The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

His against-all-odds achievements in 2007 are all the more remarkable considering he was forced to quit school aged 14 because his family could no longer afford the $80-a-year fees.

When he returned to his parents' small plot of farmland in the central Malawian village of Masitala, his future seemed limited. But he educated himself at the local library and worked on his dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village.

Since then, self-taught William Kamkwamba (click to see his blog) has become a hero to climate change campaigners like Al Gore and business leaders the world over.

(Continue reading the story at BBC)