Richard Holmes. Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air. London: William Collins, 2013. Though the term wasn't around then, airmindedness was about balloons for longer than it has been about aeroplanes. But it's relatively neglected historiographically, certainly in my library, so this will help fill that gap: everyone from Nadar to Babar the Elephant is here, and the last chapter is devoted to Andree's attempts to reach the North Pole by air.
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Jakob
This is Radio 4's book of the week this week; sounds good so far...
Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey
Holmes's The Age of Wonder was outrageously good. I'll have to get this one when it appears in the U.S.