Thirty British marvels racing to 2050, and most of the country hasn't noticed.
The megaprojects, machines and breakthroughs quietly changing what this country can do, followed from the laboratory bench to the factory floor. The real places, the real people and the real numbers, in pounds and miles. One book, written plainly, ready to download the moment you pay.
- A car that charges in the time it takes to make a cup of tea
- A power station that leaves the factory in pieces on the back of a lorry
- An airliner that is almost all wing
Who I am
I'm Tom Ashworth. Every week on The Engineering Files I take one British breakthrough and follow it from the laboratory to the factory floor: the real places, the real people and the real numbers, in pounds and miles.
This country invented the jet airliner, the lithium-ion battery and the first nuclear power station on a national grid, and then watched other countries build them. This book is about what Britain is building now, with the honest part nobody puts in the press release.
One book. Thirty marvels.
You've watched the videos. Now keep the whole story in one book.
Every kind of marvel the channel follows, gathered into a single book you can read from the first page to the last. No engineering degree needed and no jargon left unexplained, just what this country is actually building, where, by whom, and what still stands in its way.
The Engineering Files
Britain's Century of Marvels
The thirty megaprojects and machines quietly rebuilding the country before 2050, in 398 pages and five parts, each with its real place, its people and the one number that explains it.
- 398 pages, large type, one book
- 30 British marvels in 5 parts: power, flight and space, cars and batteries, getting about, and defence
- From the reactor that leaves the factory on the back of a lorry to the car that charges in the time it takes to make a cup of tea
- Every marvel at its real address, with the people building it and where Britain got there first
- The one number behind each marvel, in a box at the end of every chapter, set against something you know
- The honest part with every one, and where it stands in November 2026: built, being built, or still a target
- Every figure in pounds, miles and feet, explained plainly
- Instant PDF download, yours to keep
US$19.00
I want the book
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What's inside
One book. Thirty marvels. Three hundred and ninety-eight pages.
Every chapter, in the order you'll read them, so you know exactly what you're paying for before you pay for it.
30
Marvels
5
Parts
398
Pages
See the full contents
- 01Introduction: The Other Half of the Story
- 02A Word on Part One: Power
- 03The Power Station on the Back of a Lorry
- 04The Biggest Building Site in Europe
- 05A Star in a Steel Box
- 06The Wind Farm Too Far Out to See
- 07Putting the Carbon Back Under the Sea
- 08The Power Lines Under the North Sea
- 09A Word on Part Two: Flight and Space
- 10The Airliner That Is Almost All Wing
- 11The Biggest Jet Engine Ever Run
- 12The Longest Aircraft in the World
- 13The Air Taxi from the Cotswolds
- 14The Rocket at the Edge of Shetland
- 15The City That Builds Satellites
- 16A Word on Part Three: Cars and Batteries
- 17The Car That Charges in the Time It Takes to Make a Cup of Tea
- 18Where Batteries Learn to Be Made
- 19The Lithium Under Cornwall
- 20The Motor the Size of a Dinner Plate
- 21The Battery With Nothing to Spill
- 22Two Gigafactories at Opposite Corners of England
- 23A Word on Part Four: Getting About
- 24The Machines That Ate the Chilterns
- 25The Super Sewer Under the Thames
- 26The Longest Road Tunnel in Britain
- 27The Train Factory That Nearly Closed
- 28The Railway Beeching Closed, Coming Back
- 29The Double-Decker from Ballymena
- 30A Word on Part Five: Defence
- 31The Fighter Taking Shape in Lancashire
- 32The Boats Built Under a Roof in Barrow
- 33The Laser That Costs Ten Pounds a Shot
- 34The Frigates Norway Bought from Glasgow
- 35The Tank Built in Telford
- 36The Helicopter with No One on Board
- 37The Last Word on Britain's Century
7
Seven days to change your mind
Read it. If it isn't what this page promised, write to us within seven days and you get every penny back. No forms, no reasons asked.
Before you buy
What exactly do I get?
One ebook, as a PDF you download the moment your payment goes through: thirty British megaprojects and machines on their way to 2050, across energy, flight, cars and batteries, transport and defence. Each one with its real place, the people building it, the one number that explains it, and the honest part. It's yours to keep.
Do I need to be an engineer to enjoy it?
No. Every idea is explained with something you already know, a kettle, a pint, a double-decker bus, a garden shed. If you can follow the energy bill on your doormat, you can follow this book.
Is it all good news?
No, and it would be worth less if it were. Every marvel comes with its honest part: what is still a prototype or a target, what you can't buy yet, and the times this country has been burned before in the same field. Pride holds up better when it stands on the real figures.
Is it just the videos written out?
No. The videos are where the subjects come from. The book gathers thirty marvels in one place, takes each further than a video has time for, and checks every date and figure before it goes in.
Is it about politics?
No. No parties and no politicians. Governments and companies appear only as facts in the story: who decided what, when, and what it cost.
How do I read it? Do I need a special device?
No. It's a PDF in large type. Read it on your phone, tablet or computer, or print the pages you want.
Is the price in pounds?
It's set in US dollars, so the exact amount in pounds depends on the exchange rate on the day you pay. One payment, nothing to renew.
What if I don't like it?
Write to us within seven days and you get your money back. No questions asked.
Someone will say it again this week.
At a family lunch, in the queue at the motorway services, on the radio in the car: this country doesn't build anything any more. You'll think of the Comet out of Hatfield, the battery born in Oxford, the cooling towers at Calder Hall, and you'll know how those stories ended. What you won't have is the other half. Where Britain is building now, who is doing it, and the number that shows it's real.
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