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

Picked this up for a recent plane flight to Africa, thinking it would give me plenty to read on the way over. Unfortunately, I screwed up - as I read the entire book on one flight, and was stuck with nothing but cheesy movies and in flight magazines for the second flight. Bad for me, but good for my review of the book. I loved it. Conover follows several roads throughout the world, and highlights the impact that these roads are having on the people. He typically withholds judgment and just tells the story, but at times it is clear that he is both thrilled by and challenged by the prospect of these roads. They open up new markets, allow people to buy and sell goods, and generally integrate people better into the capitalist, western culture. However, this is usually at some expense of their native culture - whether it is people in northern India, who for centuries have had to use a frozen river to access lands outside their own, or the burgeoning car culture of China - both are challenging what it means to traditionally live in those areas. Overall, I was engaged and excited at many points. I found myself looking at roads in my area of Africa and imagining the impact theyve had, as well as the roads back home. This book not only was an enjoyable read, it told a story that bears further thought and introspection.

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

Conovers writing puts the readers third eye directly in the drivers seat and walk of people around the world on various roads. Infrastructure is ultimately but but not without a price. Progress of roads is not often in favor of long term survival of smaller sized cultures and ecosystems. A road but in Peru encourages illegal loggers to come in and further exploit the depleiting mahogany in the amazon. Plans to build a road for villagers in zanskar offers to make life easier for the villagers and open up new opportunities while potentially diluting their culture with the assimilation into mainstream cultures. Roads in Kenya used by many truckers becomes a transmission channel for the aids virus while boosting the economy. The 69 road between Israel and Palestine is literally a road that is primarily used for war. Newly built roads in china offer citizens car experiences similar to what Americans may had experienced in the forties and fifties while increasing amounts of pollution and pushing ancient cultures off their land. Roads in western Africa become hot spots for schemers, thieves and desperate people. This book is well written and offers insight into endless roads that are increasingly connected, literally and metaphorically in our modern global used world. It begs of the question: are roads and endless pavement always a good thing? Often, it becomes evident that they are not.

My praise to Ted for his clear sentences and yet descriptive writing that gives one a feeling and vision of the journey. I like his writing enough that I will seek his other books. My son is a biologist, my science minor in preparation of my teaching degree and my age (72) give me some background to what is being said throughtout the book. I am not yet finished and I am recommending the book to my friends. the findings and the Title have the main theme of these routes of our world. The research and actual adventures make for the perfect view of the particular route being described. The stories are like short stories gathered in one book so this is a good read for me. My husband has had Parkinsons for 18 years and I do not find time to read as I used to. I am his caregiver --we try to do things together most of the time. Whatever your age or life --I feel this book is a MUST READ!

While Conover examines troubling issues that road-building can entail--pitting development against environmental concerns, or isolation against connectivity and possible erasure of local cultures, for example--it is his strong sense of lifes clock ticking all around him that lifts his reporting above the ranks of travel-as-usual literature . . The building of new roads provokes mixed feelings for the wilderness that they replace and the never ending question of whether this is really progress. Roads change landscapes and both add and detract from the lives of the people nearby. In rich detail Ted Conover explores six routes and the impact of new roads. Included are just a few powerful pictures and thankfully some maps. But its not just the geography and economics: he keeps a strong focus on the hopes and fears of those who travel these routes. In Peru, a load of rare mahogany makes its way over the Andes from an untracked part of the Amazon basin... He hitches rides in unreliable, body-battering trucks on narrow winding roads up the sides of mountains then boats down backwaters to witness illegal logging. Finally, he stays at a hotel for eco-tourists. But a new east-west route across South America will soon cross this whole area changing everything. In India, he walks for days on ice down a frozen riverbed with teenagers escaping their cul-de-sac Himalayan valley for more education: most will seldom return. Conovers high tech cold weather gear contrasts with the maroon goncha robes of the older men and then blends into the transitional garb of girls in traditional colorful garments and pink sneakers and boys in jeans and parkas. In East Africa, he visits truckers whose travels have been linked to the worldwide spread of AIDS. One cant help but like Obadiah who in his own words is the best driver there is. Border bribery, the plight of women in the sex trade, and Ugandas green hills are part of the story as are the many uncertain causes of death. In the West Bank, Conover witnesses the injustices as Palestinian commuters wait in the sun at checkpoints, change cabs, sneak through yards, and are mysteriously detained. Roads for Israelis only divide not only farmers from their fields but the country from lasting peace. Then with Israeli soldiers Conover monitors the same checkpoints and rides on night patrols always alert for rock throwing, guns, and bombs. The weariness and hassle of it all exhausts and fascinates the reader at the same time. The Chinese road trip is lighthearted after Israel. This modern version of a caravan delights in the freedom of the open road (but without the US infrastructure for refueling, eating, and sleeping. Miles pile up as reckless drivers ride the shoulders and ignore both speed limits and police. No wonder Chinese highways are the deadliest in the world. But twelve hours at the wheel is fun for these guys: individuals in China have owned private cars only since the turn of the millennium. Lastly are the roads are in Lagos, Nigeria where bumper-to-bumper traffic a go-slow becomes an instant market and armed robbers and driving at night are synonymous. This huge immensely crowded (and still growing) African city has redefined traffic chaos. From inside one of only twenty-one ambulances in the city the reader gets a look at life in a global megacity. Even rush hour in Houston is looking good. Conovers reporting is close to the ground. One cant help but think that he is a brave guy with intestines of steel who, more than a few times would have really liked a long hot shower. But he largely keeps himself to himself focusing instead on the people and cultures being impacted by the encroachment from the routes of man. I dont want to be rude, he says at one point but I really would like to live to the end of this trip. Its an eye opening and entertaining read.

Ted Conovers The Routes of Man, is a first-person narrative of six separate road journeys. Three of the road tales take place in Asia, two in Africa and one in South America. Conover deftly separates each of his road tales with a bridge chapter, a short chapter focusing on the history of roads. One such example is a history of the extension of political and military power, cultural influence and the technological innovations of Roman Roads. His first journey begins in Peru where he seeks to find answers to the logging of mahogany in the Amazonian part of Peru where virgin mahogany trees still grow and are logged--legally and illegally. His second journey is to the high mountains of northern Kashmir, a border region where India, Pakistan and China come together. This is a cold, alpine clime; the road journey is actually a hike through a high mountain pass. Beware travelers, a modern road is coming soon and with it, will come the loss of local culture, history and tradition. There is sadness as the loss of local culture and history is imminent. His journey to East Africa is along a trucker road across Kenya into Uganda. He teams up with a trucker on a route that has become notorious in the spread of AIDS. His quest to find answers to the spread of AIDS is the quixotic Holy Grail of this journey. Conovers journey into the occupied West Bank and into Israel proper is tragic for what Israel has succeeded in doing: isolating and de-humanizing Palestinian people in their own land. A road system along with a so-called security fence has effectively produced an apartheid in which the Palestinian people cannot easily tend to their sheep and goats, prune their olive trees, visit with friends and relatives or simply get to work. For Palestinians, this cleverly designed road system has truly segregated an entire people. Conover evenhandedly narrates the difficult situation Israeli soldiers face at what are called checkpoints, a mix of permanent, semi-permanent or temporary military garrisons along the roads where Palestinans who need to travel face searches, long-lines and dehumanizing treatment. In China, Conover narrates a journey along a network of rapidly developing highways that within the next quarter-century are likely be overwhelmed with automobiles. Government policy has stated a goal to unite the nation to bring the outer parts of China (Tibet and Xinjiang) into the modern Chinese state. Modern high-speed highways will undoubtedly accelerate the Sinification of the country by the dominant Han Chinese. In this journey, Conover hooks up with nouveau riche Chinese members of a Beijing-based auto club who take a club-led road trip into the interior of China and visit among other sites, the nearly-complete Three Gorges Dam. Conovers last journey is to Lagos in Nigeria. No need to say more than this would not be a destination for people who fancy a driving vacation holiday. Good read! Five stars.

Very interesting and comprehesive.