A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next

Tom Standage's fleet-footed and surprising global histories have delighted fans and sold hundreds of thousands of copies. 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 BCE with the wheel-a device that didn't catch on until a couple thousand years after its invention-Standage zips through the eras of horsepower, trains, and bicycles, revealing h...