The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today

I am passing this along for your listening pleasure: [..] She is generally positive and does mention specifically the male dominated nature of transportation. She reviews the variety of international aspects of human mobility which the author discusses at length.

Great book! The author is courageous to the nth degree in an understated, mindful sort of way.

As a highway engineer, specializing in traffic operations, my incentive for reading this book was to see roads from a different perspective. I picked the book up at a public signing by the author and had the chance to hear him speak about his experiences. I find it interesting to read about cultures that are decades behind the states when it comes to sprawl and mobility; that are envious of the glorified benefits of the mobility that we have enjoyed for decades, while ignoring the socio-economic consequences. You want to travel with Mr. Conover and look his companions in the eye and ask if they really know what they are getting themselves into. Overall, a good read.

We love roads, and we come to hate them. Anyone, writes Conover in his opening paragraph, who has benefited from a better road--a shorter route, a smoother and safer drive--can testify to the importance of good roads. But when humans strive, we also err, and it is hard to build without destroying. That contradiction, that tension underlies the book. A road from Perus Altiplano into the jungle allows access to valuable mahogany trees, but also threatens primitive people and an established ecology. In East Africa, a road that is a clear economic boon to many has also helped the spread of AIDS, via truckers and prostitutes along its length. Roads are integral to development, and development can look disastrous. There is nothing armchair about Conovers reporting. He clearly has a library and has read widely, but each of the six chapters is written from inside a culture, whether the author is zipping along the new highways of China or riding inside an ambulance through the teeming, chaotic city of Lagos, Nigeria. Its a book full of people, and the conflicts are inevitable. Why, a friend asks the author, would he go to Lagos, a city which Conover admits has few museums, not too many antiquities, only a handful of public spaces or buildings of note, and stunningly little natural beauty. It does, however, have a reputation for crime, and lots of lots of people. Because people are interesting, Conover says, and So is crime. So are the politics of Israel and Palestine--and the chapter on the roads of the West Bank is the best piece of journalism Ive ever read about that conflict. Conover explores the Israeli checkpoints in the company of both Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers who try to control them. Its degrading to both sides. The soldiers are looking for guns, explosives and suicide bombers, and most Palestinians are simply trying to get to work, or get home. Israels management of the West Bank often comes down to restricting the travel of the Palestinians, and when Conover is in line with them as they move on foot toward a pair of turnstiles, an exercise in gradual compression, the reader gets a visceral feel for their frustration and humiliation. The soldiers dont like it either. Innocent civilians...are inevitably damaged by the armys work in the territories, Conover writes. He spends weeks with an Israeli commander and his men, who not only run the checkpoints but sometimes tear up Palestinian houses in search of arms. Its bad for the families, the commander says, But whats not plain until the fifteenth time is that its bad for you. Six fascinating travels interspersed with engaging personal essays: a great book.

Picked this up for a recent plane flight to Africa, thinking it would give me plenty to read on the way over. Unfortunately, I screwed up - as I read the entire book on one flight, and was stuck with nothing but cheesy movies and in flight magazines for the second flight. Bad for me, but good for my review of the book. I loved it. Conover follows several roads throughout the world, and highlights the impact that these roads are having on the people. He typically withholds judgment and just tells the story, but at times it is clear that he is both thrilled by and challenged by the prospect of these roads. They open up new markets, allow people to buy and sell goods, and generally integrate people better into the capitalist, western culture. However, this is usually at some expense of their native culture - whether it is people in northern India, who for centuries have had to use a frozen river to access lands outside their own, or the burgeoning car culture of China - both are challenging what it means to traditionally live in those areas. Overall, I was engaged and excited at many points. I found myself looking at roads in my area of Africa and imagining the impact theyve had, as well as the roads back home. This book not only was an enjoyable read, it told a story that bears further thought and introspection.

While Conover examines troubling issues that road-building can entail--pitting development against environmental concerns, or isolation against connectivity and possible erasure of local cultures, for example--it is his strong sense of lifes clock ticking all around him that lifts his reporting above the ranks of travel-as-usual literature . . The building of new roads provokes mixed feelings for the wilderness that they replace and the never ending question of whether this is really progress. Roads change landscapes and both add and detract from the lives of the people nearby. In rich detail Ted Conover explores six routes and the impact of new roads. Included are just a few powerful pictures and thankfully some maps. But its not just the geography and economics: he keeps a strong focus on the hopes and fears of those who travel these routes. In Peru, a load of rare mahogany makes its way over the Andes from an untracked part of the Amazon basin... He hitches rides in unreliable, body-battering trucks on narrow winding roads up the sides of mountains then boats down backwaters to witness illegal logging. Finally, he stays at a hotel for eco-tourists. But a new east-west route across South America will soon cross this whole area changing everything. In India, he walks for days on ice down a frozen riverbed with teenagers escaping their cul-de-sac Himalayan valley for more education: most will seldom return. Conovers high tech cold weather gear contrasts with the maroon goncha robes of the older men and then blends into the transitional garb of girls in traditional colorful garments and pink sneakers and boys in jeans and parkas. In East Africa, he visits truckers whose travels have been linked to the worldwide spread of AIDS. One cant help but like Obadiah who in his own words is the best driver there is. Border bribery, the plight of women in the sex trade, and Ugandas green hills are part of the story as are the many uncertain causes of death. In the West Bank, Conover witnesses the injustices as Palestinian commuters wait in the sun at checkpoints, change cabs, sneak through yards, and are mysteriously detained. Roads for Israelis only divide not only farmers from their fields but the country from lasting peace. Then with Israeli soldiers Conover monitors the same checkpoints and rides on night patrols always alert for rock throwing, guns, and bombs. The weariness and hassle of it all exhausts and fascinates the reader at the same time. The Chinese road trip is lighthearted after Israel. This modern version of a caravan delights in the freedom of the open road (but without the US infrastructure for refueling, eating, and sleeping. Miles pile up as reckless drivers ride the shoulders and ignore both speed limits and police. No wonder Chinese highways are the deadliest in the world. But twelve hours at the wheel is fun for these guys: individuals in China have owned private cars only since the turn of the millennium. Lastly are the roads are in Lagos, Nigeria where bumper-to-bumper traffic a go-slow becomes an instant market and armed robbers and driving at night are synonymous. This huge immensely crowded (and still growing) African city has redefined traffic chaos. From inside one of only twenty-one ambulances in the city the reader gets a look at life in a global megacity. Even rush hour in Houston is looking good. Conovers reporting is close to the ground. One cant help but think that he is a brave guy with intestines of steel who, more than a few times would have really liked a long hot shower. But he largely keeps himself to himself focusing instead on the people and cultures being impacted by the encroachment from the routes of man. I dont want to be rude, he says at one point but I really would like to live to the end of this trip. Its an eye opening and entertaining read.

Ted Conover must be an amazing dinner companion. Hes managed to write an entire book about fascinating adventures without once bragging about how adventurous he is. The modest tone aside, this is a really neat book. I heard of it shortly after a heated discussion with a friend about the pros and cons of development, including roads, in the developing world. Through visits to several very different places, Mr. Conover addresses many of the questions Ive been pondering: the loss of ancient culture vs. the arrival of modern advantages... the spread of disease vs. the ability to treat it... the inevitability(?) of inequality vs. the chance to raise the standard of living of a whole population. The book is essentially a travelogue, full of first-person impressions and the voices of people Mr. Conover met on his journeys. But its also illuminated and deepened by secondary research and, thanks to the authors willingness to acknowledge his own biases and speculations, one of the most balanced pieces of non-fiction writing Ive read in a long time. (BTW, I agree w/the critics at Bookmarks Magazine--the subtitles a little misleading. It kind of makes it sound like this will be an academic treatise on global interconnectedness, and so I had certain expectations for this book that werent met. But actually, that turned out to be a good thing. It was _better_ than I expected it to be!)

Second book Ive read from this author, 1st Coyotes, I liked, this was a hard read and with few exceptions not enjoyable.

Very interesting read by one of my favorite authors. If youre an armchair traveler or road trip enthusiast, its worth checking out this book.

The subject is huge (roads, the biggest thing people have built) but the approach is specific, even intimate: Conover gets at the big story by telling smaller stories, and puts you right there-in the Hyundai, in the Humvee, in the Himalayan winter. Its an adventure story but its not macho, its human.