James May's 20th Century

By: James May, Phil Dolling

Narrated by: James May

Longlisted for the Audiobook Download of the Year, 2007.

How much should you pay for a return trip to the moon? How are Winnie the Pooh and the artificial heart related? Did teenagers exist before 1950? If not, who invented them? James May's 20th Century answers all these questions and more.

In this exclusive download released to tie-in with the BBC TV series, James May explores the iconic themes of the century: flight, space travel, television, mechanised war, medicine, computers, electronic music, skyscrapers, electronic espionage, and much more.

But he also reveals the hidden story behind why some inventions like the Zeppelin, the motorcycle side car, or the Theremin struggled to make their mark. He examines the tipping points � when technologies such as the car or the internet became unstoppable � and gets up close by looking at the nuts and bolt of remarkable inventions.

Packed with surprising statistics and intriguing facts, this is the ideal book for anyone who wants to know how stuff works and why some stuff didn't make it.

©2007 James May and Phil Dolling; (P)2007 Hodder and Stoughton Audiobooks

great book and narration!!

I love listening to James May reading his books. Very entertaining with interesting topics. Great.

Very informative and entertaining

For all the fans of Jeremy's ramblings on Top Gear, this is a must read. He points out just how much the innovations of last century have impacted our lives. He brings to life some of the most interesting and misunderstood facts about these inventions, and it is clear from his narration that he is passionate about the subjects. Very well researched, very well written, very well performed. I learned a lot and laughed a lot. Great book.

Absolutely James May

If you are a fan of James May from Top Gear UK... then you already love this book.

brilliant.

An amazing commentary on the 20th century. Being a fan of James May and things mentioned in the book it was a great literary work.

James May is Gold

Everything he does is both very informative, which I love, but also very entertaining. This book gives a good background on a lot of things I had never realized before and probably would never have taken the time to look up if not presented in this format.