About this title: Based on exhaustive research and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe, "Traffic" gets under the hood of the everyday activity. Ultimately, this work is about more than driving: it's about human nature.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2009-08-11
ISBN-13:9780307277190ISBN:0307277194
Description: New. Pre-release book with different cover and publisher stickers. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780307277190ISBN:0307277194
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Almost as new. Very slight cover wear. No spine creasing. Pages unmarked, bright and tight. First printing of this edition. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 402 p. Vintage. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780307264787ISBN:0307264785
Description: Very Good-Used in Very Good jacket. / 9780307264787. Dj has minimal wear. Book is clean and tight. Ships with confirming email. 100% money back guarantee. read more
Edition: First edition. UNCORRECTED PROOF
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: ALFRED A KNOPF
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780307264787ISBN:0307264785
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 402 p. Audience: General/trade. THIS USED TRADE EDITION PAPERBACK UNCORRECTED PROOF CAME FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION. COVERS SHOW MINOR EDGE AND CORNER WEAR. BINDING IS TIGHT. STORY PAGES ARE FREE FROM MARKS AND TEARS. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780307277190ISBN:0307277194
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: New. AUDIOBOOK. NOT A BOOK! Please order accordingly! All Audiobooks are in the original factory sealed shrinkwrap box! Box may show signs of dents, etc. All CD's Are guaranteed to play! Audio CD, New, 2008, read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780713999327ISBN:0713999322
Description: Good. This is an EX-LIBRARY COPY. We only offer carefully selected, quality books, in this category. The normal stamps and labels may be present and the front flysheet has been tidily removed. The supplying library will benefit financially from your purchase. This book is in GOOD overall condition. It shows signs of having been read and has general light wear to the cover, spine and pages. read more
"***Please VOTE*** Tom Vanderbilt has written an original, enlightening, and--considering the current political and financial maelstrom around automakers--a timely study of human driving characteristics and the universal factors influencing vehicle operation. The book is 286 pages with a remarkable addition of 100 pages of notes. There isn't a page in the book without a reference, a majority coming from national government studies and automobile industry safety reports. Overall, the content is highly-researched, international, and leaves the reader feeling he just read a book sui generis on why we drive the way we do.
I drive a light, compact, 2-door commuter car and use it primarily on large interstates. I know people who will not ride in my car for fear of being in a crash. They view my car as a 'tin can of death,' as if its size automatically portends substandard driver skills and inferior automobile performance. Vanderbilt's book tears apart, argument by argument, prejudice by prejudice, these kinds of unfounded social myths. Physics can tell you that my compact car will crumple in an accident, but by sheer rate, compact cars are less likely to be in accidents, and much less likely to result in fatalities! The factors are too numerous to list here, but, in highlight, Vanderbilt's analysis explores reasons of culture, physics, anthropology, urban planning, psychology, civil & mechanical engineering, sociology, transportation policy, government corruption, human nature, optics, and much, much more. Each has a unique story to tell. And each, ironically, goes against the prevailing conventions in their societies.
The reader (like I did) will learn that they nurture incorrect views of vehicle operation. Despite a preponderance of evidence around the world and from history, there are still mysteries of traffic behavior. Most interesting are sections on the trouble with traffic signs, the psychology of commuting, and the fatal flaws of traffic engineering. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do will undoubtedly be the go-to book for journal and paper articles about traffic in the near-term.
4 stars for being comprehensive, easy to read, and informative on a topic that invisibly touches every person's life, daily. Could have had 5 stars, but there was so much information within each chapter that the author should have had a summary page highlighting the main points. I fear that, despite being such a good book, I will forget many conclusions since they weren't underscored time and again throughout the book.
"I've believed for a long time that there's a good Sunday morning sermon or two waiting to be gleaned from the subject of traffic and how we only sometimes follow the Golden Rule while we're out in it. One of the points made in this book is that a lot of people are trying to do the right thing, but not everybody agrees on what the right thing is to do. How the guy hogging the left-hand lane on the freeway, talking on his phone and going 15 mph slower than the rest of the traffic, thinks he's practicing the Golden Rule, I still can't fathom. Someday I guess I should return the courtesy: get in front of him, slow down to 15 mph slower than him, and get out my phone. But I never seem to have the time.
But this is not the main point of the book. Mostly we're talking about the perversity of traffic flow that results from every driver doing what he thinks serves him best -- rightly or wrongly -- and so few willing to do what would make things better for everybody. Headline in The Onion:, 98% of drivers favor public transportation for other people. When streets are made safer by broadening the curves, getting rid of obstacles, or increasing the distances to the sidewalks, drivers compensate by driving more recklessly.
Then there are parking lots. Which do you do? Take one of the first parking spaces you see, and be forced to spend up to 30 seconds longer walking to the store? Or do you circle around for 10 minutes until you can get one of the five closest spots to the door, waiting patiently while somebody backs out of the parking spot (meanwhile blocking traffic and burning gasoline) so you can save that 30 seconds of walking?
Anyway, there's a lot to know about people's behavior in traffic, and Mr. Vanderbilt has clearly done a lot of investigating before settling in to write about the subject. I didn't quite find it readable straight through, but by dipping in every few pages, before long I'd read probably 70% or more of the book, which I deem a qualified success."
If you curse at other drivers or think that traffic flows are interesting and not just something to grind your teeth through, this book is for you. On the downside, this book is an encapsulation of all the stories you've probably read before: 1. People overestimate their abilities and underestimate risk; 2. The downsides of signs; 3. Traffic jams "for no reason;" 4. The dubious benefits of safety equipment; 5. Which sex really are less-safe drivers; 6. The downsides of talking on your cell phone ('hands-free' doesn't help) 7. Why roundabouts are better ... so you might not learn much new from it. (But you probably will.)
My most interesting (and galling) response to the book is how often I find myself seeing and/or practicing the cognitive mistakes outlined in the book (for example: the longer you wait for an opening in traffic, the less safe your left turn becomes... oops.)
This isn't a 5-star book because I can't say -- even with its safety advice -- that it changed my life. It's not a 4-star book because I found that it doesn't flow very well together; each chapter feels more like an individual (interesting) magazine article and they've all been stitched together with only the slightest common thesis of "traffic." It's not bad by any stretch, it just doesn't feel like a coherent whole -- more of a smorgasbord of interesting, terrifying, and fascinating tidbits about how we drive.
"Quite illuminating and engagingly written -- I finished this the day I picked it up from the library, over my intelligent romance and id-appealing military sf novel.
Vanderbilt talks about traffic as we view it today (as negative, such as in traffic jams, instead of the movement of goods as it was in the ancient world) and how it's studied endlessly and yet continually foils engineers because, of course, it's caused by people. People who make good individual decisions, and end up screwing up the whole system. (I have learned, to my chagrin, that it's better for everyone to be a late merger instead of trying to get over early.)
He goes into psychology. Sociology. How unsafe-seeming roads actually may be safer. Different cultures of traffic in various countries. How to get all those celebrity-laden limos to the Oscars on time in LA, of all congested cities. And yet it's a natural leap to each topic, one I followed willingly.
Definitely worth a read if you've ever spared a moment to wonder about how the entire phenomenon of traffic works."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
