Tom Vanderbilt
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Tom Vanderbilt (born 1968) is an American journalist, blogger, and author of the best-selling book, ''Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)''. His traffic book was published on November 13 2009, made in various parts of the world: some like Barcelona Spain, Mexico City, New York United States, Tokyo Japan, etc.


Career

A freelancer, Vanderbilt has contributed articles on a broad range of subjects encompassing design, technology, science, and culture to such publications as ''Slate'', ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
'', ''
The London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Boo ...
'', ''
Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...
'', ''
The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazin ...
'', ''
Harvard Design Magazine ''Harvard Design Magazine'' is a biannual publication of the Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Ma ...
'', '' Cabinet'', ''
Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...
'', ''
Design Observer Design Observer is a website devoted to a range of design topics including graphic design, social innovation, urbanism, popular culture, and criticism. The content of the site includes essays, articles, reviews, blog posts, and peer reviewed sc ...
'', ''
The Wilson Quarterly ''The Wilson Quarterly'' is a magazine published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. The magazine was founded in 1976 by Peter Braestrup and James H. Billington. It is noted for its nonpartisan, non-ide ...
'', and ''
Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...
''. In 2002, he published his first full-length book, ''Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America''. ''H-Net Reviews'' said of the book, "Survival City offers an insightful exploration of the ruins of atomic America that demands attention in our current moment. In the poignant aftermath of September 11 the futility of Cold War architecture suggested throughout the book takes on new resonance." After three years of research, in 2008 he released ''Traffic'' which, according to the publisher Knopf’s promotional material, had a first run printing of 150,000 copies and was a feature of the Book of the Month Club. The ''Wall Street Journal'' called ''Traffic'', “a fascinating survey of the oddities and etiquette of driving”. The ''Boston Globe'' wrote of the book's genesis: "He found no serious general books about rivingbut did find a mountain of research. So for three years he immersed himself in the subject, traveled around the world, interviewing drivers, researchers, and traffic engineers. With almost 90 pages of footnotes, the book is a bottomless compendium of research." Some of this research began by asking a question on the community weblog Metafilter in 2005. While Vanderbilt found the responses useful, mentioning the site during a
Boing Boing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice wo ...
ingenuity lecture; he referred to the site's users as "overeducated and over-opinionated geeks." His publisher, Knopf, neglected to request the right to reprint comments from the site from Metafilter's staff or from the quoted users. He is a contributing editor to '' I.D.'' and '' Print'', and a contributing writer for the blog ''
Design Observer Design Observer is a website devoted to a range of design topics including graphic design, social innovation, urbanism, popular culture, and criticism. The content of the site includes essays, articles, reviews, blog posts, and peer reviewed sc ...
''. He is also a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management.


Personal life

Tom Vanderbilt was born in
Oak Forest, Illinois Oak Forest is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The city is out south-southwest of downtown Chicago in Bremen Township. Per the 2020 census, the population was 27,478. History Human habitation in Oak Forest began during the ...
and raised in
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He now resides in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. He is married to Jancee Dunn, a former features writer for ''Rolling Stone''. Vanderbilt was a contestant on the game show ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'', appearing on an episode which aired on December 30, 2011.


Publications


As author

* ''The Sneaker Book: Anatomy of an Industry and an Icon'', The New Press, 1998 * ''Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America'', Princeton Architectural Press, 2002 * ''Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)'', Knopf, 2008 * ''You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice'', Penguin Random House, May 2016 * ''Beginners: The Curious Power of Lifelong Learning'', Knopf, 2021


As contributor

He has also contributed to a number of books, including: * ''Season’s Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree'', Melcher Media, 2004 (afterword)Melcher Media: ''Seasons Gleamings''
/ref> * ''Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age'', The MIT Press, * ''Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos from the Baffler'', W.W. Norton, * ''Boob Jubilee: The Mad Cultural Politics of the New Economy'' (W.W. Norton), and * ''The World and the Wild'' (University of Arizona Press).


References


External links


Tom Vanderbilt's Twitter page

Tom Vanderbilt’s Flickr page

NPR article and interview (audio), July 28, 2008

Google Lecture, August 15, 2008

Video discussion with Vanderbilt about his works
on Bloggingheads.tv


Online articles

* ''Harvard Design Review''
It’s a Mall World After All: Disney, Design, and the American Dream
Fall 1999 * ''New York Times''
Walker in the Wireless City
November 24, 2002 * ''New York Times''

February 1, 2014 * Slate, ttp://www.slate.com/id/2095809/ Courier, Dispatched: How the U.S. State Department put the kibosh on the typewriter font. February 20, 2004 * Slat
U.S. Army's New ClothesWhy has the Army redesigned its uniforms?
Sept. 8, 2004 * ''The Guardian'
Is this Bush's secret bunker?
August 28, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderbilt, Tom 1968 births Living people Journalists from Brooklyn Writers from Wisconsin Date of birth missing (living people) American male writers People from Oak Forest, Illinois Contestants on American game shows