"A pleasure to read ... His thesis demands that he convey the pleasure of driving, and he's up to the task ... And he addresses some huge, fascinating issues: how people retain self-respect when computers are deskilling them, and sovereignty over their lives when computers are spying on them. Much of modern life raises these questions, but people's relationship with their cars perhaps best exemplifies them ... an enjoyable, scenic cruise round a fascinating landscape."
"A biographical, philosophical inquiry that explores a fascinating paradox: the whole allure of driving is freedom, but it's also dangerous, so it has to be regulated. ... This is a lovely book that applies history, philosophy and literature to one obsessive subject."
"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-Dic k is about whaling. ... Crawford has something important to say."
"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."
"Perfectly captures the basic instinct that drives the common gearhead, the need for movement."
"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-Dic k 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
"A pleasure to read ... His thesis demands that he convey the pleasure of driving, and he's up to the task ... And he addresses some huge, fascinating issues: how people retain self-respect when computers are deskilling them, and sovereignty over their lives when computers are spying on them. Much of modern life raises these questions, but people's relationship with their cars perhaps best exemplifies them ... an enjoyable, scenic cruise round a fascinating landscape." — Sunday Times (London)
"One of the most original and mind-opening studies of practical philosophy to have appeared for many years." — John Gray, UnHerd
"Absorbing. ... Why We Driv e 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 pleasure to read ... Addresses some huge, fascinating issues: how people retain self-respect when computers are deskilling them, and sovereignty over their lives when computers are spying on them. Much of modern life raises these questions, but people's relationship with their cars perhaps best exemplifies them ... An enjoyable, scenic cruise round a fascinating landscape." — Sunday Times (London)
"A biographical, philosophical inquiry that explores a fascinating paradox: the whole allure of driving is freedom, but it's also dangerous, so it has to be regulated. ... This is a lovely book that applies history, philosophy and literature to one obsessive subject." — Telegraph (UK)
"Fascinating... Crawford skilfully takes us through the gears as he intelligently, and in a very American way, flies the flag for individualism over dour corporative determinism." — Mail on Sunday
“Crawford artfully argues … the case that freedom of motion is essential to who we are as a species. … This book is a celebration of humanity and what we’re capable of with the right tools. And what is a car but a finely evolved instrument? We hope you read it.” — Road and Track
"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
“The subcultures Crawford depicts...stand for individual sovereignty against centralized power’s erosions of it.” — Times Literary Supplement (London)
"Perfectly captures the basic instinct that drives the common gearhead, the need for movement." — David Booth, Driving
"Why We Drive is a serious cris de coeur for all we find engaging and good about the act of driving." — Overland Journal
"Absorbing. ... Why We Driv e 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.
"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."
"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."
"Fascinating... Crawford skilfully takes us through the gears as he intelligently, and in a very American way, flies the flag for individualism over dour corporative determinism."
Crawford artfully argues … the case that freedom of motion is essential to who we are as a species. … This book is a celebration of humanity and what we’re capable of with the right tools. And what is a car but a finely evolved instrument? We hope you read it.
"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-Dic k is about whaling. ... Crawford has something important to say."
The subcultures Crawford depicts...stand for individual sovereignty against centralized power’s erosions of it.
Times Literary Supplement (London)
2020-05-07
What do driving cars and riding motorcycles have to do with philosophy? Quite a bit, it seems, at least when Crawford is steering the discussion. As in his previous books, Shop Class as Soulcraft and The World Beyond Your Head , the author brings an easy and wide-ranging erudition to his subject—in this case, our relationships to our vehicles. The book might have been titled In Defense of Driving . Despite his mostly sober prose, Crawford’s “critical, humanistic inquiry” is ultimately a passionate appeal to the importance of the autonomous individual in the face of the dehumanizing pressure of automation. Driverless cars meet a worthy opponent in Crawford, who elegantly dissuades us from a future in which “the world becomes a techno-zoo for defeated people, like the glassy-eyed creatures in WALL-E , or like the lab rats who are raised in Plexiglas enclosures.” No matter how many lives you think could be saved by removing imperfect humans from the driving equation or how tempting you find it to turn your commute into more time looking at your phone, this book will have you pining for the freedom the open road has always represented. Crawford can get carried away, as in a too-detailed account (with diagrams) of rebuilding a Volkswagen engine, but his delight in his subject makes for an enjoyable reading experience even for the non-enthusiast. The text is yet more evidence for Crawford’s argument, now extending over three books, that paying attention to and placing ourselves in the material world brings a certain satisfaction that we neglect at our peril. Employing memoir, journalism, cultural criticism, and political philosophy—and never shying away from the contentious (“An Ode to Redneck Women”)—the author makes being human seem worthwhile.
Even if Crawford is fighting a losing battle, he fights it valiantly, even heroically.
