Today’s TTT is “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”, which — no pun intended — is definitely in my wheelhouse. As longtime readers here know, transportation is a frequent nonfiction visit of mine, possibly because I come from a family of truckers and military flyboys. Here are some of my favorite transport reads!
But first, a tease!
Spock took a step closer to T’Nalae. “You say that you boarded the Enterprise to learn from me, Specialist. What I have to teach you may not be what you expected to hear … but that is the nature of true learning. I request that you ponder on that until we speak again.”
McCoy shook his head. “Unbelievable. An emotional Vulcan who’s having problems with telepathic humans. Did we cross over into an alternate universe again?
(Star Trek: The Higher Frontier, Christopher L Bennett)
Fares, Please! A Popular History of Trolleys, Horsecars, Streetcars, Buses, Elevateds, and Subways, John Anderson Miller.
The Great Railway Revolution, Christian Wolmar. A history of trains in America.
Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Motors, and the Birth of NASCAR. I literally only learned that NASCAR had a prohibition connection from watching Talladega Nights.
Pedal to the Metal: The Work Lives of Truckers, Lawrence Duellet. An ethnography of OTR drivers. Dated but excellent.
Straphanger: Saving Ourselves and our Cities from the Automobile, Taras Grescoe. A study of the transit systems of thirteen cities, some traditionally urban and some auto-oriented, to find out what works and what doesn’t, and to see how technology is making systems run more seamlessly — like using the same card to get train access and rent bicycles at the train station!
In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist, Pete Jordan. Oh, to live in a city built for humans and joy…
Conquest of the Skies: The Story of Commercial Aviation in America, Carl Solberg. The best general history of plane travel I know of, at least for the U.S.
Romance of the Rails: Why the Trains We Love Aren’t the Transportation We Need, Randal O’Toole. I love trains and trolleys, but O’Toole presented some hard arguments that made me rethink their modern application in the US.
Ninety Percent of Everything, Rose George, a look at the modern maritime shipping industry.
The Box, Marc Levinson. A history of the standarized shipping container and its massive effect on cities and the global economy. Interestingly, the container was designed by a trucker.
Reading Freely 
You always do such a good job of reminding me about the kind of books I’m *not* reading…. Hopefully I can fit in a few transport related books in the ‘near’ future… Mostly trains… But possibly some other stuff too.
Someone featured a book about Ukrainian tractors today. Always surprised by what’s out there!
Straphanger sounds like a good read.
Lydia
It’s one I think about often!
Some of the railways history is pretty interesting but I haven’t read a lot of it! Good list this week & thanks for dropping by (OneReadingNurse)
Driving with the Devil sounds interesting.
Here is our <a href=”https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/top-ten-tuesday-boat-books/“>Top Ten Tuesday.</a>
Astilbe
It was eye-opening fun!
the ones about trains look really interesting! My TTT
These look interesting! I like how literally you took the prompt. Most people just chose road trip books.
As a transportation geek I couldn’t help but share some of my favorites!
Oooh, interesting. Always love an excuse to add more non-fiction to my list, ahaha.
Love the cover of Straphanger! Fun picks!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/08/13/top-ten-tuesday-planes-trains-and-automobiles-books-featuring-travel-in-the-story-or-on-the-cover/
Straphanger sounds interesting. I don’t drive so my interest in cars is very minimal but pedestrian focused cities are so attractive to me, are any of those discussed in there? In the city of bikes sounds great for the same reason and maybe that’s one I should read!
It’s been a while since I’ve read it, so I can’t say with certainty — but if you’re interested I would DEFINITELY reccommend Walkable Cities by Jeff Speck, as well as his Walkable City Rules. The first is an argument FOR Walkable Cities, the second is written more for city officials and activists who need a guide for HOW to make cities more walkable.
OH now THAT more what I was thinking of, that sounds cool. I will be adding Walkable Cities to my tbr 🙂
Excellent! He also co-authored a book on suburban sprawl called Suburban Nation. One of my top favorites.
Oh cool thank you, I think your first rec was more up my street but my brother is an urban planner and I think he might actually appreciate your second rec :)!! BTW unrelated, I added you on GoodReads coz I like interacting with ppl on there. If you prefer not to friend me back, that’s ok, I won’t take offense 🙂
Thanks for the heads up, since I get so many author requests I tend to ignore that tab. I don’t see yours, though?
My profile is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7240015-stephen
Oh, weird. I fully pressed the friends button but maybe it didn’t take. haha I’ll try again thanks 🙂
Got it this time!
haha, excellent ok!
As a frequent rider of public transit, Straphanger is going on my TBR list. Thanks!
They all sound very interesting, the kind of audiobooks I sometimes listen to at work.
Oh some of these sound so interesting! Especially the trains one. I like trains but in a country like Australia, they are very impractical for long distance travel.
Much the same in the US! Trains work in the NE corridor because of density, but we’re very dispersed over here — as are you!
Some great suggestions, Stephen. Like me, you have used different kinds of transport. I just saw one post with only trains and another one with only planes. I like the variety.
And thanks for visiting my post.
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/top-ten-tuesday-planes-trains.html
THE BOX actually sounds really interesting to me. I love learning about the history and importance of mundane, everyday things that we all take for granted.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Yes! It rendered a lot of major ports obsolete and caused major changes as well as allowing for globalization to explode.
The reason that there was no overlap between your post and mine, despite the fact that both of us chose nonfiction, is that you focused on the mode of transportation and I focused on simply traveling from one place to another.
I love how specific your list is because it’s literally non-fiction books about transportation! What a cool idea 🙂
It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up!
Oh an interesting list. I think The Great Railway Revolution might be of interest to my husband 🙂
Wolmar is a very accessible author! I’ve read quite a bit of him.
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