Devices and gadgets influence -- or even create -- the systems they require. Even someone like Robert Moses was steered by the mandates of the automobile.
I too am working my way through the Power Broker, taken there by first reading Caro’s memoir, Working, which you’d likely also really enjoy. To my mind, Caro is one of the best non-fiction storytellers going (Patrick Radden Keefe is another). BTW, Mark, when are you going to talk about electric cars? Do you have one yet?
I agree about Caro's brilliance. One thing that I've wondered about in The Power Broker is how Caro kept up the interest and enthusiasm for the project. Robert Moses seems like such a schmuck, and I've supposed that biographers have to feel a certain empathy or kinship with the focus of their work. I'd sure have trouble with that if I were looking at Moses. And I'm about a third of the way through the book!
Not sure about electric cars. They do figure into my thinking, but they seem to postpone deeper thinking about driving and cars generally. Besides, I hadn't considered an EV until more recently anyway, since we live way out in the toolies. I was concerned about range (like many others, I guess). Less of an issue now.
I've been really bad about responding on Substack lately. Semester started this week, and I feel swamped. I think it's a phase, though, since I shouldn't feel swamped.
Will look into Keefe. Looks like he's into grifters and con artists. Are you familiar with Matthew Crawford's Why We Drive (http://www.matthewbcrawford.com/why-we-drive)? Gonna pick it up, since it fits into my book project.
Keefe’s book The Empire of Pain is pretty great. And yeah, I’ve read Why We Drive ... I like it a lot.
I too am working my way through the Power Broker, taken there by first reading Caro’s memoir, Working, which you’d likely also really enjoy. To my mind, Caro is one of the best non-fiction storytellers going (Patrick Radden Keefe is another). BTW, Mark, when are you going to talk about electric cars? Do you have one yet?
I agree about Caro's brilliance. One thing that I've wondered about in The Power Broker is how Caro kept up the interest and enthusiasm for the project. Robert Moses seems like such a schmuck, and I've supposed that biographers have to feel a certain empathy or kinship with the focus of their work. I'd sure have trouble with that if I were looking at Moses. And I'm about a third of the way through the book!
Not sure about electric cars. They do figure into my thinking, but they seem to postpone deeper thinking about driving and cars generally. Besides, I hadn't considered an EV until more recently anyway, since we live way out in the toolies. I was concerned about range (like many others, I guess). Less of an issue now.
I've been really bad about responding on Substack lately. Semester started this week, and I feel swamped. I think it's a phase, though, since I shouldn't feel swamped.
Will look into Keefe. Looks like he's into grifters and con artists. Are you familiar with Matthew Crawford's Why We Drive (http://www.matthewbcrawford.com/why-we-drive)? Gonna pick it up, since it fits into my book project.
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