Book sheds light on Wright brothers' personalities

A new book about the Wright brothers does more than chronicle their painstaking, game-changing breakthrough in man's flight, although that in itself would have been a draw. It reveals what truly remarkable men they were: their unparalleled work ethic, their dogged persistence, their unwavering modesty.

The Wright Brothers, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, draws on the family's personal correspondence and diaries to create an intimate portrait of Wilbur and Orville, from their precocious childhoods until their deaths.

Their mechanical aptitude is captured in an account from their niece, who said her uncles would play with their toys until they broke, "then repair them so that they were better than when they were bought".