A handbook on making kites, containing 19 designs. It covers aerodynamics, stability, bridling, launching, and construction materials, with step-by-step instructions. Each kite project is illustrated with a full-page photograph and a grid plan that can be enlarged using a photocopier. Every other spread provides a continuing story of the history and mythology of the kite in different cultures - China, Japan, Maori, Polynesia, Thailand, India, Bali and Ancient Greece, as well as in modern Europe and the USA. It also discusses the kite's military, meteorological, aviation and artistic functions.