The Most Benevolent Machine

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Evolution of Modern Capitalism: A Study of Machine Production" by J. A. Hobson. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

A panoramic revisionist portrait of the nineteenth-century invention that is transforming the twenty-first-century world “Excellent . . . calls to mind Bill Bryson, John McPhee, Rebecca Solnit.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly at odds with our age of smartphones and ride-sharing apps and driverless cars. Yet we live on a bicycle planet. Across the world, more people travel by bicycle than any other form of transportation. Almost anyone can learn to ride a bike—and nearly everyone does. In Two Wheels Good, journalist and critic Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous machine, an ever-present force in humanity’s life and dream life—and a flash point in culture wars—for more than two hundred years. Combining history, reportage, travelogue, and memoir, Rosen’s book sweeps across centuries and around the globe, unfolding the bicycle’s saga from its invention in 1817 to its present-day renaissance as a “green machine,” an emblem of sustainability in a world afflicted by pandemic and climate change. Readers meet unforgettable characters: feminist rebels who steered bikes to the barricades in the 1890s, a prospector who pedaled across the frozen Yukon to join the Klondike gold rush, a Bhutanese king who races mountain bikes in the Himalayas, a cycle-rickshaw driver who navigates the seething streets of the world’s fastest-growing megacity, astronauts who ride a floating bicycle in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station. Two Wheels Good examines the bicycle’s past and peers into its future, challenging myths and clichés while uncovering cycling’s connection to colonial conquest and the gentrification of cities. But the book is also a love letter: a reflection on the sensual and spiritual pleasures of bike riding and an ode to an engineering marvel—a wondrous vehicle whose passenger is also its engine.

This volume addresses key contemporary aspects in cycling policy, practice and research. Cycling has seen a sharp increase in scientific and policy attention in the past decade. The amount of research has surged over the past couple decades. Also, levels of cycling have increased substantially in many countries and cities, and many areas have seen increases in infrastructure investments. In addition, the last decade has seen innovations in bicycle technology, in particularly the rise of electric-assist (e-bikes) and dock-less bike sharing schemes. This volume reviews the state of the art on cycling from various angles. As such it explores planners’ (engineers’, policy makers’) provisions for cycling, of cyclists’ (and non-cyclists’) travel behaviour, and resulting consequences for individuals and society. One focus is on demand-side aspects, including the use of bicycles and their users including patterns and trends in cycling, determinants of cycling, and modelling of cycling. Another focus is on impacts of cycling, such as emissions, safety aspects, as well as changes during the COVID pandemic. Contemporary overview of key aspects in cycling research and bicycle planning A focus on design for cycling, behavior of cyclists and consequences of cycling

Through a historical analysis of the bicycle industry, this book explores how the bicycle was developed, manufactured and marketed, from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the present day. The author highlights the contributions made by the bicycle industry to marketing as it is understood today, tracing key innovations in product development and marketing. Addressing a gap in the literature, this book provides an insightful history of marketing practice for one of the most important products of the twentieth century.

William Wye Smith, Upper Canadian poet and publisher, provided his unique perspective on pioneer life in this compilation of anecdotes from his experiences.