-
Traffic
- Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? That most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? Or that you can gauge a nation’s driving behavior by its levels of corruption? These are only a few of the remarkable dynamics that Tom Vanderbilt explores in this fascinating tour through the mysteries of the road.
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. Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. As Vanderbilt shows, driving is a provocatively revealing prism for examining how our minds work and the ways in which we interact with one another.
Ultimately, Traffic is about more than driving: it’s about human nature. This audiobook will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. And who knows? It may even make us better drivers.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Beginners
- The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning
- By: Tom Vanderbilt
- Narrated by: Tom Vanderbilt
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do so many of us stop learning new skills as adults? Are we afraid to be bad at something? Have we forgotten the sheer pleasure of beginning from the ground up? Inspired by his young daughter’s insatiable curiosity, Tom Vanderbilt embarks on a yearlong quest of learning - purely for the sake of learning. Rapturously singing Spice Girls songs in an amateur choir, losing games of chess to eight-year-olds, and dodging scorpions at a surf camp in Costa Rica, Vanderbilt tackles five main skills, but learns so much more.
-
-
What a waste of time
- By Amazon Customer on 07-01-21
By: Tom Vanderbilt
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
By: Jeff Speck
-
Why We Drive
- Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road
- By: Matthew B. Crawford
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once we were drivers, the open road alive with autonomy, adventure, danger, trust, and speed. Today we are as likely to be in the back seat of an Uber as behind the wheel ourselves. Tech giants are hurling us toward a shiny, happy "self-driving" future, selling utopia but equally keen to advertise to a captive audience strapped into another expensive device. Are we destined, then, to become passengers, not drivers? Why We Drive reveals that much more may be at stake than we might think.
-
-
Another masterpiece by Crawford.
- By johnson on 08-19-20
-
Paved Paradise
- How Parking Explains the World
- By: Henry Grabar
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a handful of Americans are tragically killed by their fellow citizens over parking spots. But even when we don’t resort to violence, we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Indeed, in the century since the advent of the car, we have deformed—and in some cases demolished—our homes and our cities in a Sisyphean quest for cheap and convenient car storage.
-
-
Would recommend
- By Jamie W. on 05-14-23
By: Henry Grabar
-
Manufacturing Consent
- The Political Economy of the Mass Media
- By: Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.
-
-
Eye opening
- By EFM on 03-24-18
By: Edward S. Herman, and others
-
Wanting
- The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
- By: Luke Burgis
- Narrated by: Luke Burgis, Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gravity affects every aspect of our physical being, but there’s a psychological force just as powerful - yet almost nobody has heard of it. It’s responsible for bringing groups of people together and pulling them apart, making certain goals attractive to some and not to others, and fueling cycles of anxiety and conflict. In Wanting, Luke Burgis draws on the work of French polymath René Girard to bring this hidden force to light and reveals how it shapes our lives and societies.
-
-
One of the most important books you'll ever read
- By chris boutte on 06-14-21
By: Luke Burgis
-
Beginners
- The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning
- By: Tom Vanderbilt
- Narrated by: Tom Vanderbilt
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do so many of us stop learning new skills as adults? Are we afraid to be bad at something? Have we forgotten the sheer pleasure of beginning from the ground up? Inspired by his young daughter’s insatiable curiosity, Tom Vanderbilt embarks on a yearlong quest of learning - purely for the sake of learning. Rapturously singing Spice Girls songs in an amateur choir, losing games of chess to eight-year-olds, and dodging scorpions at a surf camp in Costa Rica, Vanderbilt tackles five main skills, but learns so much more.
-
-
What a waste of time
- By Amazon Customer on 07-01-21
By: Tom Vanderbilt
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
By: Jeff Speck
-
Why We Drive
- Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road
- By: Matthew B. Crawford
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once we were drivers, the open road alive with autonomy, adventure, danger, trust, and speed. Today we are as likely to be in the back seat of an Uber as behind the wheel ourselves. Tech giants are hurling us toward a shiny, happy "self-driving" future, selling utopia but equally keen to advertise to a captive audience strapped into another expensive device. Are we destined, then, to become passengers, not drivers? Why We Drive reveals that much more may be at stake than we might think.
-
-
Another masterpiece by Crawford.
- By johnson on 08-19-20
-
Paved Paradise
- How Parking Explains the World
- By: Henry Grabar
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a handful of Americans are tragically killed by their fellow citizens over parking spots. But even when we don’t resort to violence, we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Indeed, in the century since the advent of the car, we have deformed—and in some cases demolished—our homes and our cities in a Sisyphean quest for cheap and convenient car storage.
-
-
Would recommend
- By Jamie W. on 05-14-23
By: Henry Grabar
-
Manufacturing Consent
- The Political Economy of the Mass Media
- By: Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.
-
-
Eye opening
- By EFM on 03-24-18
By: Edward S. Herman, and others
-
Wanting
- The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
- By: Luke Burgis
- Narrated by: Luke Burgis, Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gravity affects every aspect of our physical being, but there’s a psychological force just as powerful - yet almost nobody has heard of it. It’s responsible for bringing groups of people together and pulling them apart, making certain goals attractive to some and not to others, and fueling cycles of anxiety and conflict. In Wanting, Luke Burgis draws on the work of French polymath René Girard to bring this hidden force to light and reveals how it shapes our lives and societies.
-
-
One of the most important books you'll ever read
- By chris boutte on 06-14-21
By: Luke Burgis
-
Happy City
- Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
- By: Charles Montgomery
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks, and tower dwelling improvements on the car dependence of sprawl?
-
-
Great book-terrible narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-04-19
-
I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
-
-
Great content but don’t bother purchasing if you have heard the podcasts
- By katieKo on 10-23-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Biggest Bluff
- How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win
- By: Maria Konnikova
- Narrated by: Maria Konnikova
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's true that Maria Konnikova had never actually played poker before and didn't even know the rules when she approached Erik Seidel, Poker Hall of Fame inductee and winner of tens of millions of dollars in earnings, and convinced him to be her mentor. But she knew her man: a famously thoughtful and broad-minded player, he was intrigued by her pitch that she wasn't interested in making money so much as learning about life.
-
-
Only for Poker Fans. Not much there if you arent.
- By Curtis Hauge on 07-18-20
By: Maria Konnikova
-
Walkable City Rules
- 101 Steps to Making Better Places
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable - for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment - yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his best-selling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now.
-
-
Excellent compendium for pro and enthusiast alike
- By Ostyn on 02-23-19
By: Jeff Speck
-
Why We Make Mistakes
- How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average
- By: Joseph T. Hallinan
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We forget our passwords. We pay too much to go to the gym. We think we'd be happier if we lived in California (we wouldn't), and we think we should stick with our first answer on tests (we shouldn't). Why do we make mistakes? And could we do a little better? We human beings have design flaws. Our eyes play tricks on us, our stories change in the retelling, and most of us are fairly sure we're way above average.
-
-
Not very informative
- By Paul on 06-16-11
-
Confessions of a Recovering Engineer
- Transportation for a Strong Town
- By: Charles L. Marohn Jr.
- Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, renowned speaker and author of Strong Towns Charles L. Marohn, Jr., delivers an accessible and engaging exploration of America's transportation system, laying bare the reasons why it no longer works as it once did, and how to modernize transportation to better serve local communities.
-
-
Well Worth Your Time To Read or Listen To!
- By Cliff on 02-08-22
-
Algorithms to Live By
- The Computer Science of Human Decisions
- By: Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths
- Narrated by: Brian Christian
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.
-
-
Great listen, just don't expect tips!
- By Adam Hosman on 08-07-17
By: Brian Christian, and others
-
Weapons of Math Destruction
- How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
- By: Cathy O'Neil
- Narrated by: Cathy O'Neil
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we can get a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by machines. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules.
-
-
More are US social problems that WMD
- By Laurent Bourgault-Roy on 01-08-17
By: Cathy O'Neil
-
There Are No Accidents
- The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster - Who Profits and Who Pays the Price
- By: Jessie Singer
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We hear it all the time: “Sorry, it was just an accident.” And we’ve been deeply conditioned to just accept that explanation and move on. But as Jessie Singer argues convincingly: There are no such things as accidents. The vast majority of mishaps are not random but predictable and preventable. Singer uncovers just how the term accident itself protects those in power and leaves the most vulnerable in harm’s way, preventing investigations, pushing off debts, blaming the victims, diluting anger, and even sparking empathy for the perpetrators. to account.
-
-
do you like being preached to?
- By Tim M. on 09-08-24
By: Jessie Singer
-
The Chaos Machine
- The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World
- By: Max Fisher
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a New York Times investigative reporter, this “authoritative and devastating account of the impacts of social media” (New York Times Book Review) tracks the high-stakes inside story of how Big Tech’s breakneck race to drive engagement—and profits—at all costs fractured the world, and is “an essential book for our times” (Ezra Klein).
-
-
First few chapters were good. The rest was bashing all right wing politics.
- By Brandon Bastianelli on 09-19-22
By: Max Fisher
-
Recoding America
- Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
- By: Jennifer Pahlka
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pahlka
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold call to reexamine how our government operates—and sometimes fails to—from President Obama’s former deputy chief technology officer and the founder of Code for America.
-
-
Very good, minimally partisan.
- By Samuel Mebane on 11-25-23
By: Jennifer Pahlka
-
The Tipping Point
- How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
-
-
My tipping point…for audio
- By Mod on 04-17-12
By: Malcolm Gladwell
Critic reviews
Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2008
“Traffic gets about as close to the heart of modern existence as any book could get . . . Engagingly written, meticulously researched, endlessly interesting and informative, [it] is one of those rare books that comes out of the depths of nowhere.”
–Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World
“A surprising, enlightening look at the psychology of human beings behind the steering wheels . . . Jammed with delicious you’ve-got-to-be-kidding moments . . . My solution to the nation’s vehicular woes would be to make this good book required reading for anyone applying for a driver’s license.”
–Mary Roach, The New York Times Book Review
“Smart and comprehensive . . . A shrewd tour of the much-experienced but little-understood world of driving . . . A balanced and instructive discussion on how to improve our policies toward the inexorable car . . . Vanderbilt’s book is likely to remain relevant well into the new century.”
–Edward L. Glaeser, The New Republic
“A delightful tour through the mysteries and manners of driving.”–Tony Dokoupil, Newsweek
Related to this topic
-
Street Smart
- The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars
- By: Samuel I. Schwartz, William Rosen - contributor
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With wit and sharp insight, former Traffic Commissioner of New York City, Sam Schwartz a.k.a. "Gridlock Sam", one of the most respected transportation engineers in the world and consummate insider in NYC political circles, uncovers how American cities became so beholden to cars and why the current shift away from that trend will forever alter America's urban landscapes, marking nothing short of a revolution in how we get from place to place.
-
-
Interesting, thought provoking, and hopeful
- By JKuster on 03-07-20
By: Samuel I. Schwartz, and others
-
Autonomy
- The Quest to Build the Driverless Car—and How It Will Reshape Our World
- By: Lawrence D. Burns, Christopher Shulgan
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Autonomy, former GM executive and current advisor to the Google Self-Driving Car project Lawrence Burns offers a sweeping history of the race to make the driverless car a reality. In the past decade, Silicon Valley companies like Google, Tesla and Uber have positioned themselves to revolutionize the way we move around by developing driverless vehicles while traditional auto companies like General Motors, Ford, and Daimler have been fighting back by partnering by with new tech start-ups.
-
-
Easy listen, non-technical perspective
- By James S. on 09-14-18
By: Lawrence D. Burns, and others
-
The Smart Swarm
- By: Peter Miller
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world where speed and flexibility are valued more than ever, leaders from the corporate boardroom to the military are looking for answers from seemingly unlikely experts - the ones in the grass, in the air, in the lakes, and in the woods. In this innovative audiobook, veteran National Geographic editor Peter Miller shows how swarm species, such as ants, bees, and fish, can teach us to tackle some of the most complex conundrums in business, politics, and technology.
-
-
FLOCK TO THIS BOOK!
- By serine on 04-25-16
By: Peter Miller
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
By: Jeff Speck
-
Happy City
- Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
- By: Charles Montgomery
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks, and tower dwelling improvements on the car dependence of sprawl?
-
-
Great book-terrible narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-04-19
-
The Design of Future Things
- By: Donald A. Norman
- Narrated by: Bill Quinn
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Design of Future Things, best-selling author Donald A. Norman presents a revealing examination of smart technology, from smooth-talking GPS units to cantankerous refrigerators. Exploring the links between design and human psychology, he offers a consumer-oriented theory of natural human-machine interaction that can be put into practice by the engineers and industrial designers of tomorrows thinking machines.
-
-
The design of future cars - a view from 2007
- By Lieberoth on 01-17-14
By: Donald A. Norman
-
Street Smart
- The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars
- By: Samuel I. Schwartz, William Rosen - contributor
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With wit and sharp insight, former Traffic Commissioner of New York City, Sam Schwartz a.k.a. "Gridlock Sam", one of the most respected transportation engineers in the world and consummate insider in NYC political circles, uncovers how American cities became so beholden to cars and why the current shift away from that trend will forever alter America's urban landscapes, marking nothing short of a revolution in how we get from place to place.
-
-
Interesting, thought provoking, and hopeful
- By JKuster on 03-07-20
By: Samuel I. Schwartz, and others
-
Autonomy
- The Quest to Build the Driverless Car—and How It Will Reshape Our World
- By: Lawrence D. Burns, Christopher Shulgan
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Autonomy, former GM executive and current advisor to the Google Self-Driving Car project Lawrence Burns offers a sweeping history of the race to make the driverless car a reality. In the past decade, Silicon Valley companies like Google, Tesla and Uber have positioned themselves to revolutionize the way we move around by developing driverless vehicles while traditional auto companies like General Motors, Ford, and Daimler have been fighting back by partnering by with new tech start-ups.
-
-
Easy listen, non-technical perspective
- By James S. on 09-14-18
By: Lawrence D. Burns, and others
-
The Smart Swarm
- By: Peter Miller
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world where speed and flexibility are valued more than ever, leaders from the corporate boardroom to the military are looking for answers from seemingly unlikely experts - the ones in the grass, in the air, in the lakes, and in the woods. In this innovative audiobook, veteran National Geographic editor Peter Miller shows how swarm species, such as ants, bees, and fish, can teach us to tackle some of the most complex conundrums in business, politics, and technology.
-
-
FLOCK TO THIS BOOK!
- By serine on 04-25-16
By: Peter Miller
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
By: Jeff Speck
-
Happy City
- Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
- By: Charles Montgomery
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks, and tower dwelling improvements on the car dependence of sprawl?
-
-
Great book-terrible narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-04-19
-
The Design of Future Things
- By: Donald A. Norman
- Narrated by: Bill Quinn
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Design of Future Things, best-selling author Donald A. Norman presents a revealing examination of smart technology, from smooth-talking GPS units to cantankerous refrigerators. Exploring the links between design and human psychology, he offers a consumer-oriented theory of natural human-machine interaction that can be put into practice by the engineers and industrial designers of tomorrows thinking machines.
-
-
The design of future cars - a view from 2007
- By Lieberoth on 01-17-14
By: Donald A. Norman
-
In Pursuit of Elegance
- Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing
- By: Matthew E. May
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this thought-provoking exploration, Matthew May defines elegance as the elusive combination of unusual simplicity and surprising power, and pinpoints the four key elements that characterize it: seduction, subtraction, symmetry, and sustainability. In a story-driven narrative that sheds light on the need for elegance in design, engineering, physics, art, urban planning, sports, and work, May offers a surprising array of stories that illustrate why what's "not there" often matters more than what is.
-
-
I love elegance, but this book isn't elegant
- By Oliver Nielsen on 06-26-11
By: Matthew E. May
-
Before You Know It
- The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do
- By: John Bargh PhD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has been responsible for the revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research that informed best sellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said "will be the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past 20 years", Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways.
-
-
Political jab
- By Brad on 10-20-17
By: John Bargh PhD
-
How to Build a Car
- By: Adrian Newey
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world's foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain's greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir. How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian's unrivalled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he's been involved.
-
-
Snooze fest
- By moo on 02-09-20
By: Adrian Newey
-
Ingenious
- A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America
- By: Jason Fagone
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel one hundred miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world, including dozens of amateurs. Many designed their cars entirely from scratch, rejecting decades of thinking about what a car should look like.
-
-
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels.
- By Shamu from New York on 12-07-13
By: Jason Fagone
-
Mindwise
- Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want
- By: Nicholas Epley
- Narrated by: Nicholas Epley
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You are a mind reader, born with an extraordinary ability to understand what others think, feel, believe, want, and know. It's a sixth sense you use every day, in every personal and professional relationship you have. At its best, this ability allows you to achieve the most important goal in almost any life: connecting, deeply and intimately and honestly, to other human beings. At its worst, it is a source of misunderstanding and unnecessary conflict, leading to damaged relationships and broken dreams. How good are you at knowing the minds of others?
-
-
Finally gave up - no real point
- By Thomas on 05-12-14
By: Nicholas Epley
-
The Ghost in My Brain
- How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back
- By: Clark Elliott Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1999, Clark Elliott suffered a concussion when his car was rear-ended. Overnight his life changed from that of a rising professor with a research career in artificial intelligence to a humbled man struggling to get through a single day. At times he couldn't walk across a room, or even name his five children. Doctors told him he would never fully recover. After eight years, the cognitive demands of his job, and of being a single parent, finally became more than he could manage.
-
-
Mostly Tedious With Moments of Insight
- By Brent on 01-17-16
-
The Plateau Effect
- Getting From Stuck to Success
- By: Bob Sullivan, Hugh Thompson
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Plateau Effect is a powerful law of nature that affects everyone. Learn to identify plateaus and break through any stagnancy in your life - from diet and exercise, to work, to relationships. The Plateau Effect shows how athletes, scientists, therapists, companies, and musicians around the world are learning to break through their plateau - to turn off the forces that cause people to “get used to” things - and turn on human potential and happiness in ways that seemed impossible.
-
-
Heath
- By Oliver Nielsen on 07-22-13
By: Bob Sullivan, and others
-
Everything All at Once
- How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem
- By: Bill Nye
- Narrated by: Bill Nye
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everything All at Once is an exciting, inspiring call to unleash the power of the nerd mindset that exists within us all. Nye believes we'll never be able to tackle our society's biggest, most complex problems if we don't even know how to solve the small ones. Step by step, he shows his listeners the key tools behind his everything-all-at-once approach: radical curiosity, a deep desire for a better future, and a willingness to take the actions needed to make it a reality.
-
-
Bill Nye is awesome, but skip this one
- By Evan on 08-15-17
By: Bill Nye
-
Let’s Ride
- Sonny Barger’s Guide to Motorcycling How to Ride the Right Way - for Life
- By: Sonny Barger, Darwin Holmstrom - contributor
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as the new essential resource for bikers, Let's Ride is today's most entertaining and authoritative guide to mastering the art of motorcycling. From choosing the right bike and keeping it finely maintained to sharpening riding techniques and achieving top performance, legendary biker icon Sonny Barger mines his lifetime of experience to provide advice, wisdom, wit, and never-before-told stories that will help fellow riders - new and veteran alike - survive the challenges of the road.
-
-
Forrest Gump narrator
- By guillermo on 03-09-22
By: Sonny Barger, and others
-
The Big Roads
- The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
- By: Earl Swift
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From author Earl Swift comes the surprising history of the U.S. interstate system, a fascinating route through the dreams, discoveries, and protests that shaped these mighty roads.
-
-
Lessons from The Big Roads
- By Joshua Kim on 05-06-12
By: Earl Swift
-
Bozo Sapiens
- Why to Err Is Human
- By: Michael Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in myriad different ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher rate of interest when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find the most despised aliens were ones from a group that did not exist? What made four of the Air Force's best pilots fly their planes, in formation, straight into the ground?
-
-
A tour de force
- By Ivan on 07-05-11
By: Michael Kaplan, and others
-
Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
-
-
funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Paved Paradise
- How Parking Explains the World
- By: Henry Grabar
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a handful of Americans are tragically killed by their fellow citizens over parking spots. But even when we don’t resort to violence, we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Indeed, in the century since the advent of the car, we have deformed—and in some cases demolished—our homes and our cities in a Sisyphean quest for cheap and convenient car storage.
-
-
Would recommend
- By Jamie W. on 05-14-23
By: Henry Grabar
-
Traffic
- Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral
- By: Ben Smith
- Narrated by: Ian Putnam, Ben Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The origin story of the post-truth age: the candid inside tale of two online media rivals, Nick Denton of Gawker Media and Jonah Peretti of HuffPost and BuzzFeed, whose delirious pursuit of attention at scale helped release the dark forces that would overtake the internet and American society.
-
-
WHY THIS NARRATOR??
- By J E on 05-15-23
By: Ben Smith
-
Beginners
- The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning
- By: Tom Vanderbilt
- Narrated by: Tom Vanderbilt
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do so many of us stop learning new skills as adults? Are we afraid to be bad at something? Have we forgotten the sheer pleasure of beginning from the ground up? Inspired by his young daughter’s insatiable curiosity, Tom Vanderbilt embarks on a yearlong quest of learning - purely for the sake of learning. Rapturously singing Spice Girls songs in an amateur choir, losing games of chess to eight-year-olds, and dodging scorpions at a surf camp in Costa Rica, Vanderbilt tackles five main skills, but learns so much more.
-
-
What a waste of time
- By Amazon Customer on 07-01-21
By: Tom Vanderbilt
-
The Secret Life of Groceries
- The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket
- By: Benjamin Lorr
- Narrated by: Benjamin Lorr
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American supermarket is an everyday miracle. But what does it take to run one? What are the inner workings of product delivery and distribution? Who sets the price? And who suffers for the convenience and efficiency we’ve come to expect? In this rollicking exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on this highly secretive industry.
-
-
Fucking Exceptional
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-21
By: Benjamin Lorr
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
By: Jeff Speck
-
Arbitrary Lines
- How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It
- By: M. Nolan Gray
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The arbitrary lines of zoning maps across the country have come to dictate where Americans may live and work, forcing cities into a pattern of growth that is segregated and sprawling. The good news is that reform is in the air, with states across the country critically reevaluating zoning. In cities as diverse as Minneapolis, Fayetteville, and Hartford, the key pillars of zoning are under fire, with apartment bans being scrapped, minimum lot sizes dropping, and off-street parking requirements disappearing altogether.
-
-
End Zoning
- By Vance V. Ginn on 04-03-24
By: M. Nolan Gray
-
Paved Paradise
- How Parking Explains the World
- By: Henry Grabar
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a handful of Americans are tragically killed by their fellow citizens over parking spots. But even when we don’t resort to violence, we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Indeed, in the century since the advent of the car, we have deformed—and in some cases demolished—our homes and our cities in a Sisyphean quest for cheap and convenient car storage.
-
-
Would recommend
- By Jamie W. on 05-14-23
By: Henry Grabar
-
Traffic
- Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral
- By: Ben Smith
- Narrated by: Ian Putnam, Ben Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The origin story of the post-truth age: the candid inside tale of two online media rivals, Nick Denton of Gawker Media and Jonah Peretti of HuffPost and BuzzFeed, whose delirious pursuit of attention at scale helped release the dark forces that would overtake the internet and American society.
-
-
WHY THIS NARRATOR??
- By J E on 05-15-23
By: Ben Smith
-
Beginners
- The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning
- By: Tom Vanderbilt
- Narrated by: Tom Vanderbilt
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do so many of us stop learning new skills as adults? Are we afraid to be bad at something? Have we forgotten the sheer pleasure of beginning from the ground up? Inspired by his young daughter’s insatiable curiosity, Tom Vanderbilt embarks on a yearlong quest of learning - purely for the sake of learning. Rapturously singing Spice Girls songs in an amateur choir, losing games of chess to eight-year-olds, and dodging scorpions at a surf camp in Costa Rica, Vanderbilt tackles five main skills, but learns so much more.
-
-
What a waste of time
- By Amazon Customer on 07-01-21
By: Tom Vanderbilt
-
The Secret Life of Groceries
- The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket
- By: Benjamin Lorr
- Narrated by: Benjamin Lorr
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American supermarket is an everyday miracle. But what does it take to run one? What are the inner workings of product delivery and distribution? Who sets the price? And who suffers for the convenience and efficiency we’ve come to expect? In this rollicking exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on this highly secretive industry.
-
-
Fucking Exceptional
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-21
By: Benjamin Lorr
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
By: Jeff Speck
-
Arbitrary Lines
- How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It
- By: M. Nolan Gray
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The arbitrary lines of zoning maps across the country have come to dictate where Americans may live and work, forcing cities into a pattern of growth that is segregated and sprawling. The good news is that reform is in the air, with states across the country critically reevaluating zoning. In cities as diverse as Minneapolis, Fayetteville, and Hartford, the key pillars of zoning are under fire, with apartment bans being scrapped, minimum lot sizes dropping, and off-street parking requirements disappearing altogether.
-
-
End Zoning
- By Vance V. Ginn on 04-03-24
By: M. Nolan Gray
What listeners say about Traffic
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- TightRayShone
- 11-14-10
Interesting Content, Well Narrated
While this book may not have all of the answers, it is far more thoughtful and thorough than some of the reviewers let on. I read/listen to mostly science books and biographies, but I got this book on a whim and was pleasantly surprised.
The author is philosophical and witty, and is rarely patronizing or redundant. The content flows nicely and the narration is spot on - making it well suited for the audio format. If you are looking for a good audiobook that is a change of pace from your typical genre, give this book a try.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-30-23
Thought provoking look into the psychology of traffic.
Very intriguing, especially for a recovering traffic engineer. I am fascinated with the human element, having conducted dozens of real world traffic modeling analysis, the algorithms could never quite capture it all the way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peter
- 08-21-12
Fascinating
What did you love best about Traffic?
This book drew my attention to all sorts of aspects of traffic that I had never thought of: most dangerous moves at an intersection, when to merge, why straight roads should have some curves, etc.
What did you like best about this story?
Vanderbilt does a great job of tying together a bunch of distinct studies and aspects of traffic. Also, Vanderbilt does a great job of defining technical terms so the reader can keep up with the engineering.
Any additional comments?
The narrator is easy to understand, and is easy to listen to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim
- 12-29-23
Traffic information!!!!
I enjoyed learning about traffic statistics and how everyone has a subjective opinion about traffic norms.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Stefan
- 10-10-08
Thumbs up. May not be for everyone.
You know, I'd have to disagree with the first member review.
I purchased this audio book to take a break from science fiction and I blazed through this book while... listening to traffic. Yes, the author does present a lot of various studies and data, but he manages to put everything into a sort of context that progresses smoothly. Heck - he's even able to make a joke every once in a while.
He presents different aspects of traffic: psychology, sociology, traffic engineering, safety devices, etc. All these various topics seem to merge together in the final conclusion, no pun intended. So, I think in the end, you have to be able to tolerate through a lot of numbers, so to speak, otherwise I'm sure you might get kind of lost in the presentation of the material. If you don't care about understanding the various mechanisms in traffic, you're not going to get anything out of this book.
I did really enjoy this book - a lot of the topics I found personally interesting and I walked away with a slightly different perspective of the world around me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
30 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- steve
- 03-27-12
Just Okay
I was really excited about this listen but to my disappointment this book did not live up the expectations. With that said, while it didn't wow me, it was good and there were several interesting points that I did take out of it. Not bad but nothing special either.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- @gwalter
- 12-09-15
Answered many questions
I've been driving since I was eight, 50 years. I study traffic and think about it. in addition, as a paramedic, I've responded to thousands of traffic collisions. I've seen how costly mistakes are. this book does a fantastic job of explaining human behavior, safety, traffic flow, road systems, and risk.
many of my observations were confirmed; many questions answered; and many ideas validated. all of this was presented with God research and data, lots of stories and global observations, and considerably ready to understand explanations.
the narrator has a good voice, toner, and cadence, but sooner chapter and section breaks were difficult to parse from the primary text.
I heartily recommend this book for anyone interested in safety, traffic congestion/flow, and opportunities for improvement (collective and individual).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mickie G
- 08-28-24
An Approachable Intro into Traffic Psychology
This is a great introduction to anyone interested in traffic flow as its journalistic not academic, covers a wide range of topics, and ultimately raises more questions than answers. The book confirms some suspicions many of us have but typically only ponders explanations rather then pose as any sort of authority. The sections about self-driving vehicles may become obsolete in ten years but the book can still serve as a peak onto our odd driving tendencies right now. The narrator for the audio book conveys the information perfectly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 09-15-16
This is a fascinating book.
A fascinating and somewhat disturbing book. It's a good reality check for anyone that wants to take a look at the way we move around in this world.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christopher
- 10-20-16
should be required for all drivers.
absolutely loved this book as a commuter doing 134 miles a day through Sacramento. really opened my eyes to hire and why people and myself drive the way we do. and I don't think I'll complain anymore about "if they only built one more lane". sure the book is statistics heavy, but that serves to reinforce the points made.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!