On Roads: A Hidden History
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Review
`A stylish and witty analysis of Britain's maze-like road system.' -- Philip Womack, Sunday Telegraph
`Quiet, considered and oddly gripping.' -- Time Out
`Quiet, considered and oddly gripping.' -- Time Out
Review
`Wonderful. Whoever could have known that roads were so fascinating?'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful, engrossing book which needed to be written and deserves to be read. Funny, engaging, incredibly well-researched and impressively broad in its scope, On Roads tells the fascinating - and it is, truly - postwar history of British roads and the British motorist and is peppered with the sort of extraordinary facts and trivia I can't resist. Bob Geldof working on a roadgang on the M25, a quarter of a million fish being rescued before they started building Spaghetti Junction, and why migrating birds love the A34. Fantastic.
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book to give as a present but became too engrossed to give it away. I've always wondered why you tend to see so many kestrels and kites when you're driving along the motorway - and this book explains it all. This is a completely fascinating look at something I - like many other people I'm sure - tend to take for granted. Highly recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a delightful book! If at first at first sight you are tempted to think that it just serves to feed the inner nerd you are mightily mistaken. Take the trivial example of road-numbering. Even a brief discussion may tempt some into a detailed perusal of the nearest wall, but that would entail missing out on the crucial revelation that we can blame our road numbers on none other than Napoleon. If that is not interesting then I don't know what is! This instance illustrates one of the aspects which I feel have been missed by other reviewers - the extraordinary range of reference which Moran brings to his subject. While there is no bibliography, just look at the works mentioned in the notes. Virtually all of these are apposite and not there for the purpose of showing off and show that the book is effectively a social and cultural history of roads.
A second feature of the book which seems to have gone unnoticed is the felicity and wit of the author's style which make it a surprisingly entertaining read. He occasionally soars to the lyrical level which driving certain stretches of road can elevate one. He is also capable of coining some very exact phrases.
Having driven along so many roads I thought I knew a great deal about them. Now I know a great deal more. I won't bore anyone with examples - entertain yourselves!
A second feature of the book which seems to have gone unnoticed is the felicity and wit of the author's style which make it a surprisingly entertaining read. He occasionally soars to the lyrical level which driving certain stretches of road can elevate one. He is also capable of coining some very exact phrases.
Having driven along so many roads I thought I knew a great deal about them. Now I know a great deal more. I won't bore anyone with examples - entertain yourselves!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
On Roads
I gave the book to a friend for Christmas and she tells me that she is really enjoying it. It is witty and full of interesting facts about our highways. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Spud
Mind how you go
If you ever go on a road you need this book. It combines hilarious facts (the AA made Ribbentrop an honorary member; they liked the Nazi's autobahns; returning First World War... Read more
Published 13 months ago by D. Cheshire
On Roads - a review
This book is a veritable cornucopia of facts and figures connected with our roads and at times mind boggling when one considers how and from where he has garnered them. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. D. G. Morgan
A history of modern roads, by an author who doesn't like them
Despite the cover depicting a country lane or track, the book's subject is predominantly major roads (esp. motorways) built since WWII. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Robson
A roadmap of social history
Moran views roads not simply as transport routes, but as a focus for charting social history. Over the last century, roads have formed the battleground between safety lobbies and... Read more
Published 19 months ago by ceriithomas
King of the road
I gave 'Queuing for beginners' five stars and thoroughly recommend it. When I happened upon this Joe Moran offering I thought I had to read it and bought it in the same batch as... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Rob Sawyer
'On Roads' Joe Morab
As someone living on Teesside a big irony is that the one single thing that put us well and truly on the world map - the opening of the world's first proper passenger railway from... Read more
Published 21 months ago by WALSHY
the road less travelled...
what makes anyone decide to pick up a book about roads and read it? - probably that they are someone who has spent a considerable proportion of their lives to date on them and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by tortoise girl
WELL REASEARCHED BOOK
This was a very interesting and well researched book. It gave a very clear perspective on roads and the befefits and disadvantages these feature play in our everyday lives. Read more
Published 23 months ago by bibliophile
Everything you never knew about roads
This is a really good book with lots of details about things you see every day as you travel around our road network but never think about. Read more
Published on 6 April 2010 by David Canning
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