Customer Reviews

Road Trips, Head Trips, and Other Car-Crazed Writings

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are of an autombile mind, then "Road Trips..." is a great book to read while in the coffee shop, waiting for the drawbridge to come down, or just to fill time. It is a collection of short stories from various authors, making it a collage of driving cultural tidbits that inform and entertain. The hardcover edition is nostalgical, appealing--a beautiful, classical cover with natural, thick pages--that made me want to head down to Route 66 from beginning to end, and hit every diner in between. I'm glad to be a part of the American Culture, and especially the driving culuture, as peoples past could not have imagined--nor enjoyed--the thrill at travelling at a mile a minute as easily as putting on your clothes. "Road Trips..." is a journey in itself, and I dare not spoil the trip for you. Lindamood did a fantastic editing job by keeping her hands out of the mix unless necessary; she let the writer do the talking. Great reading for all minds over 15 (language). Makes a great gift for the driver in your life.

If you love cars, especially hearing fun stories about them, you will love this book. All our favorite authors and car magazine editors seem to be well represented here, including: Jean Lindamood-Jennings, P J O'Rourke, David E Davis Jr, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Dave Barry,Bob Ottum, Ken Purdy, the list goes on. Stories about cars, drivers, races, roadtrips, you just settle down with this one and enjoy the trip.

I was expecting this to be a collection of articles about the American experience of the automobile: how the industry grew, specific cars that made an impact on the culture, specific people who contributed to the advancement of technology, and well written articles by people who grew up loving cars. Unfortunately, almost none of the articles fit the bill. Many articles deal with South American and European drivers, cars, and history. There are few articles that deal with American car culture. I ended up not reading most of the articles till the end (they were all less than 20 pages long) simply because I had lost interest. The best things about this book are the title and the preface, both written by the editor, who should have written the entire book herself.

This book is a well compiled anthology of porbably the best Automotive writings anywhere. Try it! Also...if you like this you should read her monthly column in Automobile Magazine.