This was a timed advance review copy, and given the content, I almost did not have hopes of working my way through the entire thing. I ended up managing to read it all, but it is an encyclopedia, and therefore it is full of data that I obviously cannot retain in my head for other people.
I also did not expect to find it as fascinating as I did. One of the main reasons comes with its own backstory. As I was finishing up with school (probably the last time that I paid as much attention to Indian television advertisements (usually a lot of them are quite emotionally good)), I saw an ad for a new model of a scooter that was completely targetted at women/girls. It was an utterly overt attempt, and I felt mildly insulted, having driven bulkier models with the same amount of comfort. When I started going through this journey from the beginning of the industry, it turned out that that was always the norm and not the exception. Scooters' ads were almost always targeted at women! This book starts at the beginning and gives us everything we would ever need to know about the industry, including the engine details.
Some of the dangers of the older models were almost hilarious. The author also provides very good insight into how the industry grew and morphed and how and where the design and manufacture occurred. Along with the pictures of the models (sometimes actual scooters preserved by people), the author gave the backstory, the possible things that it triggered and the advertisements that ran for that model. It helped show how the world changed.
I went into the book expecting to come out with a brief understanding of the scooter industry. Instead, I got more than that; I could imagine the way the world and its people changed in the last century.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is based on my own reading experience.

The most definitive book I have 'read' regarding scooters. It's mostly pictures so nice and easy to gain information.