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25th out of 114 books
—
9 voters
The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today
by
Ted Conover
From the Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Newjack, an absorbing book about roads and their power to change the world.
Roads bind our world—metaphorically and literally—transforming landscapes and the lives of the people who inhabit them. Roads have unparalleled power to impact communities, unite worlds and sunder them, and rev...more
Roads bind our world—metaphorically and literally—transforming landscapes and the lives of the people who inhabit them. Roads have unparalleled power to impact communities, unite worlds and sunder them, and rev...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
February 9th 2010
by Knopf
(first published February 4th 2010)
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In this non-fiction book, Ted Conover takes us along as he travels on roads in the Amazon, Ladakh (India), Kenya (East Africa), the West Bank (Palestine), China, and Lagos (Nigeria). Each chapter is like a long-form magazine article, with background and details that help satisfy the armchair traveler's yearning for experience--without the bugs, diseases, heat, cold, lack of privacy, and inconsistent access to amenities. In each case, we get to know some of the fellow travelers, and learn a bit a...more
Jul 27, 2011
Kristal Cooper
added it
In the introduction to this new book, Ted Conover describes travel as "an expression of personal curiousity, of a broader education less mediated by received thought." I completely agree, and I now realize that this is exactly why I like Conover's books so much. Through them, he takes me to places and introduces me to people I don't have the courage or means to visit myself.
This is another example of his outstanding storytelling. He again brings to the masses a better understanding of a complex...more
This is another example of his outstanding storytelling. He again brings to the masses a better understanding of a complex...more
Jul 28, 2010
Ethan Gilsdorf
added it
BOOK REVIEW
Tracing our roads and the bumps along the way
By Ethan Gilsdorf, Boston Globe Correspondent | February 9, 2010
Roads bring us together. They shape where we live, and how we interact with each other. Choices are forks, decisions are paths. Robert Frost tells us this, and so does Bob Seger.
But “not all connections are good,’’ warns Ted Conover in “The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World, and the Way We Live Today.’’ “Connection means vulnerability.’’ Conover, whose previous bo...more
Tracing our roads and the bumps along the way
By Ethan Gilsdorf, Boston Globe Correspondent | February 9, 2010
Roads bring us together. They shape where we live, and how we interact with each other. Choices are forks, decisions are paths. Robert Frost tells us this, and so does Bob Seger.
But “not all connections are good,’’ warns Ted Conover in “The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World, and the Way We Live Today.’’ “Connection means vulnerability.’’ Conover, whose previous bo...more
I was simultaneously encouraged and envious while reading this book: I travel not an iota as much as I'd like, and here is a man whose life work is comprised of lighting out for the road. Wonderful!
The Routes of Man is a keenly observant, often humorous travelogue that welcomes and digs into (but fortunately does not attempt to solve) many of the world's complex issues that the author encounters while traveling. He follows mahogany from its source in the rain forest to Manhattan (a chapter I fel...more
The Routes of Man is a keenly observant, often humorous travelogue that welcomes and digs into (but fortunately does not attempt to solve) many of the world's complex issues that the author encounters while traveling. He follows mahogany from its source in the rain forest to Manhattan (a chapter I fel...more
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This book was mentioned on NPR and because the author explored roads in places where or near where we had been, I wanted to read it. His premise is about the power of roads to change the world- sometimes in good ways and sometimes in bad ones. In Peru he traveled with loggers who were denuding mahogany in Amazonia and brining it over the Andes to sell. In East Africa, he went with truckers. It is assumed that truckers had brought aids to towns along the routes when they visited whores. He also w...more
Jul 29, 2011
Brandy
added it
This is one of the greatest books ever; the journalist is a hero. He travels through six of the world's major roads (or locations of potential roads) in Peru, Zanskar of Northern India, Kenya, the West Bank, China, and Lagos in Nigeria in order to explore some of the issues surrounding roads. As stated brilliantly in his introduction, "...the same roads that carry medicine also hasten the spread of deadly disease; the same roads that bring outside connection and knowledge to people starving for...more
The stories in this book, telling the tales of six different roads all over the globe and exploring their implications, actual and potential, for the people who use them or live near them, were amazing and engaging, bringing us to parts of the world that I will almost certainly never experience and introducing us to many insightful and memorable people. Important questions concerning globalization, cultural assimilation, and environmentalism are raised and addressed, sometimes obliquely, by the...more
This is a well-reported series of six long-form "immersion journalism" reports loosely linked by the theme of "roads." But perhaps its best sections are what's between the main chapters.
The roads in the main chapters are a Peruvian highway across the Andes and related river routes in the far western Amazon (the subject is the impact of development on indigenous peoples and on the environment), a Himalayan track atop a frozen river (same subject), an East African trucking route (same subject, plu...more
The roads in the main chapters are a Peruvian highway across the Andes and related river routes in the far western Amazon (the subject is the impact of development on indigenous peoples and on the environment), a Himalayan track atop a frozen river (same subject), an East African trucking route (same subject, plu...more
Another winner from Ted Conover, who in my opinion is the best writer working in immersion journalism alive. In "Routes of Man," Mr. Conover travels six "roads" -- a Peruvian river, an Indian ice river route, an East African transnational trucking route, Palestinian and Israeli checkpoints, a Chinese road trip, and the rounds of ambulance drivers in Lagos, Nigeria. Along the way, the road becomes the vehicle for Conover to do what he does as well as anyone -- explain the nuances, beauty, strange...more
When I started reading The Routes of Man I thought it was going to be about famous roads in civilization. I was mostly wrong. It’s actually a very engrossing modern day worldwide road trip. Conover is an interesting guy and in The Routes of Man he takes the reader to many of the most desolate, dangerous and delightful places on Earth and introduces us to some of the individuals who live there. He travels the most remote roads and rivers of Peru to explore the illegal mahogany harvesting occurrin...more
As a writer, it's clear that Ted Conover see's somewhat differently than most of us. There's an attention to the detail, a specificity that informs his narrative providing it with a grounding. Then there's the higher level associations connecting these details to broader ideas. Whether he's describing the lives of villagers in rural India while they travel 100 miles on a frozen river or he's stationed with soldiers guarding checkpoints in the West Bank, the human and the humanitarian are communi...more
Reviewers were generally happy to follow Conover as he brought to life some of the world's most interesting and dangerous routes while managing to steer clear of the thousand ""road-as-life"" metaphors that could have congested the work. But they tended to criticize him with their own transit analogy: Routes of Man, many wrote, lacks the promised path connecting Conover's adventures perhaps because many of the essays originated as magazine articles in National Geographic, the Atlantic, and other...more
Ted Conover doesn't just write about stuff, he lives it. In Newjack he work for a year as a guard at Sing Sing---great book! In Coyotes he crossed the border several times with illegals. In this book he explores the impacts of roads on men and cultures. He talks about the Roman roads and the early trails on Manhattan. He hikes from Zanskar, Ladakh to Leh in winter on a frozen river. He rides with a trucker in East Africa. He rides the roads in the West Bank, some of which are only for Palestinia...more
I have read three other books by Ted Conover, each of which I really enjoyed, so I was looking forward to reading this book. While his other books have delved into a single topic/place/people, this one had 6 relatively short essays on 6 roads (and the people, culture, place surrounding the roads): a road used my loggers in Peru, highways frequented by truckers (who may encounter HIV) in East Africa, checkpoints in the West Bank, a frozen river that functions as the route to boarding school in th...more
If you really want to understand transporation & trade in the modern world, this book is a must. The roads Conover travels upon are found in Peru & Brazil, where the Transamerican Highway will connect South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific; Kenya & Uganda, where a lot gets shipped in but very little gets shipped out; Kashmir, where extreme isolation is as much of a problem as the Pakistan/India conflict over this land; China, where self-driving tours are all the rage; Lagos,...more
This is a book in which the author writes about six major roads in different parts of the world. Most are places that many of us will never get a chance to see. Each chapter was well written and interesting although I was less clear about the overall perspective of the book than I was with Peter Hessler's Country Driving, which I read together with this book. The most memorable chapter for me was the first one, when the author was doing some custom woodworking in Manhattan and wanted to follow t...more
I expected more from this, actually. Conover is an amiable-enough guide but I was left frustrated by the superficiality and paucity of analysis in each account - especially the story of the teenagers in Ladakh (a region bordering Tibet and Kashmir) who make a life-altering trek down a frozen river - a whole book could have come from this story! The whole collection was kind of a mess structurally and its focus was unclear: the accounts had no consistent rationale and they seemed like magazine pi...more
An excellent consideration of roads and how they're changing the world. Conover writes of roads in Peru, India, Kenya, Israel, China, and Nigeria. The Israel section really stood out for being a very evenhanded look at the issues of roads in the West Bank from both perspectives. The other stories were also good. Conover has an eye for detail and seems to generally get along with people, which led him to get some people to talk to him who otherwise might not have. My only quibbles were with the n...more
If Ted Conover wrote the text on cereal boxes, I'd read every one. I can count on one hand the writers of non-fiction who have moved me with their observational AND emotional acuity, their empathy and insight. In my book, he keeps company with Caroline Knapp (RIP), Barbara Ehrenreich, David Sedaris (yup) and Jon Krakauer. This book, because of its more diffuse subject, six roads around the world, versus a year in Aspen or Sing Sing, say, has a subtler impact on the reader. But Routes is full of...more
Another great book from Ted Conover. He proves himself again as our generation's Studs Terkel. This book is a little different than the previous, as it is not the tale of a single adventure, but a look back at lessons learned from what I'm sure was many adventures. Don't let that fool you though, it was still riveting. The central theme is roads, but the stories are really about how roads bring modernization to cultures and economies. It made me think a lot about my perspective on the modernizat...more
The six sections of this book hang together well because Conover is in each story fully present, altitude-sick as he crosses a fourteen-thousand foot pass in the cab of a Peruvian cargo truck, or shivering in a cave in a cliff wall above a frozen river, eating monkey with woodcutters in the rain forest, or being pursued by Lagosian street thugs as he hangs in the open doorway of a slow-moving then stalled-out taxi-van. It's not just adventure travel, however. Conover draws intelligent conclusion...more
Many nonfiction books published these days have a specific point to make and are narrowly focused on providing evidence to support their argument. This book is refreshingly broad and relaxed. Conover is an engaging writer, he's obviously really enjoying his travels and the cultures he encounters. When he turns to controversial topics (environment vs development, for instance), he presents both sides evenhandedly and admits to his own uncertainties. What comes across more than anything else is hi...more
A really interesting exploration of what roads mean and bring to various parts of the world, most of them in developing countries or remote areas. Conover did a great job of making me feel like I was along for the ride in several parts of the world that I will likely never visit. He makes compelling connections and shows why the roads matter; he also isn't always environmentally preachy, showing that he understands what increased economic opportunity can mean to destitute people, and at what cos...more
From reading the cover flap, I expected The Routes of Man to be a historical survey of the influence of roads on society. Instead, Conover's book is more a smattering of the author's experience with different roads around the world. A quick review of Ted Conover's previous books and articles reveals that, in fact, The Routes of Man might be a comprised of previously unpublished experiences gathered during unrelated travels. If that makes this book seem derivative, I would caution against that co...more
'"And what would you go there to see, exactly?" asked one culture-minded friend. She has a point. Lagos has few museums, not too many antiquities, only a handful of public spaces of buildings of note, and stunningly little natural beauty. It does, however, have a reputation for crime, and lots and lots of people.
But people are interesting. So is crime.'
p268
Those last two lines made me laugh in recognition; pretty much every journalism student I know here (myself included!) feels the same way. Wh...more
But people are interesting. So is crime.'
p268
Those last two lines made me laugh in recognition; pretty much every journalism student I know here (myself included!) feels the same way. Wh...more
I picked up this book based on the dust jacket blurb. It was all that, and much more.
The author describes events surrounding either the building or the ongoing uses of a handful of roads around the world. He visits all of them, and weaves their history or current relevance into the story of his visit and the interesting people he met.
This was very engaging and quite entertaining, and the history of the roads and their geographic areas so seamlessly woven in was something that I would never have...more
The author describes events surrounding either the building or the ongoing uses of a handful of roads around the world. He visits all of them, and weaves their history or current relevance into the story of his visit and the interesting people he met.
This was very engaging and quite entertaining, and the history of the roads and their geographic areas so seamlessly woven in was something that I would never have...more
The author takes us on a fascinating tour of a variety of types of roads all over the world. He discusses how they have affected the communities they connect and the communities that grow up around them, in both good and not-so-good ways.
The maps at the beginning of each of the major stories are a much-appreciated feature (my only criticism: I wish they had been provided for the minor stories as well), as were the photographs.
All in all, an interesting read.
The maps at the beginning of each of the major stories are a much-appreciated feature (my only criticism: I wish they had been provided for the minor stories as well), as were the photographs.
All in all, an interesting read.
If you like books that take the physical world around us, man-made and natural (Botany of Desire, The Secret Knowledge of Water) and extrapolate information about us from it, you will enjoy this book. It is not as well-written or succinct as, say, Botany, but follows the same theme. We visit different "roads" around the world via the author, who travels there firsthand.
Following the great trucking roads across Africa, and it correlation to the spread of AIDS, was the most interesting of the vig...more
Following the great trucking roads across Africa, and it correlation to the spread of AIDS, was the most interesting of the vig...more
I admire Ted Conover's sense of adventure. He goes to obscure, and often dangerous places and inserts himself into the lives of the locals in a sincere effort to understand how ordinary people live. This often involves moments of peril, such as when he walked on a frozen river in Zanskar a part of Kashmir, India. Or driving on sheer edged mountain roads of South America or in dodging lawless gangs of homeless youths in Lagos, Nigeria. I enjoyed experiencing all of these places with him from my a...more
Jul 13, 2010
Kenneth E. Harrison, Jr.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
cultural-studies-and-social-critics
Ted Conover's excellent social-anthropological writing in The Routes of Man covers trips from Park Avenue to Peru (following expensive mahogony to its source), India's Zanskar's chaddar (when the river freezes over, it becomes a major roadway), Kenya (following the routes of truck drivers as well as the path of AIDS), the West Bank (both sides: Palestinians and Israelis, and the latter's checkpoints), the burgeoning car culture in China, and the horrors of the highways in Lagos, Nigeria. Conover...more
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Ted Conover, a "master of experience-based narrative nonfiction" (Publisher's Lunch), is the author of many articles and five books including Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes, Coyotes: A Journey Across Borders with America's Mexican Migrants, Whiteout: Lost in Aspen, Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and finalist for the Pulitzer P...more
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