Traffic by Tom VanderbiltFiction, Hardcover, 402 pgs. (2008)
Alfred A. Knopf Publishing
"Based on exhaustive research and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe,Traffic gets under the hood of the everyday activity of driving to uncover the surprisingly complex web of physical, psychological and technical factors that explain how traffic works, why we drive the way we do, and what our driving says about us."
This is non-fiction and it's about...driving. There are chapters that answer questions such as "Why does the other lane always move faster?", "The secrets of late merging revealed" and "Why ants don't get into traffic jams and humans do". I know you want this one people, if not for yourself, for someone else, as a hint perhaps? I might mention that over 100 pages of the book are taken up by acknowledgments, notes and an index so the body of text is actually 286 pages. And from my own experience men seem to really like this book.
I'm having a Giveaway of a hardcover copy of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What It Says About Us by Tom Vanderbilt to one of my readers. Entry is open worldwide until midnight Wednesday, October 8, 2008.
1) To enter tell me any humourous or interesting driving story. Anything that happened or was said in a moving vehicle, or even a stationery one, on a trip, while you were lost or thought you were, back seat driving stories, etc. Anything related to driving or traffic that made the day less dull.
2) If you blog about this giveaway and put a link back to it, I'll give you a second entry. If you don't have a blog, email 4 friends telling them about this giveaway and copying me at sfuhringer(at) sympatico(dot) ca.
Please leave a contact address if you're entering the giveaway and don't have a blog where I can contact you. It's surprising how often people forget to.
Winner will be announced on Thursday October 9, 2008.
Oh, my. This was a fun post to write up over at Win a Book! No need to enter me, as always...
ReplyDeleteWe lived in France in the early 90's. The traffic there could be horrendous. My husband picked our son up from kindergarten one day and they got caught in a huge traffic jam. My husband was growing more and more frustrated when all of a sudden he hears, "Viva la France!" from the back seat.
ReplyDeleteI remember when my kids were pretty little they would make up little song ditties together in the backseat that were sheer ridiculousness but nonetheless completely entertaining and made me laugh all the time. One thing they did was when we would pass through areas where the tree foliage shaded the road they'd call out in a sing-songy tone, "it's dark" and then when we came out of the shade they'd say,again in a sing-songy fashion, "it's not dark." This would go on and on and on. I know it sounds dumb but it entertained me.
ReplyDeletedoot65{at}comcast[dot]net
Elizabeth
My best friend and I were driving around at about midnight so traffic was pretty minimal. We were going back to my house and we reached a red light that I realized we needed to turn right at. So, I told her. Hey, we need to turn right. She scolded me and said, I am not turning right when I am not in the right turn lane. That is against the law. We will just turn right later and back track. She then pressed on the gas and proceeded to run the red light that we had stopped at seconds before. We have laughed about that for the last ten years. it never get old.
ReplyDeleteangelleslament @ gmail.com
My parents and I were traveling to an outlet mall not too far from where I had recently moved. My dad thought it would be quicker to avoid the interstate and take the back roads. Of course, we got completely lost and ended up driving on miles and miles of rural roads past tomato fields. We were never so grateful to see the highway again. We still joke about it whenever anyone wants to take a "shortcut."
ReplyDeletebluebyrd24 [at] gmail [dot] com