Rating: 
Summary: Loss of Economic Competitiveness
Review: No wonder our American jobs are being outsourced oversees - we demand more money from our employers so that we can drive farther from our home to work and spend, spend, spend on our cars to do this. We think buying a cheaper house in the 'sububs' saves money, but we spend more money on our cars and gas bills in the long term than we initially bargained for. Living closer to where we work maybe the solution - or telecommuiting (whatever happened to that idea?) but that's not really the point of the book, just an unstated theme throughout. I thought I could live in the county and work from home, but now I spend $500 a month on driving into the city and wasting precious time trapped in a car. Live and Learn - and think about reading this book (or at least the reviews...)
Rating: 
Summary: A lively and literate case against the car. Vital to read.
Review: The author, Jane Holtz Kay, architecture critic for The Nation tells the trials ("Car-Glut"); the history ("Car-Tracks") and the means ("Car-Free") to end auto-dependency. Appealing illustrations and a vivid text demonstrate how the servant has become the master of our lives and landscape. The rave reviews by Ray Bradbury, Jane Jacobs & others are true. The author proves her subtitle "How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take it back" in a compelling and engaging way
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting facts badly presented.
Review: The book gives factual accounts of San Francisco's
and many other cities efforts to come to grips with the automobile. Unfortunately the author tosses all the city sagas together into one big salad. In the reviewers opinion, it would have been better to begin with some particular cities in detail, working from the PARTICULAR TO THE GENERAL.
Conclusion: Interesting facts; bad organization.
Review by:
Professor George Purdy
University of Cincinnati.
george.purdy@uc.edu
Rating:
Summary: should be in every cardealers showroom
Review: They should put up a stand in front of every cardealer's showroom to preach the message. Though some of your writers said Kay's message was nothing new, it clearly makes a polemic that carries more weight and more solid and elegantly put information than Fastfood Nation. Actually, it replaces or supplements that book by saying if we moved more...we'd be healthy, wealthy and wiser, never mind saving the planet's diversity and co2 emissions.
Rating:
Summary: to you bashers of this....
Review: This book addresses a key problem in our country, our dependence on the auto. Speaking from someone who has spent some time in Europe, this is especially insightful. I did not drive for quite some time and you know what? I didnt miss it. Her book can hopefully help some people to see that our "need" for the auto is artificial.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new to make this worthwile.
Review: This book is very thorough about describing how cars became ingrained in our lives, but it didn't offer much insight. I'm guessing most people who read this book have some notion of how urban sprawl leads to car dependency and lack of inner-city. This book does little more than re-state that.Additional weak points:
- No presence of counter argument.
- Repetitive
- Not enough attention was payed to the 'taking it back' portion of the title. Roughly 4/5 of the book were taking over America, 1/5 taking it back. No new ideas were presented in the 'taking it back' section.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing new to make this worthwile.
Review: This book is very thorough about describing how cars became ingrained in our lives, but it didn't offer much insight. I'm guessing most people who read this book have some notion of how urban sprawl leads to car dependency and lack of inner-city. This book does little more than re-state that. Additional weak points:
- No presence of counter argument.
- Repetitive
- Not enough attention was payed to the 'taking it back' portion of the title. Roughly 4/5 of the book were taking over America, 1/5 taking it back. No new ideas were presented in the 'taking it back' section.
Rating:
Summary: asphalt nation
Review: This extraordinary book's effective message is evident in the vehemence of attacks it has received in the press. Ms. Holtz-Kay has obviously struck a nerve: how dare she deprive Americans of their autos! In a society that consumes 25% of the world's oil and only produces 12% of it, it is indeed time they (and other nations,too,) seriously consider ways to decrease consumption, and Holtz-Kay's wake up call is a serious slap in the face to those unwilling to confront the damage that cars have inflicited upon the planet. I appreciate her candor, I appreciated even more, still, the way she presents her arguments with style and humor.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK
Review: This is a horrible excuse for a piece of literature. Although her subject matter is occasionally rational, the repetition and horrible alliteration she uses is painful. What should have been written in 3 concise chapters drags on for 18 mind-numbing ones. I reccommend that no one reads this book as it was a waste of a quite a bit of my time, although I do commend her on her efforts to enlight the world on the ever-present environmental problems that we face on a daily basis.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK
Review: This is a horrible excuse for a piece of literature. Although her subject matter is occasionally rational, the repetition and horrible alliteration she uses is painful. What should have been written in 3 concise chapters drags on for 18 mind-numbing ones. I reccommend that no one reads this book as it was a waste of a quite a bit of my time, although I do commend her on her efforts to enlight the world on the ever-present environmental problems that we face on a daily basis.
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