The Car cover art

The Car

The Rise and Fall of the Machine That Made the Modern World

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The Car

By: Bryan Appleyard
Narrated by: John Sackville
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About this listen

More than any other technology, cars have transformed our culture. Cars have created vast wealth as well as novel dreams of freedom and mobility. They have transformed our sense of distance and made the world infinitely more available to our eyes and our imaginations. They have inspired cinema, music and literature; they have, by their need for roads, bridges, filling stations, huge factories and global supply chains, re-engineered the world. Almost everything we now need, want, imagine or aspire to assumes the existence of cars in all their limitless power and their complex systems of meanings.

This audiobook celebrates the immense drama and beauty of the car, of the genius embodied in the Ford Model T, of the glory of the brilliant-red Mercedes Benz S-Class made by workers for Nelson Mandela on his release from prison, of Kanye West's 'chopped' Maybach, of the salvation of the Volkswagen Beetle by Major Ivan Hirst, of Elvis Presley's 100 Cadillacs, of the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and the BMC Mini and even of that harbinger of the end - the Tesla Model S and its creator, Elon Musk.

As the age of the car as we know it comes to an end, Bryan Appleyard's brilliantly insightful book tells the story of the rise and fall of the incredible machine that made the modern world what it is today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Bryan Appleyard (P)2022 Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Engineering History History & Culture Technology

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All stars
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The car is such an everyday object that we either dismiss it or take it for granted, this book lifts the bonnet to give new insight into the manufacturing and cultural history, personaliites and world of cars. It's so well-written and researched, and the narration by John Sackville is flawless. It starts at the early models and goes up to the arrival of electric vehicles. From safety to design, to the uncertain future of the very car itself, this book reveals it all. The pdf contains some photos and a full bibliography. This ambitious book should be on the shortlist for non fiction Book of the Year!

Superb book

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The best audio book I've listened to in ages. Wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary, engrossing. A nailed-on classic.

Fascinating

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