Tom Vanderbilt
Author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
About the Author
Tom Vanderbilt is a writer based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in Wired, Nest, the New York Times Magazine, & The Nation. He is author of The Sneaker Book: An Anatomy of an Industry & An Icon. (Bowker Author Biography)
Image credit: © Kate Burton
Works by Tom Vanderbilt
Traffic (Unabridged) Part 2 1 copy
Traffic (Unabridged) Part 1 1 copy
Associated Works
Boob Jubilee: The Mad Cultural Politics of the New Economy: Salvos from the Baffler (2003) — Contributor — 82 copies
Significant Objects: 100 Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things (2012) — Contributor — 57 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1968
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Oak Forest, Illinois, USA
- Places of residence
- Wisconsin, USA
New York, New York, USA
Brooklyn, New York, USA - Occupations
- journalist
- Relationships
- Dunn, Jancee (wife)
- Organizations
- I.D.
Print - Agent
- Zoe Pagnamenta (PFD New York)
Members
Reviews
I tried to like Traffic but it was just too poorly written. For example, some of the descriptions of road situations were very difficult to understand. Hasn't the author heard of diagrams? Would've been a much easier read with diagrams. The author also failed to address some basic issues and instead suggested some very questionable ideas with only anecdotal support.
Limp, rambling, and pretentious. With chapters like "dead city" and "survival city," the book reads like unenthusiastic writing assignments tied to various google results for a search on "nuclear" and "city."
After reading the long introduction and beginning of the first chapter, I jumped around furiously, looking for a foothold that would sustain my interest for more then a page or two, to no avail. Redeemed by fascinating photography and a rushed epilogue, written just after the attacks of Sept. 11th, as the book went to print.
I'm sure a complete reading would reveal any number of interesting sections, and I'd be grateful to revisit this book with such a reading guide.… (more)
After reading the long introduction and beginning of the first chapter, I jumped around furiously, looking for a foothold that would sustain my interest for more then a page or two, to no avail. Redeemed by fascinating photography and a rushed epilogue, written just after the attacks of Sept. 11th, as the book went to print.
I'm sure a complete reading would reveal any number of interesting sections, and I'd be grateful to revisit this book with such a reading guide.… (more)
Pretty good up to a point but then I wanted more "hard stuff": more data on why we do the things we do. And it didn't answer my question of "why do 3-lane highways suck do bad."
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 10
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 2,312
- Popularity
- #11,105
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 87
- ISBNs
- 57
- Languages
- 8
- Favorited
- 1
The author looks at what people like, why we like those things, etc. Our “taste” so to speak (not the sense of taste, but our “taste” for what we like). He does, of course, discuss food, but there is also a chapter (I found this one particularly interesting) on online reviews and recommendations, etc. Other chapters include museums/art, ways to describe why we like something, and more.
Not too much to say about this. I found it (mostly) interesting and easy to read. Oddly, although I’m not really one for art appreciation, I remember that chapter a bit more than some of the others (also the online review chapter, but that may not be a surprise considering I am writing a review to post online…!).… (more)