Transportation Books

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

Tom Vanderbilt

Amazon Price: $14.97 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Knopf Amazon Marketplace: 73 new & used starting at $10.24

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Applied Psychology
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 55 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? Or that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? That our minds can trick us into thinking the next lane is moving faster? 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. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He shows how roundabouts, which can feel dangerous and chaotic, actually make roads safer—and reduce traffic in the bargain. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots.

The car has long been a central part of American life; whether we see it as a symbol of freedom or a symptom of sprawl, we define ourselves by what and how we drive. 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 book will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. And who knows? It may even make us better drivers.

Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Robert Pirsig

List Price: $4.95 By: Bantam Amazon Marketplace: 90 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Historical -> United States -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Historical -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 528 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Self-Absorbed, Self-Pitying Rubbish 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I agree with many of the other one-star reviews, this is actually the worst book I have ever read, out of thousands read, in my entire life. The worst book designation goes to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance because it is extremely, extremely, over-rated. I found it to be one of the most self-absorbed, self-pitying, whining complaints I had ever been exposed to - and I know about those, because I'm a former junior high school teacher.

Not only did it not contain any philosophical insights whatsoever, the book is just plain boring and badly written. The only book I have ever thrown in the garbage can - it's just rubbish, and that's where it belongs. I'm sure the author is a fine human being. I just think he wrote a very, very, bad book. Please don't waste your time on this book.

Editorial Review:

One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar

Paul Theroux

Amazon Price: $18.48 List Price: $28.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin Amazon Marketplace: 57 new & used starting at $13.74

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> Railroads -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> Railroads -> General AAS
Subjects -> Travel -> Asia -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in his classic work The Great Railway Bazaar, the world's most acclaimed travel writer re-creates his 25,000-mile journey through eastern Europe, central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia.

Half a lifetime ago, Paul Theroux virtually invented the modern travel narrative by recounting his grand tour by train through Asia. In the three decades since, the world he recorded in that book has undergone phenomenal change. The Soviet Union has collapsed and China has risen; India booms while Burma smothers under dictatorship; Vietnam flourishes in the aftermath of the havoc America was unleashing on it the last time Theroux passed through. And no one is better able to capture the texture, sights, smells, and sounds of that changing landscape than Theroux.
Theroux's odyssey takes him from eastern Europe, still hung-over from communism, through tense but thriving Turkey into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbor Azerbaijan revels in oil-fueled capitalism. Theroux is firsthand witness to it all, traveling as the locals do—by stifling train, rattletrap bus, illicit taxi, and mud-caked foot—encountering adventures only he could have: from the literary (sparring with the incisive Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) to the dissolute (surviving a week-long bender on the Trans-Siberian Railroad). And wherever he goes, his omnivorous curiosity and unerring eye for detail never fail to inspire, enlighten, inform, and entertain.

PAUL THEROUX was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His fiction includes The Mosquito Coast, My Secret History, My Other Life, Kowloon Tong, Blinding Light, and most recently, The Elephanta Suite. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, Fresh Air Fiend, and Dark Star Safari. He has been the guest editor of The Best American Travel Writing and is a frequent contributor to various magazines, including The New Yorker. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (Classics of Naval Literature)

E. B. Sledge

List Price: $34.95 By: US Naval Institute Press Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $46.70

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Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Naval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 201 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed "one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature." And Studs Terkel was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his book, "The Good War." What has made E.B. Sledge's memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and compassion.
Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting, fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later called "Sledgehammer" by his Marine Corps buddies) joined the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943 to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience.
Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and youthful courage, but once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it was purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he simply and directly recalls those long months, mincing no words and sparing no pain. The reality of battle meant unbearable heat, deafening gunfire, unimaginable brutality and cruelty, the stench of death, and, above all, constant fear. Sledge still has nightmares about "the bloody, muddy month of May on Okinawa." But, as he also tellingly reveals, the bonds of friendship formed then will never be severed.
Sledge's honesty and compassion for the other marines, even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Read as sobering history or as high adventure, With the Old Breed is a moving chronicle of action and courage.

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Nathaniel Philbrick

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 422 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Mexico
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> 19th Century -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 283 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent and Enthralling Book from a most Perspicacious Author 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This harrowing, hair-raising adventure story and testament to American ingenuity and resourcefulness is a thrill to read. Philbrick recounts the disaster of the Whaleship Essex largely relying on a careful selection of accounts from the memoirs of First Mate Owen Chase and Boatsteerer Thomas Nickerson that are peppered with interesting and informative annotations from a wealth of other sources.

Clearly the author has an advantage in writing about such an exciting and well documented story, but Philbrick sets himself apart in that he lacks the pretension and glibness of many contemporary historians. For example, nautical terms are used throughout, but not in way that is mired in the nitty-gritty (although the notes provide additional depth) and a clearly labeled illustration is quite enabling for the "coof" (off-islander) or layman reader. Furthermore, the numerous asides do not disrupt the story, but enhance it due to the thoughtfulness and subtly of the author.

This is an excellent and enthralling book from a most perspicacious author. Like the piece of twine weaved together and preserved by Essex survivor Benjamin Lawrence to remind Lawrence of his experience, Philbrick creates quite a yarn that will ensure the survival of the story of the Whaleship Essex for generations to come.

Editorial Review:

The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents-including a long-lost account written by the ship's cabin boy-and penetrating details about whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime disaster. An intense and mesmerizing read, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon.

Titanic's Last Secrets: The Further Adventures of Shadow Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction Series)

Brad Matsen

Amazon Price: $26.36 List Price: $32.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Thorndike Press Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $26.36

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Subjects -> History -> World -> Transportation -> Ships -> General
Subjects -> History -> World -> Transportation -> Ships -> Ships & Shipwrecks
Subjects -> History -> World -> Transportation -> Ships -> Titanic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

After rewriting history with their discovery of a Nazi U-boat off the coast of New Jersey, legendary divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler decided to investigate the great enduring mystery of history's most notorious shipwreck: Why did Titanic sink as quickly as it did?

To answer the question, Chatterton and Kohler assemble a team of experts to explore Titanic, study its engineering, and dive to the wreck of its sister ship, Brittanic, where Titanic's last secrets may be revealed.

Titanic's Last Secrets is a rollercoaster ride through the shipbuilding history, the transatlantic luxury liner business, and shipwreck forensics. Chatterton and Kohler weave their way through a labyrinth of clues to discover that Titanic was not the strong, heroic ship the world thought she was and that the men who built her covered up her flaws when disaster struck. If Titanic had remained afloat for just two hours longer than she did, more than two thousand people would have lived instead of died, and the myth of the great ship would be one of rescue instead of tragedy.

Titanic's Last Secrets is the never-before-told story of the Ship of Dreams, a contemporary adventure that solves a historical mystery.

Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well

David L. Hough

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: BowTie Press Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $15.40

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Automotive -> Motorcycles -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Automotive -> Motorcycles -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 179 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Information, Flawed Presentation 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I just bought a new motorcycle after about 18 years out of the saddle and decided I needed to brush up on some riding tactics. I bought "Proficient Motorcycle" by David Hough to give me the refresher I needed.

The book itself is solid stock, with nice thick high quality gloss paper. The cover is even thicker paper that folds inward at the edges to prevent wear as you thumb through the pages. The binding is glued and threaded with fourteen strong stiches... high quality all around.

But wait... do you like sticky gooey residue all over the back cover of your books? No, you say? Well, you may be a little disappointed then. The "Free 144 Bonus Pages" is actually a CD-ROM attached to a plastic holder on the back of the book. The CD has a huge yellow warning sticker on it, "If you break this seal you cannot return the book". Ok fine. The problems start when you go to "break the seal". You have to literally destroy the plastic sleeve to get the CD out, which requires you to pull it from the back paper cover. This will rip some of the back cover off with it. And now there is a sticky adhesive mess all over the back cover that will stick to the back page when you shut it. I had to put tape all over the back cover in order to "seal in" all the adhesive residue from the advertisement CD.

And that's what the "144 bonus pages" are... advertisement for the Motorcycle Consumer News magazine. You get three old issues with plenty of oppurtunities to subscribe. They should have left this out, no one want this CD and it destroys the book cover.

So, a little worse for the wear, I cracked open the book and read it from cover to cover.

The information contained was useful and enjoyable to read. But the "enjoyable to read" part actually has an expense to it. The motorcyle lingo and the off-the-cuff casual nature will put you at ease, but when this style sours into heavy sarcasm, it can be confusing.

For example, on page 38 shows a photograph of a couple on a motorcyle wearing the lid-style helmets. Perfectly legal and popular where I live. The caption says, "You don't really need a real helmet if you are clever enough to avoid crashes." Yes, pretty obvious sarcasm but possible misleading.

There is other questionable language in the text also. Sometimes Hough will refer to crash victims as "road stains". That's always tacky, regardless of context. On more than one occasion he refers to scruffy bikers that like to wear black leather with metal studs as "terrorists" and at other times as "biker trash". This is type of language is not funny and not necessary.

Those negatives aside, however, I really enjoyed the writing style. Hypothetical characters like "Interstate Al" and "Biker Bob" are not only enjoyable to read about, but made me think of their situations when I was out on the road. This is a very effective teaching tool that I found enjoyable and informative.

Overall, I think this book is worth the money. The information is very valuable and it is presented in a enjoyable way. I am without a doubt a better rider after reading "Proficient Motorcycling". I am even thinking about buying Hough's next installment, "More Proficient Motorcycling". I may have pointed out a few negatives about the presentation here, but I am happy I bought and read this book, and my overall impressions are positive.

Editorial Review:

This fresh update of the world's best introduction to safe street-riding techniques now marries color imagery and contemporary road scenes with expanded content and more real road hazard strategies written in clear, concise,easy-to follow instruction that has made the book #1.

A Walk in the Woods

Bill Bryson

List Price: $25.00 By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 140 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 968 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Stretching from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail offers some of America's most breathtaking scenery. After living for many years in England, Bill Bryson moved back to the United States and decided to reacquaint himself with his country by taking to this uninterrupted "hiker's highway." Before long, Bryson and his infamous walking companion, Stephen Katz, are stocking up on insulated long johns, noodles and manuals for avoiding bear attacks as they prepare to set off on a walk that is both amusingly ill-conceived and surprisingly adventurous. John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Peter Jenkins never took a hike like this.

A Walk in the Woods showcases Bryson at the height of his comic powers. Meeting up with characters such as Beulah and her fearsome husband, "Bubba T. Flubba," readers risk snakebite and hantavirus to trudge through swollen rivers, traipse up mountainsteps, and develop a new reverence for cream sodas and hot showers. But Bryson also uses his acute powers of observation to conjure a poignant backdrop of silent forests and sparkling lakes, thereby making a gentle but unforgettable plea for the ecological treasures we are in danger of losing. Fresh, illuminating, and uproariously funny, A Walk in the Woods is travel writing at its very best.

FAR/AIM 2009: Federal Aviation Regulations/Aeronautical Information Manual (FAR/AIM series)

Federal Aviation Administration

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $11.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Same format. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Every year I buy a FAR/AIM and I stick with ASA every time for two reasons:
*Very good index
*Good/easy font to read
It makes things easy to find....

First to press 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The ASA version was first to press, beating out Jeppesen-Sanserson.

Price and Layout are great.

It would be nice if there were a thinner version, printed on larger sheets.

It would be nice if there were a Complete FAR edition.

It would be nice if there were a CD version with searchable PDF with images embedded at proper resolutions.

But, aside from the wish list, this is the book to contact for Everything up to commercial ratings, and all non-rating specific info. See the FAR/AMT for more of the commuter and airline info. See the federal govt's webpage for up to the day versions.

Some training programs come with current FAR/AIM on disc; however, the formatting is poor. Search those if you must, but the index and toc for overall and for sections in this print edition makes finding information VERY easy.

Editorial Review:

Adhering to a reputation for excellence, this definitive manual of the latest civil aviation directives has been fully updated and indexed to clearly reflect all the changes in the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) and the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) over the past year. In addition to the regulations, AIM procedures, and redrawn AIM illustrations, this retypeset edition also includes a study guide for specific pilot certifications and ratings, a pilot/controller glossary, the NASA Aviation Safety reporting form, important FAA contact information, and a free e-mail service that accounts for regulation changes throughout the publication year. Updates are provided to account for FAA regulation changes throughout the publication year via the Aviation Supplies & Academics website.

Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in Sixty Countries

Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conaway, George A. Borden

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bob Adams, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 96 new & used starting at $0.44

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Business Life -> Etiquette
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> International -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> International -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A great resource for business travelers 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This was a recommendation and I have found it to be very helpful. Use it as a general reference only but it is nice to have a little insight to the different cultures.

World is Truly Smaller 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

With all the international trade and travel to and from foreign countries this book prepares all people in the cultures and foreign courtesies
each of us should at least have an idea of. Most foreigners appreciate even the most small recognition that we can expend toward their culture and practices even if we make small blunders in doing so - it shows we are aware that there are differences in cultures and we are at least trying to show respect for theirs'.

Kiss, bow or handshakes 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

the book serves as a source of information for leadership and managers in global perspective

Very useful 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Well composed and useful book for those traveling abroad as well for seeking additional knowledge on the cultural experiences of different countries.

Editorial Review:

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands explores how people from various cultures perceive information and negotiate business deals. The sections relating to Cognitive Styles, Negotiation Techniques and Value Systems are truly unique.