It’s Not the Goodyear Blimp

Last Friday, Lory wasn’t able to be there, I did a solo interview of S.C. Gwynne on his book His Majesty’s Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine.

The interview was at Carroll Lutheran Village with an audience of sixty or seventy.

Airship is an interesting story. I wondered how I didn’t know more about it. In the early days of airplanes, hydrogen-filled airships were competitors for the future of air travel. Among the things I didn’t know, Germany used airships to bomb England in World War I; not very effectively or efficiently, but it did happen.

As I was preparing for this interview, Lory asked me for a sixty-second summary of another book we were looking at for our Mother’s Day episode, Andrew’s Awesome Adventures with his ADHD Brain. I thought she was asking about Airship and I said, ‘Ignoring science and chasing dreams lead to disaster.’ Because we were on different books, my answer confused her until we figured out that we weren’t talking about the same book.

It turned out well. I used my short description in the interview and the author liked it.

Gwynne enjoyed the interview. I know that because at the end he said to me, “That was great freaking moderating!” It is always a goal for me to make the interview enjoyable for the writer. His reaction made me happy.

If you enjoy reading about unexpected bits of history, you will want to check out Airship.