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Wings of Fire: An Autobiography

by Arun Tiwari , A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 · rating details · 18,189 ratings · 536 reviews

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, the son of a little-educated boat-owner in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, had an unparalleled career as a defence scientist, culminating in the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna. As chief of the country's defence research and development programme, Kalam demonstrated the great potential for dynamism and innovation that existed ...more

Paperback , 27th impression , 196 pages

Published January 11th 2011 by Universities Press (first published January 1999)

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Dec 04, 2008 Aj rated it 5 of 5 stars

Amazing book there are a lot of things to be learned from these books . Ill just mention few lines which i really liked from the book.

"We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire".

Desire when it stems from the heart and the spirit when it is pure and intense possesses awesome electromagnetic energy.This energy is released into the ether each night as the mind falls into sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with th ...more

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Aug 01, 2015 Nishat rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-finish , read-in-2015

One thing to be stated clearly, I have immense respect for A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Working from an early age to support his family and belonging to a minority, this man never actually gave up. His success as a scientist and a president of hundred crores of people is awe-inspiring.

So the point is, this man has a story to tell which, well…….he perfectly ruined by writing this book!

See I am an ordinary person. I don’t have a PHD on rockets and stuffs. I have fair amount of interest in physics and chemi One thing to be stated clearly, I have immense respect for A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Working from an early age to support his family and belonging to a minority, this man never actually gave up. His success as a scientist and a president of hundred crores of people is awe-inspiring.

So the point is, this man has a story to tell which, well…….he perfectly ruined by writing this book!

See I am an ordinary person. I don’t have a PHD on rockets and stuffs. I have fair amount of interest in physics and chemistry. I would love to know about all the mysteries of this world which science has unraveled or didn’t. But I don’t wonder 24 hours what is inside a car or a truck. Even if I wonder, I don’t end up figuring it out in an autobiography, neither do I want to.

“The SLV-3 solid rocket systems would meet the national requirements of payload delivery vehicles for short and intermediate ranges (4000 KM) We contended that the development of one additional solid booster of 108 diameter of 36 tonnes propellant along with SLV-3 subsystems would meet the ICBM requirements (above 5000 km for a payload of 100 kg)”

He went on with such description for hundreds of pages. I never bought this book to know about his machines. I wanted to know the man who breathed inside that suit, I wanted to know what made him known as the ‘People’s president.’ I wanted to know his worst fears, his burdens, his victories. The first few pages were surely intriguing. He shared his childhood stories. He talked about his family, teachers, friends.. But then he went on describing every tiny device he ever came across. I wanted to love this book, I really did. If it was a book about his journey as a scientist and his 'encounters' with aircraft and stuffs, it would have been amazing. But in an autobiography, no one goes on babbling about screws and wires!

I couldn’t finish the book, though my God knows, I wanted to. Most of the people have given this book 5 stars because of the respect they have for Mr. Kalam, others are either engineers or really into aircraft. I have given one star for the first few pages and the photos. And the second star is only for the respect I have for him.
...more

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Dec 14, 2007 Jean-Luc rated it 5 of 5 stars

Note: This book is about being Indian. It doesn't make alot of sense to read this book if you're not an Indian (either from birth or heritage).

That said, the only word possible to describe the book is "inspirational". What other word could possibly describe a dirt-poor Muslim growing up to become president of a country filled w/ 800 million Hindus? Supported by both major political parties, the man is considered the quintessential Indian.

Abdul Kalam wasn't a member of any of the disparate groups Note: This book is about being Indian. It doesn't make alot of sense to read this book if you're not an Indian (either from birth or heritage).

That said, the only word possible to describe the book is "inspirational". What other word could possibly describe a dirt-poor Muslim growing up to become president of a country filled w/ 800 million Hindus? Supported by both major political parties, the man is considered the quintessential Indian.

Abdul Kalam wasn't a member of any of the disparate groups who combined forces to push back the British occupiers... occupiers that had deliberately slaughtered millions of Indians over hundreds of years. If he had an opinion of the brutal partition that tore India in half, he didn't mentioned it in the book. No one asked him for an explanation of India's humiliating defeat at the hands of China in 1962. It's almost as if he missed all of the major mind-blowing events of his time. So why exactly is he so important?

When Abdul Kalam was growing up, he was just a young man eager to learn as much as possible about science. Successive mentors convinced him that there was a great goal to be achieved in making India self-sufficient in multiple areas. Eventually he came to greatness by overseeing the development of satellite launch vehicles, a feat duplicated by only a handful of other countries. Those SLVs served as the basis for a variety of state-of-the-art military missiles. (caveat: I'm not an expert on whether they're actually state of the art, but India is certainly holding her own...)

From an American viewpoint, where everyone is screaming bloody murder about weapons proliferation, Abdul Kalam's recollections of France's withdrawl of support and false accusations of German help serve as a disturbing reminder that embargoing a country simply cannot work if the country's populace is determined to control their own destiny. It's disturbing that there is little discussion on the ethics of an impoverished nation developing nuclear weapons and deploying delivery systems... but that's almost completely lost in the discussion of self-reliance and a determination to never again submit to foreign rule.

"You gotta believe!" may be an ok motto coming from Parappa the Rappa, but it sounds corny coming from just about anyone else... but not from Abdul Kalam. The man is boundless optimism, and it's infectious. Any gathering of Indian adults in America will inevitably produce the whining that their kids are too Americanized and they don't respect India and blahblahblah. My opinion on this is that kids who grow up outside of India don't appreciate India's potential. This book is the solution. I challenge any skeptic of India's greatness to try to read this book without having your views fundamentally altered. ...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Venkataraman Kumbakonam S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's book, WINGS OF FIRE is more than an autobiography. Written with the main intention of bestowing clarity and vision to the Youth in general, Indian Youth in particular, the book is inter alia, a history of Indian rocket launching and defense research; and partly a work of sound philosophy that would inspire any Indian.

He has nowhere sought to preach in his book. But his ideas, conveyed vividly on a number of subjects would guide the Indian Youth.

Regarding Science he says: ...more

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Dec 09, 2008 Sumanth marked it as to-read

Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam by Abdul A.P.J. Kalam

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Feb 07, 2015 Satya Ananthu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Many people said this book is good, so wanted to read it, but I never cared to ask what was in the book. I started with the feeling that it could be one more boring autobiography. When I finished the book, I had a complete different feeling.

What a legacy Scientist/Engineer/Leader/Poet/President of India/Padma Bhushan/Padma Vibhushan/Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has left! Just count the number of decorations conferred up on him. A small town boy who started from Rameswaram, conquered the worl Many people said this book is good, so wanted to read it, but I never cared to ask what was in the book. I started with the feeling that it could be one more boring autobiography. When I finished the book, I had a complete different feeling.

What a legacy Scientist/Engineer/Leader/Poet/President of India/Padma Bhushan/Padma Vibhushan/Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has left! Just count the number of decorations conferred up on him. A small town boy who started from Rameswaram, conquered the world with his Satellite Launch Vehicles and Missile systems. People like him, mentored and groomed by legends like Prof. Sarabhai put India on the forefront of technological advances, made her self-reliant and pushed towards the league of developed countries.

If you would take this as some boring scientist's autobiography, you will be totally mistaken. The journey from the sand beaches of Rameswaram, to successfully test firing five different missile systems that India can be proud of, if not more, is amazing. With limited resources and only dreams and hopes, these men of excellent character changed the tech scene in India. This book also has sound management principles which helped the scientific community to stay apart and ahead from the otherwise terrible bureaucracy of Indian government organizations, are also applicable to today's enterprises. And I am positively surprised how the government managed to keep the scientific institutions away from the complex politics of India and allowed them to make solid progress. The INC party sucks today, but there were legends in the past who laid solid foundation to building the "young" nation, by establishing IITs, universities and other research institutes.

(view spoiler)

What a great man and what a great contribution he had made to build the nation! He rightfully earned all his positions/titles. And yet a humble human being.

I closely follow the Indian space program and missile program as the SHAR rocket launching center is hardly a hundred miles from my hometown. I was always fascinated, as a child, by pictures the majestic SLVs displayed in newspapers the next day after a successful launch, with the five letters "I N D I A". That only said to me, this nation is less to none, so are you. And now I know how that was possible.

I'm very happy I read this book, I learned a lot from this book!["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]> ...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Dimple rated it 4 of 5 stars

The man of resilience, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam's "Wings of fire" is out-and-out Inspirational book! One may find it full of all kind of aeronautic and missile stuffs but it is above all this...it is about the journey of a poor child living in an obscure place who, just by his intelligence and diligence, attains the highest place and becomes the President of the Nation!
The scientific and technical terms did beleaguer me but later on I made peace with them as familiarity grew!

Ther ...more

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Jul 12, 2013 Nita rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Wings of Fire"
an autobiographical venture by "The Missile Man of India" Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam transcends the confinements of this genre.It may well be viewed as an amalgamation of autobiography and a discourse on inspirational leadership and motivational guidance.Now on a personal front I have always kept my faith on the institution of self-cultivation and self-reliance.Standing on my experience(which I confess isn't that much time tested)I can say that may be there is an ethereal satisfaction on "Wings of Fire"
an autobiographical venture by "The Missile Man of India" Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam transcends the confinements of this genre.It may well be viewed as an amalgamation of autobiography and a discourse on inspirational leadership and motivational guidance.Now on a personal front I have always kept my faith on the institution of self-cultivation and self-reliance.Standing on my experience(which I confess isn't that much time tested)I can say that may be there is an ethereal satisfaction on being a maverick but there certainly are moments when you do feel exhausted,drained mentally and emotionally.Those are the times when one craves for sources to draw much needed energy from.Literature has always provided me with that fountain of vigour.I would like to classify this book as one of those refuges for me.
It takes us on a journey of dreams,success,failure and more emphatically on a journey of hope.The protagonist did not come on this planet with a silver spoon in his mouth.The streak that differentiates him is the willingness to push through the atmosphere of negativity which is always eager to make it's presence felt.One rather shrouded point that I feel quite justifiably calls for attention is Mr.Kalam's idea of a real teacher.It amazes me to think how a personality of his caliber who later went on to adorn the most coveted post of the first citizen of world's largest democracy,counted his childhood acquaintance Jallaluddin,"a virtually illiterate man" as one of his most resourceful teachers.I think only humility and a comprehensive perception of wisdom in it's truest sense will be able to reason this out.
Now my personal admiration for this man harnesses me from saying anything that might offend the composition.But on a more practical note the detailed discourse on armament and weaponry might not be enjoyed by every other reader.Having said that there are enough elements which more than compensate for this draw back and cater to the test of readers of all age group.You may well take my word for it.
Last but not the least feathers on the crown are those captivating lines penned by both Mr.Kalam and other renowned poets.
Now if I am to put the gist in a nutshell the following excerpt would be in complete harmony with my gain form this literary marvel....

"Your willingness to use your own inner resources to invest in your life,especially your imagination,will bring you success.When you address a task from your own uniquely individual standpoint,you become a whole person." ...more

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May 21, 2014 Gagandeep rated it 2 of 5 stars

I would like to emphasize here that it is just an opinion of one person and I truly admire the man Dr Kalam is as I had the honour of meeting him in person as well, but this book somehow did not impress me at all. It was full of so much scientific terminologies and details that for a layman it is hard to stay focussed. When I read an autobiography, I am more interested not to know about the factual details about a personality as that can be available anywhere on the internet. For me it is import ...more

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Feb 03, 2015 Arihant Verma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Such humbleness yet firmness in hand and mind of a man who practically guided the development of Indian Missiles and Space Exploration Power. I didn't know any of what he had done, except that he had been the President of India. Apart from the poems he had written or the quotes he quoted, this book, as he says while coming to the end of the book, was just a bird's eye view of his life dedicated to study rocketry, BUT ! It didn't feel so. He was like the most efficient feedback loop of the human m ...more

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Aug 04, 2014 Sanjay Gautam rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An autobiography of one the great aerospace scientist of India. I read this book in my teens and found this to be inspiring

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Jul 17, 2011 Dayananda marked it as to-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 04, 2013 Apurva Mehta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Since the day, I first time heard about god I was searching for him. I was questioning lots of people about my doubts about god. I started to get the answers when I started to read M.K.Gandhi and it is ended when I completed Wings of fire. For me both this person 'Bapu' and 'A.P.J. Abdul Kalam' is god. Their character exactly portraits the characteristic of god described by various scholar people.
Wings of Fire: An autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India. I think its an awesom ...more

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Aug 26, 2013 Murtuza Rangwala rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first Autobiography I have read. I had high expectations as I admire Sir Kalam's image. But I will be biased on the side of a layman reader in this quick review.

Review:
In my opinion, one cannot write a negative review about an autobiography. Any achievement- big or small is an achievement and only The All Knowing knows how much effort an individual puts in achieving a particular goal. And Sir Kalam's achievements by no scale are small. "The Missile Man of India" has a lot of medals o This is the first Autobiography I have read. I had high expectations as I admire Sir Kalam's image. But I will be biased on the side of a layman reader in this quick review.

Review:
In my opinion, one cannot write a negative review about an autobiography. Any achievement- big or small is an achievement and only The All Knowing knows how much effort an individual puts in achieving a particular goal. And Sir Kalam's achievements by no scale are small. "The Missile Man of India" has a lot of medals on his belt that India is very proud of.

But the writing style of the book is what failed to keep me hooked. This is a book about Science, Space and Missile Technology. 80% of the book is filled with terms related and used in the said fields. While Sir Kalam has defined those terms where ever possible, the style in which he has described them didn't make sense to someone like me who has not first hand knowledge of the term. And the terms that I am referring to are, after introduction, used repeatedly through out the rest of the book. I felt confused throughout the read because my concepts were not cleared from the beginning. Towards the end I kept on turning the page, reading on with a goal to finish a book that I started but I felt disconnect from the proceedings.

The emotions of despair, disappointment, and ecstasy of achievements came forth very well in the book. Gratitude expressed to all the people who played an important part in Sir Kalam's life and the history of Indian Space and Missile research came out on paper directly from Sir Kalam's heart. He meant every word of his thanks. I felt every emotion. The poems that inspired Sir Kalam, are truly inspiring and full of emotion. Sir Kalam is truly an eloquent poet himself. Respect.

People from Science/Space/Engineering field will love this work. Sir Kalam's life is an inspiration for aspiring learners. I too loved to read about his life and India's passion for space and missile independence. But I am not from the said fields and people like me, I think will feel out of place for most part of the book. I felt as if I am not the target audience for this book.

Nevertheless, I would recommend others to read about Sir Kalam's life. It is inspiring. I really wish it to be a better reading experience for others. ...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Prateek rated it 5 of 5 stars

Downright Inspirational. The existance of a man like him is the real flame of India. The book is an excellent read for it gives insight on the struggle and journey of a down to earth man who became the president of a large country. Most remarkable aspect of all, is his religous view, on how God is not many but a single entity and it is this very beleif that led him to lead a country filled with a majority of Hindus while being a muslim. I recommend this book to all men and women of Indian origin ...more

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Jul 01, 2015 Abhilash Patro rated it 5 of 5 stars

A truly inspiring book by our former president,the best president we had in my lifetime,if i might add. This book is not just about rocket science and physics, rather is about india's one of the greatest achievements in recent history, to be in the class of an elite few counties to be able to have a very long range icbm and the ability to launch their own space vehicles into the orbit.This book helped us realise how this great man's and many others incessant hard work helped our country achieve ...more

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