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| Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) | 
 enlarge | Author: Tom Vanderbilt
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.97
You Save: $11.98 (48%)
New (46) Used (14) from $12.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  73 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0307264785
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.283
EAN: 9780307264787
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 compliment to author December 16, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Though at times it felt like I was drowning in statistics, this book was a worthwhile read. I compliment the author for his effort on a difficult subject, and particularly applaud his phenomenal footnotes- almost 30 pages of studies, explanations, and interpretations. I photocopied them so I can look up some of the studies he points to.
Too much of a good thing... December 15, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I ordered Traffic with great anticipation because I am interested in cars and their impact on our society. I also enjoy books that highlight the sociological and/or psychological impact of technology. So this book seemed to be a winner.
I was wrong.
The book begins with a very interesting preface that explains how we drive and the way our personalities affect the way we interact with other motorists on the road. Vanderbilt uses the "later merger" as stepping stone to the book promising that this simple act of merging into traffic will help us understand who we are.
The next several chapters expand on this "late merger" by providing a plethora of data from studies and experiments. Vanderbilt leaves no stone unturned as he consults dozens of experts who each a have a catchy little name for their particlaur syndrome. My favorite was the "Starbucks syndrome" for those people stop at Starbucks on their way to somewhere else.
Riveting.
The book suffers from a lack of editing. A good editor could have removed the redundancies and wanderings that Vanderbilt takes us on. I almost felt like a tourist being taken on an extra long taxi ride from the airport just to increase the fare.
This is a great bargain table book. Don't pay more than five bucks and you'll have an interesting book.
 An excellent multi-disciplinary approach to an untouched subject December 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Traffic is a wonderful, cross disciplinary study of something we encounter every day, but put very little thought or effort into. We all deal with traffic of some sort, whether we live in a big city or the most rural area, there are always other cars on the road.
I especially enjoyed his investigation of the risks of driving - how for most, it's the most dangerous act we undertake, but we never hear of people too afraid to drive. It's safer to live in the middle of a dangerous neighborhood and dry your hair next to a full sink than it is to drive through the suburbs on a daily basis. That's hard to believe, but makes sense when one thinks further about it. Traffic is just so automatic for Americans that we completely discount any risks.
If you want an in depth, researched basic knowledge of driving, the history of city design, and why we do what we do while in the car, grab this book. It's engrossing, in depth, yet short enough to finish in a day or two.
the perils of driving December 10, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was really hoping that this book would answer such questions as why so many people don't use their turn signals or insist on driving below the speed limit in the left lane. I was disappointed in that, but did learn other interesting things, like why you drive on the right in some countries, and in the left in others. Also discussed is why people drive more safely when there are fewer traffic signs and other warning devices than when there are more. It turns out that people drive more cautiously when they don't know what to expect than when they do. Similarly, people drive more safely when the car has fewer safety devices. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt spends the bulk of the book on this point and much less on the question that his title indicated he would be answering.
 If you like Malcolm Gladwell's work, you'll enjoy Traffic. December 6, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Much like Gladwell's works, Traffic is a conversational piece filled with personal anecdotes and a small handful of stories describing the work being done to make us better drivers. I would have preferred the opposite.
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