markk

This is proving a quick read, rich in anecdotes while containing some excellent points that I hadn't appreciated before (such as the origin of the "red flag men"). This is one of my favorites:

At the start [of the automobile age], however, even the experts did not anticipate the pace at which motor technology would advance. In 1937, speaking on the BBC, Charles Jarrot recalled a banquet given to celebrate Emile Levassor's victory in the 1895 race, Paris to Bordeaux and back, accomplished at an average speed of 14mph. At this dinner one of the speakers predicted that a speed of 20mph would be attainable in the course of the next few years. Monsieur Levassor's comment was, 'There's always someone at this sort of banquet who makes some ridiculous remark.