<P><B>Our world has been transformed beyond recognition, particularly in the twentieth century, and so were our lives and our aspirations. </B><br><br>Throughout <I>James May''s Magnificent Machines</I>, our Top Gear guide explores the iconic themes of the past hundred years: flight, space travel, television, mechanised war, medicine, computers, electronic music, skyscrapers, electronic espionage and much more. <br><br>But he also reveals the hidden story behind why some inventions like the Zeppelin, the hovercraft 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 bolts of remarkable inventions. <br><br><B>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.</B></P>