Summary of Matthew B. Crawford's Why We Drive

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The rise of the automobile is closely connected to the transformation of American cities, which Jacobs and many others lament. But the connection is not a straightforward one; it is a joke that history plays on progress.

#2 The noise of vehicles is something that cannot be understated. It is a side-drum tattoo of wheels on cobbles that jars from the apex of one set to the next like sticks dragging along a fence.

#3 The explosion of automobile use in the twentieth century was not a simple consequence of consumer demand. It was in large part a consequence of government policy choices.

#4 The Volvo Concept 26 is a concept car that takes on different configurations, rearranging the furniture for a drive mode, create mode, and relax mode. The idea is that because you are not burdened with the drudgery of driving, you are free to be creative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822513136

IRB Media

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Insights on Matthew B. Crawford's Why We Drive

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The rise of the automobile is closely connected to the transformation of American cities, which Jacobs and many others lament. But the connection is not a straightforward one; it is a joke that history plays on progress.

#2

The noise of vehicles is something that cannot be understated. It is a side-drum tattoo of wheels on cobbles that jars from the apex of one set to the next like sticks dragging along a fence.

#3

The explosion of automobile use in the twentieth century was not a simple consequence of consumer demand. It was in large part a consequence of government policy choices.

#4

The Volvo Concept 26 is a concept car that takes on different configurations, rearranging the furniture for a drive mode, create mode, and relax mode. The idea is that because you are not burdened with the drudgery of driving, you are free to be creative.

#5

The Pew Center conducted a survey of Americans’ attitudes toward the automobile in 2006. Despite the many frustrations of driving, we may still experience our car as a humanizing space.

#6

The push for driverless cars is an example of futurism, which seeks to generate a feeling of inevitability around a desired outcome. But the future is not inevitable, and the public’s trust in Big Tech to serve as steward of their interests has been declining for years.

#7

The laws of monopoly pricing will take effect once the buses and trains disappear. This is the plan for many cities. Meanwhile, Uber continues to lose billions of dollars every year.

#8

The business and tech press was well snowed by Uber’s PR, according to which it was fighting on behalf of technological progress and economic freedom. The actual economics of the company went unexamined.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

I was driving down Highway 101 in my 1972 Jeepster when I heard a noise from the engine bay. I had bought the Jeep the previous summer after being charmed by a friend's 1964 International Harvester Scout. I took the top off immediately.

#2

I was driving from Berkeley to Santa Barbara, and