Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner Hardcover – 1 Oct. 2015

An excellent account of the story behind Concorde's development, production, testing and service. The narrative maps all of this alongside the history and politics of the time, the battles to prevent Concorde landing at specific airports and/or countries. The story is a real eye opener, especially if you haven't read anything else that has been published about this iconic aircraft.The book is not overly technical, and features some interesting images and pictures that link to various stages of the story.The Air France crash is covered, and the subsequent decision to retire the world's only supersonic airliner as well. There can be no doubt that Concorde was different in every way to other passenger aircraft and that it has left a lasting impression on all those who saw and flew in her. I would recommend this book if you have even a passing interest in Concorde or air travel.

Once you get into the chapters actually about Concorde it's a good read. The early chapters are a bit tedious - I want to read about Concorde, not what came before it!

Fast delivery. Very interesting book.

If you are a fan of the most iconic aircraft of all time this book details the planning, development and sad demise of Concorde.

I was hoping for more technical stuff, but instead the author wanders off the topic too often. At times you wonder what he is drivelling on about, and then towards the end of the section he will say "...the point being that..." and only then does it make sense. Usually he is comparing the state of other technology at the time, but he labours the point. At 2/3 the length it would be a better read, so it needed more editing.

An extremely good book. Well written, with a great deal of detail about the whole concept, as well as the airliner itself. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about Concorde.

This book could be slimmed down a lot to focus just on Concorde. There is a lot of history of supersonic flight (and committee meetings) that is not really needed but what really grates is the opinionated author who seems to think that all travellers not on Concorde are idiots. How many times did I have to read that passengers spend time glued to laptops and iPads - guess what people would have done that on Concorde too if they had existed. Too many comments that we treat aircraft simply as transport, heaven forgive us all. It is also untrue that people are blasé about aircraft - returning from holiday before COVID a buzz of excitement we though our airport bus when we all realised the plane had been switched for a Dreamliner. Its not just modern aircraft that get criticised - cruise liners and trains also get the same treatment. It would appear that life was better in the beige 70’s.

Readable history of an iconic aircraft, blending political, social, economic, cultural & technical aspects of the aircraft from inception to retirement. A much better book than the mis-titled 'Harrier' by the same author - unlike its predecessor, it stays largely on subject, with no blatant technical gaffes. Doubtless not the best specialist book on the subject, but a light & entertaining read that, probably uniquely, covers many aspects.Three point five stars, but I'll go to 4!