How is “Murphy” of Murphy’s Law tied to Charles Kettering to the Wright brothers? In the new e-book edition of “Dayton’s Children” they are among 20 innovators who changed our world. These quirky originals affected the keys, cell phones and crumpled receipts in our pockets, even the very air we breathe.
“The paperback has sold consistently since 2015,” said lead author Mark Martel, “and even took an uptick last winter. So the time is right to release Dayton’s Children as an enhanced e-book.”
The enhanced, fully-illustrated e-book is available on Amazon.com. Readers will find hours of diverting stories and local lore without leaving home. The standalone chapters can be read in any order. The enhanced e-book links to a plethora of online videos, galleries, and articles. The softcover paperback sells online and locally at Carillon Historical Park.
The e-book comes with the passing of the book’s last living subject, 104-year-old Zoe Dell Lantis Nutter. Her story is oddly relevant, because in the 1930s she helped convince people it was safe to fly. While we wait for that to come true again, this new release is dedicated to Zoe Dell.
Martel wrote most of the book and drew original illustrations for each profile. His wife Kate contributed two interviews.
Mark Bernstein, author of “Grand Eccentrics,” wrote chapters on Arthur Morgan, John H. Patterson, and folksy Charles Kettering, second only to Edison in inventions but last at administration.
Readers will learn why the Wright brothers’ fiery bickering was so effective at solving their problems but so hard to emulate. Mary Ann Johnson used aviation history to help launch urban renewal in Wright-Dunbar while husband Rich developed the seeds of online learning. Neal Loving became a pilot and aeronautical engineer despite racism and the loss of both legs.
Curt Dalton, local author and historian, says “the book humanizes the larger-than-life men and women from Dayton who helped create the world of today. I really love the fact that you don’t have to have an engineer’s degree to understand and enjoy “Dayton’s Children.” It should be required reading for every high school student in Dayton… and beyond!”
More praise comes from aviation photographer Dan Patterson, historian Edward Roach, and Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of the Wright brothers. She notes that, “to say Dayton’s children ‘changed the world’ may be the understatement of the 20th and 21st centuries.”
The book grew out of the website DaytonInnovationLegacy.org which educates students, uncovers local history, restores local pride and inspires today’s innovators wherever they live.
