Being somewhat of a Mirage Drive fan, I was curious about a book I spotted several months ago in the Hobie parts catalog titled From Penguin Wings to Boat Flippers by Toney Allman, KidHaven Press, 2006.
With a glossy hardbound cover, this 7 x 9" book has 30 pages and might be classified as a junior coffee table book. Apparently it is geared to kids (lots of pictures, nice lay-out) so it was just up my alley! It's even printed in the USA!
The part I found most interesting was the discussion of fin development with the Navy at MIT with Jim Czarnowski before he joined Hobie as Sr. Engineer. I was hoping for more information about the evolution of Greg Ketterman's Mirage Drive and subsequent development of the Hobie fins, but the book stopped a little short there.
Nevertheless, it's a nice, if basic book about penguins, flippers and the development and advantages of fin propulsion. For $10 (or a trip to the library) it's hard to go wrong!
