The premise of Alvord's well-reasoned and well-researched book is that "we are addicted to our cars, and the relationship is fundamentally unhealthy for ourselves, our environment, and ultimately (and ironically) our economy" (p. xiii). In the Introduction to her compelling book, she writes, "divorce from a car is not only possible, it can bring unexpected delights and great rewards. On a collective level, divorcing cars can bring us clean air, clearer water, less noise, and friendlier communities. It can foster better transportation options, more compact cities, and correspondingly more farmland, wildlife habitat, and parks. On a personal level, it can be incredibly liberating, bringing less stress, more money, better health and fitness, reduced risk of accidental death, and a simpler lifestyle" (p. 5).

The first five chapters of Alvord's book examine our seduction by the automobile, revealing "our union with the car is in part a forced marriage and not simply a free-market choice" (p. 7). The next five chapters consider "some of the symptoms of love sickness caused by our automotive marriage" (p. 63), air pollution, climate change, oil spills, water pollution, costly repairs, noise, obesity, road rage, social isolation, real expenses, and fatal car crashes. In the last seven chapters of her book, Alvord offers up real alternatives to the automobile, walking, bicycling, shared transportation, and telecommuting, for instance, before she addresses "the big quality-of-life advantages of driving less or even living without a car" (p. 125).

G. Merritt

The first two parts of the book cover the history of the car and the American "marriage" to it, as well as the reasons that same marriage has turned into a disaster. The third part then offers practical solutions for non-car travel, going into great detail about walking, biking, mass-transit, ride-sharing, etc, and providing plenty of information on the benefits, drawbacks and availability of each, as well as how to get in contact with alternative travel associations in your area, or how to start your own.

It's a slim volume, but the quality is evident. This book really woke me up to something MAJOR I could do to improve my own quality of life and the planet's. My fiance and I currently own one car between us, and though we've been doing alright with it, we'd been planning to buy another! After reading DIVORCE YOUR CAR, we're realizing we really don't need to have more than one, and we're now planning ways to use our bikes and mass transit more, and actively discouraging each other from taking trips we don't need to take by car. It's already making a big difference, and someday we hope to go entirely car-free, with this book (which I've since purchased from Amazon) and our creativity as guides.

Thank you, Katie Alvord, for such an excellent wake-up call!

Divorce Your Car explains the obvious--how divorcing your car will save money and help protect the environment. More intriguing, though, is the explanation of how divorcing your car will actually save you time.

How can divorcing your car save time, you wonder? Alvord factors in not just how long it takes to get somewhere (by car versus by other modes of transit), but also how much time you have to spend working to pay for all the costs associated with a car. When all is said and done, the car doesn't move any faster than a bike.

While Alvord does mention that walking and biking instead of driving have health benefits, her calculations of time don't include another big factor working against the car--making time for exercise. Many people complain that they don't have "time" for exercise. I used to complain about this too. But now that I bike virtually every day, making time for exercise is a non-issue. It may take me 20 minutes to bike somewhere I could get to by car in 10 minutes, and ditto for the return trip. But if I had to find another 40 minutes each day to exercise (plus time to drive to and from the gym!)...geez, no wonder I didn't used to have time to exercise.

By ditching the car, you can save enough money to work less (Alvord has some inspiring examples) and easily work exercise into your daily routine. As an added perk, you even get to help save the planet. What's not to like!

This book just reinforced my desire to be car free and the benefits that have no car can have on a person. Getting exercise and transporting yourself at the same time sounds like the most basic thing and most common sense thing to do. The author does a great job to help the reader see what having a car-free or car-lite life can do for you and the environment. I do beleive that she should have gone over the new forms of transportation that will be heading our way with regards to new technology but who can afford the state of the line hybrid or electric can and pay to keep it maintained. So, for that transition, using transit, bicycles, or your own two feet will be the only way that some people will be able to get around in the future and this could only lead to healthy people and a healthier environment.

Alvord is very passionate about this subject, being a car divorcee herself. She mentions Madison, Wisconsin numerous times in her writing. Apparently she looks favorably upon the possibility of a non-car culture in our fine city She notes the many bike paths, the prosperous State Street pedestrian mall, and still-surviving capitol square area in the heart of downtown. As Alvord points out, there is no such thing as free parking, and this is the current main problem Madison's downtown prosperity faces. These costs are absorbed in retail prices, residential and corporate rent, and wages of employees. If Madison can let go of its automobiles it can free itself of these woes.

The health benefits to cutting out the car are innumerable: reduce weight, blood pressure, stress, cholesterol, depression, increase or maintain bone density, muscle tone, the list goes on and on. Reduction of the automobile in society would also have a great social impact: people would know their neighbors and neighborhoods. The streets would be more populated and would therefore be safer. There simply would not be as much isolation. However, the main problem with cutting out the car is the time factor. Small children can be in daycare no more than 10 hours per day, by law. By the time they are dropped off, the parent gets to work, and works an average eight hour day with an hour for lunch the time constraint really gets tight if a bike is used.

Divorce Your Car! is an easy read, and chock full of interesting facts about the development of the automobile and roadways, auto culture. Did you know that `warming up' your car by letting it idle is a myth? Any longer than ten seconds of idling wastes more gas and pollutes more than shutting off and re-starting! Alvord also included some remarkable injury and death statistics due to the automobile, beginning in the late 19th century. In spite of this, the book is extremely one-sided and the skeptical reader may suspect they are being flooded with propaganda. Alvord would have done well to show some of the other side of the automotive story, if only to validate her extensive knowledge and be more persuasive to the hard-core drivers of the world.

Alvord pointed out some very feasible ways to cut down on car `consumption'. The Circle game is helpful: draw a circle with a two mile radius on a map, with the center being your home. Plot out the places you frequent on the map and pick one or two within the two miles to walk to once a week, once a month, whatever is attainable for you. Soon you ill notice that you are able to leave your car behind more, and ever bike if you want.

The concept of divorcing the car is great, but there are some situations that still warrant its use, and until these are eliminated we will be unable to convince the populous

Katie Alvord begins her book with by explaining what divorcing your car means. She compares the relationship people have with cars to marriages and divorcing a car is much like divorcing a spouse. Then, she describes how this marriage or dependency between people and cars was formed, starting from when the car was introduced into society and finishing with the conditions of the present. In the next section of the book, Alvord discusses reasons why we should divorce our cars. That is, why we should consider trying to live a car-lite or even car-free life. In the final section of her book, she goes into detail on how living a car-lite or car-free life is possible. She addresses how individuals, communities, and societies can accomplish the goal of becoming car-free.

The main argument that Alvord makes is that anyone and everyone can go car-free or at least car-lite and they should in order to improve the condition of this world. This can be done by using other modes of transportation such as walking, biking, buses, trains, or car-share programs. She suggests that people gradually move in to a car-free lifestyle by first trying a car-lite lifestyle. This consists of using the car less or as little as possible, maybe for long trips only. Alvord even states that going car-free may not be possible for some so a car-lite lifestyle is the best idea in those situations which might include people living in rural areas. Alvord backs up her car-free argument by providing multiple reasons as to why people should use cars less. They cause overcrowded streets, health problems, indirect and direct pollution, and they are very expensive.

Divorce Your Car is a very good and convincing book. It not only makes and case for abandoning cars but it explains how this can be done. Alvord addresses each issue of her car-free idea in depth. She gives the reader history, evidence, and the how to. Another very impressive aspect of the book is that it is not preachy or condescending. It simply tells you the facts and what your options are. In approaching the argument this way, I think more people will be open to the idea of attempting a car-free or car-lite lifestyle.