A Brief History of Motion

From the New York Times bestselling author and deputy editor of the Economist comes an illuminating, incisive, characteristically readable 5,500-year history of how transportation has shaped our civilisation. Tom Standage's surprising global histories have delighted readers and sold over half a million copies worldwide. Now, he returns with a provocative account of an overlooked form of technology - personal transportation - and explores how it has shaped societies and cultures over millennia. Beginning around 3,500 BC with the wheel, Standage moves through the eras of horsepower, trains, bicycles and cars, revealing how each successive mode of transit embedded itself in the world we live in - from the geography of our cities, to our experience of time, to our notions of gender. Today, after the growth of ride-sharing and the rise of autonomous vehicles, the social transformations spurred by coronavirus and climate change create a unique opportunity to critically re-examine our relationship with how we travel. With A Brief History of Motion, Standage overturns everyday myths about one of our most fundamental forms of technology, and invites us to look at our past with fresh eyes.