A new paperback edition of the first book by the bestselling author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses—the fascinating story of the telegraph, the world’s first “Internet,”
The Victorian Internet tells the colorful story of the telegraph's creation and remarkable impact, and of the visionaries, oddballs, and eccentrics who pioneered it, from the eighteenth-century French
From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human historyThroughout human history, certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority
The bestselling author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses brilliantly charts how foods have transformed human culture through the ages. Throughout history, food has acted as a catalyst of social
An offbeat history of the world traces the story of humankind from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century from the perspective of six different drinks--beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola--d
From the bestselling author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses, an eye-opening road trip through 5,500 years of humans on the go, revealing how transportation shapes civilization.Tom Standage’s fleet-footed global histories have delighted readers and cemented his reputation as one of our leading interpreters of technologies past and present. Now, he returns with a provocative account of a sometimes-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 how each 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. Then, delving into the history of the automobile’s development, Standage explores the social resistance to cars and
From the bestselling author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses, an eye-opening jaunt through 5,500 years of humans on the go, revealing how transportation inevitably shapes civilization. Tom Stand
The bestselling author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses charts the enlightening history of humanity through the foods we eat. More than simply sustenance, food historically has been a kind of t
The world can be an amazing place if you know the right questions to ask: How much does a ghost reduce a house's value? How are winemakers responding to climate change? How much should you tip your Ub
Chronicles social media over two millennia, from papyrus letters that Cicero used to exchange news across the Empire to today, reminding us how modern behavior echoes that of prior centuries and encou
