Traffic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)

by TomVanderbilt (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $3.42

  Why does the other lane always seem to be moving faster? Why are people so different inside their cars than they are outside them? Is traffic a microcosm of society, or does the road make its own rules? Traffic speaks volumes: bringing together people from every walk of life. In this hugely enjoyable, curiosity-filled book, Tom Vanderbilt explains why traffic problems are really people problems. Traffic shows that how we behave walking the streets, on our bikes and in our cars is an astonishing cultural indicator; a living, constantly surprising model, what physicists call 'emergent collective behaviour'. Vanderbilt chauffeurs us through why it's so hard to pay attention in traffic, why women cause more congestion than men, what factors make us more likely to honk our horns and a whole host of eye-opening highway conundrums. This book will change the way you view the world and help you better navigate it.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $3.42

  Get stuck in ...Why do some people become demons when they get behind a wheel? Why does the other lane always move faster? Why do New Yorkers jaywalk (and nobody does in Cophenhagen)? And why should you never drive with any beer-drinking, divorced doctors named Fred? Driving is about far more than getting from A to B. As Tom Vanderbilt's brilliant, curiosity-filled book shows, it's actually the key to deciphering human nature and ...well, pretty much everything. From the etiquette of horn-honking to bumper stickers you should avoid, from gridlock in ancient Rome to why getting rid of road signs actually reduces accidents, Traffic will change the way you see yourself, and other people (and not just through your windscreen).