From Publishers Weekly
A long-time advocate for transportation reform, Alvord prefers getting around on anythingAher own two feet, mass transit, bicyclesAbut a car. In this affable history-cum-how-to, she tracks the dramatic, negative impact of automobiles from the early days of the 1900s to the present. Among the evils are severe pollution levels, high rates of death and injury in car accidents, a decline in other modes of transport and sprawling highway development. Meanwhile, some cities around the world are in fact quite friendly toward nondrivers: Toronto has a great subway system and encourages bicycle riders; Copenhagen and some other cities have "free bikes" that allow people to leave a deposit and borrow a bike; San Francisco has pedestrian-only roads. Perhaps the book's best section is the last third, in which Alvord offers detailed, practical advice on how to avoid using a car, along with lists of the benefits of doing so. Walking around, for example, helps reduce stress and prevent osteoporosis. Crime rates go down in areas with increased pedestrian traffic. And the average speed of a commuting car (22 mph) isn't much faster than that of a bicycle (10-20 mph). Even for readers who are not ready to permanently abandon their auto, this book provides a wealth of ideas for unbuckling the seat belts and enjoying the fresh air. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In spite of America's enduring love with the automobile, there have always been those who have said it wouldn't last! Or at least there have been those who have suggested that it shouldn't last. Recent arguments include Jack Doyle's Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution and Jane Holtz Kay's Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back (1997). Most critics have looked to public policy or planning initiatives for solutions. Alvord, though, offers practical remedies available to anyone. She traces the history of America's dependency on the automobile and details why we should reconsider the relationship. The reasons include pollution from auto emissions and oil spills, the expense of car ownership and its hidden inconveniences, and the grim consequences of traffic accidents. She then examines substitutes for driving, such as walking, bicycling, shared ridership, public transit, alternative fuels, telephone, and e-mail. Alvord writes with good sense as well as humor, which should help her win converts. David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Our romance with cars, begun with enthusiasm more than 100 years ago, has in fact become a very troubled entanglement. Today's relationship with the automobile inflicts upon us pollution, noise, congestion, sprawl, big expenses, injury, and even death. Yet we continue to live with cars at a continuing cost to ourselves and the environment. What can people do about this souring affair?-Divorce your car! Re-meet your feet, board a bike, take a train, pull out of this dysfunctional relationship with the automobile! Divorcing your car can take many forms, from simply using it less to not owning one at all. This practical guide shows how divorcing a car can be fun, healthy, money-saving, and helpful to the planet in the process. Most other transportation reform books emphasize long-range political and economic policy. Divorce Your Car! speaks less about policy and more about realistic actions that individuals can take now to reduce their car-dependence. It encourages readers to change their own driving behavior without waiting for broader social change, stressing that individual action can drive social change. Car-dependency is a serious problem, but Divorce Your Car! is leavened with love-affair and self-help analogies in the text as well as cartoon illustrations. From commuters crazed by congestion and soccer moms sick of chauffeuring, to environmentalists looking for auto alternatives-Divorce Your Car! provides all the reasons not to drive and the many alternative ways we can all get around without our cars.


About the Author
Katie Alvord has been a transportation reform activist for over ten years. She is a freelance environmental writer and has contributed to E Magazine, Sierra, The Urban Ecologist, Library Journal, and Wild Earth, and she is an advisor for Car Busters magazine.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Our romance with cars has become a very troubled entanglement. Today's relationship with the automobile brings pollution, sprawl, congestion, noise, injury, and even death. Yet we continue to live with cars at an escalating cost to ourselves and the environment.

Divorce Your Car! is the ultimate guide to liberating ourselves from our addiction to cars and the automobile culture. It is full of inspiring examples and realistic actions we can take now as individuals and as communities to reduce our auto-dependence. Divorcing your car can take many forms, from simply using cars less to not owning one at all. In North America, well over 50 percent of trips are under four miles. Each day there are countless of opportunities for people to re-meet their feet, board a bike, take a train, or hop on a bus. This practical guide shows how divorcing a car can be fun, healthy, money-saving, and helpful to the planet in the process.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly