It was fifty years ago that young Peter Leroy unintentionally pulled a fast one on the people of Babbington, New York. With a design ripped from the pages of "Impractical Craftsman" magazine, he built a flying aerocycle in his parents' garage. Then, before a breathless audience, he took off into the skies on the contraption, flew to New Mexico and back, and returned a hero. Now, Babbington has fallen on hard times, and his hometown is being transformed into a theme park commemorating Peter's flight. The time has come for Peter to return, to set the record straight, and to tell the people of Babbington that his feat of aviation spanned only about six feet.
The first book in a trilogy, "Taking Off" plays at the intersection of Proust and "Rushmore," it is a hilarious story of hoaxes, digressions, DIY mechanical engineering, and the wilds of memory.