I demand answers!!! Ooh, this'll do. . .

I have officially embraced Facebook after months and months of very stubborn resistance. But I have found it to be an excellent networking tool, old friend finder, & unexpected place for me to get links to books, sites, etc., that might have skipped my notice.

One is also able to post whatever random thought is on one's mind- the slightly less obnoxious version of Twitter I feel- and on Friday I posted that I was looking forward to doing research on suburbia. And one of my oldest and dearest of friends left me a link for http://www.culdesac.com which is also the title of a book by a Mr. John F. Wasik.

The full title is called, the Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream and it looks riveting.

I know I still need to do a review of Tom Vanderbilt's work, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), which by the way, is FASCINATING.

Even and especially if you are not a traffic engineer nor a transportation planner, it is riveting. It certainly made me see the world differently- literally- and made me not wear a helmet when bicycling (among many fun facts) as apparently drivers drive closer to helmeted cyclists perceiving them, incorrectly, as having extra protection against their insane driving. Yes, my magic plastic brain bucket will surely protect me against the evils of your Escalade! I like my space when I'm standing or walking, I feel the same way on the road. "Share the road you maniacs!" as Calvin's dad, of the immortal beloved classic cartoon "Calvin and Hobbes" would bellow as he proudly pedaled. But I digress as always.

I have been watching the economic meltdown with a sort of morbid fascination. I tried to summarize what was happening in my January 21, 2009 post "Hardship = Opportunity," which also has a link to the absolutely excellent article, Um, What Just Happened?" by Richard Medley as it was called in the December 2008 issue of Esquire. But was given the more erudite title, "the End of America's Capitalist Fantasy and the Shape of Banks to Come"on their Web site- http://www.esquire.com/features/green/features-why-is-our-economy-in-a-recession-1208?click=main_sr

And it was only a matter of time before people starting churning out books about this subject, but this was a personal recommendation as mentioned above and I have no cause to doubt that it would be a waste of money. Though it is also on my amazon.com wish list ;-)

I have several articles that I have culled together to write for another post, but moving, starting grad school, etc., got in the way. Stay tuned. I'll post something sometime. In the meantime there is recommended reading!