Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation
    Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation
    Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation
    Audiobook11 hours

    Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation

    Written by Edward Humes

    Narrated by Marc Cashman

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Garbology explores the hidden and costly wonders of our buy-it-now, get-it-today world of transportation, revealing the surprising truths, mounting challenges, and logistical magic behind every trip we take and every click we make.

    Transportation dominates our daily existence. Thousands, even millions, of miles are embedded in everything we do and touch. We live in a door-to-door universe that works so well most Americans are scarcely aware of it. The grand ballet in which we move ourselves and our stuff is equivalent to building the Great Pyramid, the Hoover Dam, and the Empire State Building all in a day. Every day. And yet, in the one highly visible part of the transportation world—the part we drive—we suffer grinding commutes, a violent death every fifteen minutes, a dire injury every twelve seconds, and crumbling infrastructure.

    Now, the way we move ourselves and our stuff is on the brink of great change, as a new mobility revolution upends the car culture that, for better and worse, built modern America. This unfolding revolution will disrupt lives and global trade, transforming our commutes, our vehicles, our cities, our jobs, and every aspect of culture, commerce, and the environment. We are, quite literally, at a fork in the road, though whether it will lead us to Carmageddon or Carmaheaven has yet to be determined.

    Using interviews, data and deep exploration of the hidden world of ports, traffic control centers, and the research labs defining our transportation future, acclaimed journalist Edward Humes breaks down the complex movements of humans, goods, and machines as never before, from increasingly car-less citizens to the distance UPS goes to deliver a leopard-printed phone case. Tracking one day in the life of his family in Southern California, Humes uses their commutes, traffic jams, grocery stops, and online shopping excursions as a springboard to explore the paradoxes and challenges inherent in our system. He ultimately makes clear that transportation is one of the few big things we can change—our personal choices do have a profound impact, and that fork in the road is coming up fast.

    Door to Door is a fascinating detective story, investigating the worldwide cast of supporting characters and technologies that have enabled us to move from here to there—past, present, and future.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 12, 2016
    ISBN9780062446121
    Author

    Edward Humes

    Edward Humes is the author of ten critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including Eco Barons, Monkey Girl, Over Here, School of Dreams, Baby E.R., Mean Justice, No Matter How Loud I Shout, and the bestseller Mississippi Mud. He has received the Pulitzer Prize for his journalism and numerous awards for his books. He has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and Sierra. He lives in California.

    More audiobooks from Edward Humes

    Related to Door to Door

    Related audiobooks

    Industries For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Did Cars Rescue Our Cities From Horses?

      Nov 10, 2021

      In the annals of transportation history persists a tale of how automobiles in the early 20th century helped cities conquer their waste problems. It’s a tidy story, so to speak, about dirty horses and clean cars and technological innovation. As typica

      7 min read

    • Article

      Did Cars Save Our Cities From Horses?: Debating a modern parable about waste and technology.

      Nov 7, 2013

      In the annals of transportation history persists a tale of how automobiles in the early 20th century helped cities conquer their waste problems. It’s a tidy story, so to speak, about dirty horses and clean cars and technological innovation. As typica

      6 min read

    • Article

      Theatrical Times

      Sep 1, 2023

      Theatrical Times
      6 min read

    • Article

      City Life

      Aug 8, 2018

      Words MARTIN OLIVER Cities are complex and intriguing places that combine the advantages of concentrated habitation with its inevitable downsides. Dating all the way back to 7000 BCE, they rose to greater prominence as a result of urban migration fol

      7 min read

    • Article

      Theatrical Times

      Jun 30, 2023

      Theatrical Times
      6 min read

    • Article

      Touring With The GRAY LINE

      Aug 29, 2022

      Touring With The GRAY LINE
      4 min read

    • Article

      Eerily Empty Freeways: A Symbol Of How The Coronavirus Has Hurt Los Angeles

      Mar 15, 2020

      LOS ANGELES - Evening traffic on the 405 Freeway in West Los Angeles was so sparse last week that 24-year-old Jerrold Smith II took out his iPhone and recorded it for posterity. "Just so no one thinks I'm crazy, it's 6 o'clock," Smith said, wonder in

      3 min read

    • Article

      Reinventing the Wheel

      May 11, 2018

      Reinventing the Wheel
      9 min read

    • Article

      Returning to LA

      Nov 15, 2022

      Returning to LA
      2 min read

    • Article

      Stephen Bayley

      Jun 28, 2023

      In 1912 a newspaper reported that the Corniche roads above Nice and Monte Carlo were being exploited by ‘motor-bandits’, horseless-carriage highwaymen who used the new technology of the automobile to disrupt the accepted models of bankjobs and burgla

      3 min read

    • Article

      The City That Lost A Million Pounds

      Nov 9, 2022

      The City That Lost A Million Pounds
      17 min read

    • Article

      Revving Benevolence

      Aug 1, 2023

      Revving Benevolence
      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Door to Door

    4/5

    20 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Book about the USA, not about transportation.