A Brief History of Motion

by Tom Standage

[Jeff Sexton]

Interesting Overview. Needs Bibliography. It is actually somewhat interesting to me that of five reviews on Goodreads prior to this one, one of the reviewers specifically notes a lack of footnotes as a *good* thing... and this very thing is actually pretty well the only thing I could find to *ding* this text on. But I'm fairly consistent in that - no matter what, I expect a fact-based (vs more memoir-based) nonfiction title to include and reference a decent sized bibliography.

That noted, the substance of this text was well-written, approachable, at times amusing, and full of facts from a wide range of eras that this reader had not previously known. Even in the chapter on the development of driverless cars - much more thoroughly documented in DRIVEN by Alex Davies - there were a few facts that even having read that book and being a professional software developer (and thus more generally aware of tech than some), I genuinely didn't know before reading this book. Preceding chapters tracing the development of transportation during the 19th and early 20th centuries in particular were utterly fascinating, as was later coverage of the potential future for a car-less society. Remarkably well balanced, the text tends to steer clear - pun absolutely intended - of various relevant controversies (climate change, Peak Oil, Peak Car, autonomous vehicles, car-less society, etc) even while discussing said controversies' impact on society and future developments. Truly a solid examination of its topic, and very much recommended.