Means of Transport That Changed the World - by Tom Velcovsky & Stepanka Sekaninova (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

We start our journey on boats and we end up in the space. A history of transport told by terrific illustrations.

Travel back with us as we explore the world's most important milestones in the development of travel and transportation. From little-noticed ideas that launched a technological revolution, through expeditions that reached for the stars, to tragedies that ended vast projects once and for all.

As this book will show, every ending stands at the beginning of something new. Take a ride with us on the fastest, greatest, most awesome, most controversial machines that moved humanity forward.

Review Quotes

Selected for the CBC's 2022 July Hot Off The Press Reading List

"What did you like about the book? This illustrated compendium takes a detailed look at various innovations in transportation from the 3rd century BCE to the space shuttle Columbia in 1981 (nicely laid out as a timeline on the front and rear endpapers). The list of vehicles covered will excite the interest of fans of trains, planes, and automobiles and includes both the well known (double-decker buses, the Model T, the Orient Express) and the obscure (Grenville's steam carriage, the Tatra 87). Each two-page spread is dominated by riveting, hand drawn illustrations by Sodomka, predominantly black-and-white but with striking color accents. Often there's a full shot of the vehicle, accompanied by a close-up of an attribute of particular interest. We see an enlarged view of the Benz Patent Motorwagon, but also a detailed sketch of its 4-stroke engine. A striking illustration of an iconic green VW Transporter (popularly known as the Microbus) appears alongside a smaller sketch of its military ancestor, the Type 82 Kübelwagen. Detailed and folksy essays accompany each vehicle, asking readers personal questions (what do you think about when you hear the word London? how many vans did you see on your way to school?) and providing historical information. Neatly drawn talk bubbles provide extra information." ―Youth Services Book

"Means of Transport that Changed the World is the perfect book for older elementary, and even junior high, students. Readers learn about specific transportation vehicles like the Santa Maria, Golden State Coach, Grenville's Steam Carriage, Ford Model T, Hindenburg, Shinkansen and Space Shuttle Columbia." ―Red Poppy Reading, IG

About the Author

Tom Velcovsky is a graduate in Audiovisual Production from the Silesian University in Opava, where he specialized in screenwriting and storyboards. Before switching to children's books and the making of comic strips, he worked in advertising.

Stepanka Sekaninova used to work as a TV reporter and in the production of children's programs. Now she is a writer and a editor-in-chief, living in the Czech Republic.

Martin Sodomka was born in 1968 and educated at the Department of Industrial Design Management of the Faculty of Engineering, Brno University of Technology. In 1993 he founded a graphics studio. In 2012 he published, at his own expense, How to Build a Car, the first book in the Technical Tales series; this book was inspired by work he had performed with his own hands on a broken-down 1963 Skoda Octavia, which he later drove through many European countries.