Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road
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Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road
As a performance car nut, right down to the love of a stick shift, I bought the book as the title sounded like it was written by a kindred spirit. It was, but that was only the beginning. The book uses the joy of and skills required for driving to explore the function of the human mind vs AI, automation, and regulation. These are all critical issues of our times, and will impact our minds and our lives in ways that most of us don't think about. This book brings it to the fore with lots of interesting explorations and analogies. I never appreciated the beauty and logic of chaotic traffic in Rome before. (Apparently the Pope does!)While the book shifts tone and topics from chapter to chapter in sometimes disjointed ways, "Why We Drive" is passionate and thought-provoking, and comes together nicely as a whole. For anyone who enjoys driving, or even for those who simply enjoy their independence and value the ingenuity and creativity of the human mind, this is highly recommended.
Product Description From the author of the landmark Shop Class as Soulcraft, a brilliant, first-of-its-kind celebration of driving as a unique pathway of human freedom, one now critically threatened by automation. "A thoughtful, entertaining, and substantive work about the joys of driving." —Wall Street Journal 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. Ten years ago, in the New York Times-bestselling Shop Class as Soulcraft, philosopher-mechanic Matthew B. Crawford—a University of Chicago PhD who owned his own motorcycle shop—made a revolutionary case for manual labor, one that ran headlong against the pretentions of white-collar office work. Now, using driving as a window through which to view the broader changes wrought by technology on all aspects of contemporary life, Crawford investigates the driver’s seat as one of the few remaining domains of skill, exploration, play—and freedom. Blending philosophy and hands-on storytelling, Crawford grounds the narrative in his own experience in the garage and behind the wheel, recounting his decade-long restoration of a vintage Volkswagen as well as his journeys to thriving automotive subcultures across the country. Crawford leads us on an irreverent but deeply considered inquiry into the power of faceless bureaucracies, the importance of questioning mindless rules, and the battle for democratic self-determination against the surveillance capitalists. A meditation on the competence of ordinary people, Why We Drive explores the genius of our everyday practices on the road, the rewards of “folk engineering,” and the existential value of occasionally being scared shitless. Witty and ingenious throughout, Why We Drive is a rebellious and daring celebration of the irrepressible human spirit. Review "A thoughtful, entertaining and substantive work about the joys of driving—and about the attempts by various scolds to relegate that joy, and similar expressions of independence." ( Wall Street Journal) "Crawford writes ecstatically of driving, evoking the sense of release and agency of flooring it out of the city as “a shady country road reels out ahead in rhythmic curves.” ... But “Why We Drive” is about driving like “Moby-Dick” is about whaling. ... Crawford has something important to say." ( San Francisco Chronicle) "Matthew Crawford’s heartfelt riposte to a ‘smart’ future of driverless cars is persuasive and thought-provoking. ... A vivid and heartfelt manifesto against the drift of our world, against the loss of individual agency and the human pleasure of acquired skill and calculated risk." (The Guardian) "One of the most original and mind-opening studies of practical philosophy to have appeared for many years." (John Gray, UnHerd) "Absorbing. ... Why We Drive is about a freedom that is being lost to the cynics of surveillance.. ... A defense of felt life against the intrusions of the technocrats. ... Plain funny. (New Statesman) "A passionate appeal to the importance of the autonomous individual in the face of the dehumanizing pressure of automation. ... This book will have you pining for the freedom the open road." ( Kirkus Reviews) About the Author Matthew B. Crawford is the author of Shop Class as Soulcraft and The World Beyond Your Head. He is a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He earned a PhD in Political Philosophy from the University of Chicago, specializing in ancient political thought; he majored in physics as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara. Crawford has been working on cars since the age of fifteen and currently drives a 1970 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.
