Man Flies The story of Alberto Santos-Dumont Master of The Balloon by Winters. Nancy,

Hard back book with colour pictorial dust jacket, 160 pages illustrated with B/W plates, 15 chapters, followed by an illustrated list of his airships, Chronology, Glossary, Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

The author tells the tragic, glamorous story of Santos-Dumont's career, and later illness, and of how this brilliant, colourful and eccentric pioneer slipped through the cracks of aviation history while his inventions and imagination continue to inspire it. 

The youngest son of a Brazilian millionaire, he grew up on an isolated coffee plantation devouring (and believing) the novels of Jules Verne. By the age of eighteen he was living in Paris, at the height of the Belle Époque, heir to a huge fortune and determined to make his dreams of flying come true.
A renowned playboy, dining at Maxim's nightly and setting new styles in fashion, he at first frequently crashed his yellow silk airships into the trees of wealthy friends, such as the Rothschilds - who would send up champagne lunches for him to enjoy during repairs. But soon he was winning prestigious prizes and being hailed as "the conqueror of the air".

See also ‘A study in obsession’ HERE