From Here To There:  The Story Of How We Transport Ourselves And Everything Else, by HP Newquist

This book was not quite what I expected it to be.  That is not to say that it is a bad book, because it is not, but this book is basically a book on transportation history and futurism that is aimed at literate children and preteens, and maybe teenagers.  The book also feels in many ways like it’s aimed at promoting the transportation-related art and artifacts of the Smithsonian, who sponsored the work.  Again, it is not necessarily a bad thing to be sponsored by an institution when it comes to a work, but with sponsorship comes the subtle (or unsubtle) pressure to bolster the reader’s view of that institution throughout the entire book.  And I have to say that I noticed this pressure, even in artwork that was said to be in one of the Smithsonian museums that tangentially related to the transportation efforts, and it bothered me to see that.  It doesn’t prevent me from appreciating this book, but it just gives the book a bit of a sour aftertaste that what we are reading is meant to support the transportation agenda of the Smithsonian, so we get comments about Segways and Tesla cars and hyperloops as the author feels pushed to support a certain “sustainable” agenda.

This book is a short one at a bit more than 100 pages, and is divided into several chapters based on transportation method.  It should be noted that this thematic division is not quite as clear as it could be.  The book begins with a discussion of transportation on foot, which includes not only walking but also riding on horseback and using dog sleds and also skiing and walking in shoeshoes as well as ice skating and roller skating and so on and so forth.  After that comes a chapter on ships, which includes boats and even container ships.  Following this there is a chapter on railroads which includes discussion on the use of rails before the railroads.  Wheels for everyone leads to a discussion of cars, which includes the author’s attempts to promote hybrid automobiles.  There is a chapter about airborne travel that also includes a discussion of space travel as well as airplanes.  The last chapter of the book is a speculation on future travel technologies (including teleportation) before the book closes with some resources, acknowledgements, and an index.

What does one get out of a book like this?  Young readers of the book may enjoy reading about the gradual development of transportation methods and the way that people tend to be strongly influenced by their own business interests.  Indeed, the very existence of this book should reinforce the understanding of the importance of business interests in the writing of books that promote history and also subtly promote certain museums and approaches.  Even this book’s shortcomings, in other words, are instructive.  At its best, it provides information and the possibility of future research into the connection of technology and geography and culture.  At its worst, its institutional biases provide a learning opportunity for readers to appreciate the way that business interests affect scholarship, especially in writing designed for young people.  Readers need to know that writers approach their subject with agendas, and those agendas aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just something that needs to be openly admitted and recognized.  To the extent that we know what agendas people have when they write to us, we can discount for their biases and come to a reasonable level of understanding based on what they provide us, and that is certainly a profitable approach to a book like this one.