The invention of the bicycle

By Jordi Nadal

In 1815 the volcano Tambora, in Indonesia, began erupting bringing about an unprecedented crisis throughout the northern hemisphere. Tens of thousands of people succumbed to hunger and disease. Horses, the standard form of transportation at that time, were not luckier, as their owners couldn't afford the luxury of feeding them appropriately. Karl Von Drais, the famous German inventor, realized that this crisis represented an opportunity. He discovered that the laufmaschine, one of his most recent inventions, was the means to go from place to place that the situation required. Today this machine is known as the bicycle. The Covid-19 crisis has made it evident that we are facing one of the most serious challenges we have experienced as a society. Faced with a situation that nobody could have foreseen, there's no choice but to give the best of ourselves, demonstrating our capacity to come to grips with it. With this mindset of living with adversity, Jordi Nadal encourages us to take on the challenges that the future holds, with a measured degree of alarm, with the aim of getting round these difficulties as best possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Plataforma
• Release date: Jan 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9788418582219

Jordi Nadal

Jordi Nadal was born in Lliçà d'Amunt (Barcelona) in 1962 and holds a degree in Germanic Studies from the University of Barcelona. In 1998 he completed his studies in Stanford Professional Publishing Course. He began his career at Vicens Vives and continued at Herder (Germany). Among other positions, he has been director of EDHASA, editorial and publications director of Círculo de Lectores, consultant at Random House in New York, general director of corporate development for Spain and America at Grupo Plaza & Janés and assistant director at Ediciones Paidós, as well as Deputy General Manager at Planeta Agostini Profesional and Formación. He is co-author of the book Meditando el Management... y la vida (Planeta, 2007, Plataforma Editorial, 2012) and Libros o velocidad. Reflexiones sobre el oficio editorial (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Madrid and Mexico, 2005), and author of Todo tan cerca (Poliedro, 2005) (translated into 6 languagues), El paraíso interior (Plataforma, Editorial, 2011), Todo lo que tengo es el silencio (Estrella, 2020), Libroterapia (Plataforma, 2020) and La invención de la bicicleta (Plataforma, 2020).

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