The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today

His previous work was outstanding and I wish that was the case here. Instead we have an author ‘mailing’ it in on the fame of a previous novel

Very interesting and varied travelogue as travelogues go. The author should be commended for his selection of roads around the world and his accounts of how he traveled them. I only wish he would have included the road between Brownsville Texas and Guatemala through Vera Cruz with its hundreds of caravans of Central Americans transporting used pickup trucks and appliances back to their hometowns. As the author points out, roads are much more than a way of getting from one point to another. They lower the cost for farmers of getting their produce to markets. They facilitate access by isolated populations to enhanced life improving services. And then there is the negative - oil well and mining penetration roads almost always promote deforestation and as the author points out, the spread of vices and diseases such as HIV.

The subject is huge (roads, the biggest thing people have built) but the approach is specific, even intimate: Conover gets at the big story by telling smaller stories, and puts you right there-in the Hyundai, in the Humvee, in the Himalayan winter. Its an adventure story but its not macho, its human.

Ted Conover is right about one thing, the emergence of roads in places where they previously does not exist is changing our global environment, both natural and business. What he does not do is take a stand on whether or not this is a good thing, bad thing or a mixed blessing. We are given a smattering of anecdotes regarding how roads are impacting places around the globe where they previously had no impact. We are not told if this is really anything good, bad or other wise. For example, he tells us the story of mahogany export in the jungles of Peru. We hear a very detailed blow by blow description of the trip but no real description of how the road is impacting or bettering the world. The same holds true for the descriptions of roads in China and India. They all have colorful stories but dont really give any solid examples or prove a theme. All in all it is a weak work because it tries to tell several stories but ends up telling none.

it seems like the author was bending over backwards trying not to offend anyone which made for a shallow book. i much prefer paul theroux- at least hes honest.

Using widely selected specific examples, Conover deftly weaves stories that illustrate the universal in the particular; inspires me to look at his earlier works.

Ted Conover is a great writer and I have enjoyed all of his books- this one is no exception. its a great book to read when youre on a trip.

Very interesting read by one of my favorite authors. If youre an armchair traveler or road trip enthusiast, its worth checking out this book.

Since its really difficult (or impossible) to read maps on a Kindle, the Kindle edition for a book like this is just too expensive.

This book examines the culture that exists around the road, because of the road. All of the journeys Conover undertakes and the people he meets are directly influenced by the roads they travel. This book is about how culture changes with different types of roads. I think it is clear that Conover prefers lots of culture to high speed travel that good roads bring (see the section about India and the rural teacher who comments on too much culture), and therefore creation of a transoceanic highway would destroy a fragile culture balance that exists in the Peruvian Andes, something that he would like to revisit but feels will be gone before he or anyone else can make it back. Thanks, Mr. Conover, for allowing us to travel with you and showing us what to look for in our travels.