Traffic

By Tom Vanderbilt,

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

Book description

A New York Times Notable Book

One of the Best Books of the Year
The Washington Post • The Cleveland Plain-Dealer • Rocky Mountain News

In this brilliant, lively, and eye-opening investigation, Tom Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Traffic as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I did not expect to thoroughly enjoy a book with ninety pages of footnotes on a subject that people love to complain about day in and day out. But Vanderbilt, who has a great sense of humor and unrelenting interest in human behavior, took me along easily on his quest to satisfy his many questions about drivers, driving, roads, and traffic safety. The answers to those we’ve often asked ourselves on the road (usually while cursing), are often surprising. 

Want books like Traffic?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 48 books like Traffic.

Browse books like Traffic

Book cover of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster―Who Profits and Who Pays the Price
Book cover of Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights
Book cover of The Capsular Civilization: On the City in the Age of Fear

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,189

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in human behavior, cars, and psychology?

Human Behavior 34 books
Cars 16 books
Psychology 1,950 books