Going Solo
by Roald Dahl · first published 1986
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Dahl's second autobiography, a memoir of his young adult years as he set out on his own. It offers vivid storytelling and a window into the forces that shaped Dahl the author.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The fascinating story of Roald Dahl's life continues in Going Solo, a marvelous evocation of the author's wartime exploits. As a pilot in World War II, Roald Dahl had some wonderfully exciting -- and frighteningly near-death -- experiences including encounters with the enemy, battles with deadly snakes, and incredible dogfights. Told with the same irresistible appeal that has made Dahl one of the world's best-loved writers, Going Solo brings you directly into the action and into the mind of this brilliant man.
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Also worth a look are Boy and Going Solo, Dahl's autobiographies of some of those events. Both excellent, aimed at adults, and a surprising little window into the forces that shaped Dahl-the-author.
on “Roald Dahl – the storyteller as benevolent sadist (2010)” ↗…Britain for years back in the day. They all describe the treatment of children in ways what would horrify Norwegians In which case, you *must* read Roald Dahl's autobiography 'Boy' (and the follow up, 'Going Solo'). He moved from Norway as a child into the English public school system, and a treatment that horrified his parents. Incidentally, the biographies are aimed at children but very cleverly written to…
on “Student photographs people with hidden spy cam in the 1890s (2018)” ↗Though he is probably more well known for his fiction, his memoirs (Boy, Going Solo) were my first reads of Dahl as a child. That man could tell a fantastic story within a chapter.
on “Roald Dahl – the storyteller as benevolent sadist (2010)” ↗As a child, Roald Dahl had a profound impact on me. His autobiographies Boy and Going Solo made me want to explore the world more.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗I recommend Roald Dahl's "Going Solo". The Audiobook narrated by Andrew Sachs is quite compelling. Also, maybe "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" by G.K. Chesterton. And of course most by P.G. Wodehouse.
on “Worst Opening Sentences of 2022” ↗…You. I found this longer than necessary but an excellent kick in the pants. Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations. Feels like a good "life reference" rather than a straight-through read. Roald Dahl -- Boy, Going Solo. These were fun when I first went through them years ago, and they still _are_ fun, but the lens through which I view live has become one increasingly allergic to entitlement, and boy, if you want entitlement,…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗The only association i have with the drink is Roald Dahl’s autobiography Going Solo, in which he alternates among flying against italians and germans in the battle of athens and trying not to die, getting strafed in his own airfield by germans and italians and trying not to die, and…
on “Great Retsina, an Oxymoron No More” ↗