On the subject of spotting a revisit of Halley's Comet, there was a non-fiction historical
book, "How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe" which told of how monasteries were the last depositories of Greek and Roman knowledge after the western Roman Empire went away. Given that Benedictine Monasteries were likely copying decaying manuscripts and Eilmer showed an inclination for engineering/science, I wonder if he 'chanced across' previous astronomical work during his monk duties...
Only tangentially related: MythBusters did an
episode where the myth of "Holding a large sheet of plywood will slow a fall from a building enough to make it survivable" was tested. With a later
revisit. No 'bird-wing' shaping for control, so only partially overlapping.
(I also loved the MythBusters
episode where the myth of "It is impossible to separate two phonebooks interleaved page-to-page due to the massive amount of friction between the 800 pages of each book" was tested. Sooo over-the-top, but imparts a visceral understanding of friction.)
