Door to Door

Marc Cashman is a skillful narrator who brings accuracy and vigor to whatever he reads. Here he focuses on the present and future of transportation in all its forms--but mostly ships, trucks, and automobiles. He sounds excited as he reads about the revolution in international shipping, driven by larger and larger container ships. When the author launches into a critique of the internal combustion engine as employed by trucks, cars, and buses, the prognosis is gloomy for the environment, but Cashman is not. As we hear positive things about driverless cars and trolleys, he's still upbeat. Overall, Cashman's approach makes this audiobook both informative and enjoyable. D.R.W. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2016

Humes (Garbology) explores the U.S. transportation dilemma and what can be done to solve it. From describing traffic congestion to international ports to truck deliveries, the first half of the book examines the high cost--both in terms of dollars and on the actual infrastructure--of everything from cans of seltzer water to smartphones. These chapters are as entertaining as they are informative, offering a fascinating look at how consumers acquire goods and the realistic price of that process. Later sections focus more explicitly on ports, especially motor vehicles, and the problems that these pose to the overall transportation issues throughout the country. At this point, Humes's tone devolves to polemic territory. The solutions offered seem very specific to densely populated parts of the country; few practical answers are given for exurban and rural citizens. VERDICT Despite a few issues, Humes's latest work is equal parts accessible and thought provoking and should find an audience among readers who enjoy social science and economics titles.--Ben Neal, Blackwater Regional Lib., VA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2016
The story of the massive, complex global system that transports people and things from door to door, day and night. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Humes (A Man and His Mountain: The Everyman Who Created Kendall-Jackson and Became America's Greatest Wine Entrepreneur, 2013, etc.) crafts an informative and briskly told "transportation detective story" focused on the way the world moved on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015. His day began when his iPhone chimed like Big Ben. Made from materials from China, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Korea, and several states in the United States, the components "collectively travel enough miles to circumnavigate the planet at least eight times before the phone receives its first call or sends its inaugural text." Humes identifies the shipping container and the container ship as essential to the creation of the consumer goods industry, but he notes that fleets of giant container ships, which "burn fuel not by the gallon but by the ton," threaten the environment, already overloaded ports, and rail, road, and trucking systems. As he proceeds through his day, Humes traces the manufacture and transport of aluminum cans, such as the one holding his store-brand soda; the medium roast coffee that has come to him from Ethiopia; and the pizza that his son orders from a local Domino's franchise. Several chapters, not surprisingly, consider Americans' preference for cars over public transportation; Humes underscores the prevalence of traffic accidents, including "gruesome statistics" for the likelihood of being killed or injured by a drunk driver, "the number one cause of traffic deaths." An appendix gives "a partial list of fatal crashes" on Feb. 13. Humes makes a convincing argument that "our brilliant, mad transportation system" is unsustainable. Walking, ride-sharing, and biking are the small choices, he says, that add up to big changes. A revealing look at the reality and impact of our "buy-it-now, same-day-delivery, traffic-packed world."

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