Explores the vehicles and robotic extensions of ourselves that we cast out into the solar system to photograph, probe, scan and drill our way into new understandings, or into harm's way in search and rescue missions here on earth, and questions what these objects say about our politics, our humanity, and our place in the universe.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. In 1971, the first lunar rover arrived on the moon. The design became an icon of American ingenuity and the adventurous spirit and vision many equated with the space race. Fifty years later, that vision feels like a nostalgic fantasy, but the lunar rover’s legacy paved the way for Mars rovers like Sojourner, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Other rovers have made accessible the world’s deepest caves and most remote tundra, extending our exploratory range without risking lives. Still others have been utilized for search and rescue missions or in clean up operations after disasters such as Chernobyl. For all these achievements, rovers embody not just our potential, but our limits. Examining rovers as they wander our terrestrial and celestial boundaries, we might better comprehend our place, and fate, in this universe. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

"Moving nimbly from the moon to Mars, from the depths of the Atlantic to a nuclear reactor, Stewart Lawrence Sinclair artfully traces a history of amazing mechanical rovers through the Cold War, the Chernobyl disaster, the 9/11 attack, and his own upbringing near NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Instigated by the discovery of old photos after a devastating wildfire, Space Rover clears an astutely unpredictable and philosophical path from Sinclair’s boyhood in Southern California through a rich cultural history of mechanical wanderers. Space Rover is an auspicious call for – and at times, a solemn caution against – wandering. What a thought-provoking exploration of the purposeful meandering that humans and their mechanized, roving proxies do!" - Anna Leahy, Professor of English and Director of MFA in Creative Writing, Chapman University, USA, and author of Tumor (Bloomsbury, 2017)

"This is a book we didn’t know we needed. As meandering and revelatory as its subject, Stewart Lawrence Sinclair’s Space Rover takes us on a trip through space and time that’s full of universal and personal discovery. Rovers are our mechanical avatars and assistants in hostile environments, but they are also, in their own way, our friends and family." - Fred Scharmen, Program Director and Associate Professor of Architecture, Morgan State University, USA