fact, I loved all of Richard Bach's early books. With "One" he kind of lost me. But his aviation trilogy is stupendous, and of course J\"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is a classic. Hmm, I'll have to be rereading that. If you have any love of flying, you'll love his books.
November 11, 2019
Una bonita historia sobre aviación. Ajeno a la tierra es un libro que describe muy bien las características y emociones que llega a sentir un piloto solo en su cabina de vuelo. Una exploración profunda a sus pensamientos y una buena historia que me recuerda a mis sueños más anhelados, volar.
August 4, 2023
Que me lembre, esse livro foi um dos primeiros que eu considerei como um dos meus livros favoritos, se não o primeiro mesmo. Me identifico muito com a forma que são descritos seus momentos de divagação durante os voos, o que é bastante parecido com a forma que eu funciono em muitos momentos - entender que é possível e válido expor essas coisas me ajudou a me valorizar mais, de alguma forma. Não sei bem explicar.
Também aqui se mostra o quão difícil é se justificar frente à hipocrisia e ao dilema moral de ser atraído à aviação militar. Ele como piloto tem suas justificativas, e eu como engenheira tenho as minhas (em ambos os casos, objeções podem ser feitas com certa facilidade)
Também aqui se mostra o quão difícil é se justificar frente à hipocrisia e ao dilema moral de ser atraído à aviação militar. Ele como piloto tem suas justificativas, e eu como engenheira tenho as minhas (em ambos os casos, objeções podem ser feitas com certa facilidade)
February 16, 2017
i think this book is very intrested
December 5, 2017
Una lectura muy amena para los que gustan de eso de pilotar aviones. 😁
March 9, 2019
A nice book about what it feels like to be an airman.
June 11, 2019
For the airplane lovers, it is a nice reading.
October 4, 2020
Quiet & introspective
December 15, 2021
Es bueno, principalmente si te apasionan los aviones, tiene sus momentos de reflexión, es bueno para un viaje a casa de tus abuelos
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews