On The Wings Of A Sleepless Knight: Chronicles Of A Freight Dog by Lee Jones

Kindle edition

My dad is a pretty avid reader. He loves some of the same book series as I do (Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly, Dirk Pitt by Clive Cussler, and a few others). I often read books after he's told me about them (as long as they seem interesting)...

He told me about this one and I was really interested. I started reading it on April 7 and finished it on April 11. Since it's been more than a year since I read it, I'm relying on parts of the summary from Amazon to jog my memory. The summary seems to have been written by the author, Lee Jones - it's in the first person.

"On the Wings of a Sleepless Knight is the story of my singular passion for flying starting from the first moment I saw an episode of "Sky King" to beginning my pilot's lessons at twelve to flying covert missions in war-torn middle eastern countries, Columbia and communist Russia. 

As a young man, I cared only about one thing. That singular focus served me well as I got my license at seventeen years old and shortly after began teaching others to fly as a senior in high school and chartering flights around the country. With each new facet of my flying career, the rewards became greater while the risks grew more dangerous. After countless near-crashes in large jets and cargo planes, I was recruited into a sketchy company that flew under the radar performing top secret trips that the government would likely deny. This memoir details my journey as a pilot from first learning to fly to retiring my wings and everything in between."

Believe me, there is a LOT in between Lee learning to fly and the end of the book. Some of it seems to fantastical to be true. I hope it is all true. 

So here's the thing - I really liked this book. I love hearing about peoples' life and their stories. I love listening to my dad's stories (and he has a lot). This felt a lot like one of my dad's stories, maybe that's part of what made it so good. I don't know. Here's the other thing - there are some (many) typos in the book that I had to work hard to overlook. It felt a little self-published, but whatever. It was chock full of great stories. And it gave me something to connect with my dad over.

If you love a good adventure story (or 5 or more), this is a pretty good book to read!

Post written on July 7, 2023. Publication date reflects date I finished the book.