Book Review: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Could you use this:

source: http://windpowerexperiments.co.uk/

to make this:

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, page 238.

Could you do it without any formal education, conventional tools, or a full stomach?

Autodesk Labs Software Developer, John Schmier, loaned me a great book - The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind: creating currents of electricity and hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. On my recent plane trip to New Orleans, with a plane that had a computer problem and the resulting rerouted travel, I had plenty of time to read. The book tells a fascinating story of a self-taught young African boy who generated electricity for his family using scrap parts to cobble together his own windmill.

1. Malawi is an African country bordered by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Malawi is one of Africa's least developed countries yet most densely populated.
   
   source: wikipedia.org

2. To the people of Malawi, occurrences that were not understood were believed to have happened by magic. The scientific method is rarely applied.

3. Even though they are willing to work hard, Malawi people are often at he mercy of the weather to be able to grow maize and tobacco.

4. With his parents unable to afford his tuition for school, William Kamkwamba first learned about windmills through a book (Using Energy) he checked out from the public library.

5. Having no money but obsessed with building his own windmill, the people of his Malawi village thought he was crazy because he was always rummaging through the junkyard.

6. William and his family listened to the radio. Batteries were hard to come by. When William saw a bicycle light powered by a dynamo that rubbed against the bicycle wheel, he wanted one to power his radio. Upon successfully powering the radio from the bicycle, he wanted a windmill, so he wouldn't have to peddle.

7. William's windmill consisted of a tower made from bamboo branches, a tractor fan extended with flattened PVC pipes for blades, and a rusted bicycle frame (with the dynamo attached). He made everything using homemade tools. For example, he made his own drill from a nail and a corn cob. He would heat the nail to puncture PVC pipe but be able to hold it by the cob. He made his own screwdriver by flattening a bicycle spoke with a rock.

8. For fear of burning down his house because he had exposed wires, William created his own circuit breaker using a magnet and wires wrapped around two nails. He also made a light switch from a bent bicycle spoke.

9. After news spread of his invention, William spoke at a TED conference in the city of Arusha located in Tanzania. His ingenuity and ability to overcome adversity were an inspiration to everyone. His broken English phrase "And I try, and I made it." became the motto of the conference.

When it comes to technology previews, we try, and we make them.

Celebrating ingenuity is alive in the lab.