• Contact

  • Newsletter

  • About us

  • Delivery options

  • Prospero Book Market Podcast

  • Speed: How it Explains the World

    Speed by Smil, Vaclav;

    How it Explains the World

      • GET 15% OFF

      • The discount is only available for 'Alert of Favourite Topics' newsletter recipients.
      • Publisher's listprice GBP 18.99
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        9 072 Ft (8 640 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 15% (cc. 1 361 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 7 711 Ft (7 344 Ft + 5% VAT)

    9 072 Ft

    db

    Availability

    Not yet published.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
    • Date of Publication 27 November 2025
    • Number of Volumes Trade paperback (UK)

    • ISBN 9780241754542
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages368 pages
    • Size 234x153x40 mm
    • Weight 700 g
    • Language English
    • 700

    Categories

    Long description:

    Prepare to view the world through a new lens – SPEED – a groundbreaking exploration that challenges your perceptions of life’s driving force, from the internationally bestselling author

    'There is no author whose books I look forward to more' Bill Gates

    ‘There is perhaps no other academic who paints pictures with numbers like Smil’ Guardian

    In a world that feels like it’s moving faster than ever, Smil examines how our relentless pursuit of speed – in areas such as production, travel and communication – shapes not only our technological landscape but also our social and environmental realities. And through engaging anecdotes and striking statistics, Smil challenges the assumption that faster is always better.

    He invites readers to reconsider the implications of our collective obsession with speed, and its intricate relationship with nature and innovation. For example, he highlights the surprising fact that erosion can actually accelerate mountain growth, and he points out that the rapid adoption of mobile phones – achieving 90 per cent penetration in just nineteen years – reflects historical patterns of technological adoption, suggesting that our world may not be moving significantly faster than in the past.

    Whether exploring the tiny mites that can traverse 300 times their body length in a second or the societal impacts of high-frequency trading, Speed invites readers to engage in a more balanced conversation about the role of speed in our lives, in an age defined by haste.

    More