Thom reviewed No Highway by Nevil Shute
Review of 'No Highway' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Saw the film first, liked it. The book has much more; wonder if I missed any hints in the movie? Time to rewatch I guess.
English language
Published Dec. 29, 2000
No Highway
by Nevil Shute
3 stars
(1 review)
No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky. A scientist has been claiming that certain parts of a plane will develop metal fatigue sooner than officially estimated, but nobody takes him seriously. While flying to the site of an air crash that killed a Soviet ambassador, he discovers that his own plane has already flown twice its permitted number of hours and he uses his technical knowledge to sabotage it as soon as it lands, putting his credibility further in doubt. The plot weaves together many themes, such as attitudes to safety, conflicts of interest between management and professionals, Cold War diplomacy, single parenthood and clairvoyance, before the scientist’s theory is finally vindicated. As the novel appears to presage some later real-life disasters and is based on just-emerging knowledge of metal fatigue, it is said to …
No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky.
A scientist has been claiming that certain parts of a plane will develop metal fatigue sooner than officially estimated, but nobody takes him seriously. While flying to the site of an air crash that killed a Soviet ambassador, he discovers that his own plane has already flown twice its permitted number of hours and he uses his technical knowledge to sabotage it as soon as it lands, putting his credibility further in doubt.
The plot weaves together many themes, such as attitudes to safety, conflicts of interest between management and professionals, Cold War diplomacy, single parenthood and clairvoyance, before the scientist’s theory is finally vindicated. As the novel appears to presage some later real-life disasters and is based on just-emerging knowledge of metal fatigue, it is said to be one of few novels to reveal a new engineering truth.
Shute was a pioneer aircraft designer and co-founder of the aircraft construction company Airspeed Ltd.