"Our romance with cars has become a very troubled entanglement. Today's relationship with the automobile brings pollution, sprawl, congestion, noise, injury, and even death. Yet we continue to live with cars at an escalating cost to ourselves and the environment.

DIVORCE YOUR CAR! is the ultimate guide to liberating ourselves from our addiction to cars and the automobile culture."

ANNOUNCING A NEW BOOK RING (June 12/03) for this book. Send me a private message if you would like your name added to the list.

List to date:

"A" List:
Kaije / Prince George, BC / Canada (done)
historygeek / Prince George, BC / Canada (done)
jenny-lou-who / Kingston, ON /Canada (done)
symphonicca /Kingston, On / Canada (done)
cliff1976 / Ferndale, Michigan / USA
LeapingLizzards / Fort Myers, Florida / USA
karoda /Loiusville, Kentucky /USA
AnnaKY Richmond, KY / USA
Cyberkedi / Atlanta, Georgia / USA
Branna / Calgary, Alberta / Canada
foovay / Tulsa, Oklahoma / USA
beckster / Prince George, BC /Canada
antidisney / Prince George, BC / Canada

"B" List:
talkland Eastbourne, East Sussex / UK (done)
geniedances / Houston / Texas /USA (done)
debnance / Alvin, Texas / USA (done)
CurtAngel/ Oklahoma City, OK /USA (done)
kalipriestess /Tallahassee, Flordia / USA
grover3d Charlston, WV / USA
Zmrzlina / Scituate, Massachusetts / USA
lightwavz / Detroit, Michigan / USA
JesseBC / Chicago, Illinois / USA

When you receive the book, please make a journal entry to say that it has arrived. Read this book as quickly as you can. PM the next person on the list to confirm than he/she still wants the book and to get the postal address. When you send it off make another journal entry with your comments and a note as to where it is going next.

There are now two copies of this book travelling simultaneously, one amongst people on the "A" list and one amongst people on the "B" list. Both copies have the same BCID number which means that all the journal entries from both lists will appear in the same sequence. Please notes somewhere in your journal entry whether this is the "A" book or the "B" book.

I will pass this book along to Kaije later today to get this Book Ring started.

Ecoboy gave me this at the Parent-Child Mothergoose workshop which we coincidently both attended. I'm looking forward to reading it. I've already started walking and riding my bike more.

I received this book from Kaije at our get together with other BC'rs on the International BC meeting day this week. It was fun to put faces to names. I must say, I am a little nervous about ending my love affair with my car!

The "B" copy of DIVORCE YOUR CAR! went off today to talkland in England.

From this point on you should start seeing parallel tales of both copies of the book as they travel down their respective lists...

Clearly I am a little behind in my journal entries. I have really enjoyed reading this book. The insurance has been off the car for a number of weeks, and the family is enjoying the low stress transportation options of biking and walking. We are on occasion borrowing a car or catching a ride for some errands. I must say, this is the most influential book I have read this summer.

Released by mail on 27 August 2003 to Jenny-lou-who, the next person in the bookring.

I just got the "A" book in the mail - how very exciting. I'm really looking forward to reading this, although I guess it will be a bit of "preaching to the converted" as we sold our car 4 years ago.

I have not got a car to divorce but as I am interested in the environment and learning about stuff so I thought that this sounded like a good read. The book arrived this morning with two other bookrays [they always come in three for some reason]so I am not sure what to read first. It will be at least a week before I have to decide. I will journal again after I have finished the book. Thanks Ecoboy for sending this to me.

Great book! This is a topic that is quite dear to my heart and I am pleased to see such an interesting and well-researched book regarding our society's obsession with the automobile.

I didn't have time to read the whole thing cover to cover, but the parts I did read were excellent! I'm passing this one (the "A" copy) on to symphonicca now.

Picked this up from the booktastic jenny-lou-who as part of a bookray--- looking forward to reading it! Thanks JLW for passing it along, and thanks to ecoboy for starting the ray!

The book was very informative, giving a potted history and a look at the impact that cars have on our lives. I don't drive nor does my husband but it made me think about how often even someone like me is lazy and opts for the bus or a taxi when in some cases it would be easier to walk. I might even take up cycling for those longer distances! This is one of those books which makes one think about how YOU can make a difference. Great stuff, and thanks Ecoboy!

A great read--- very interesting history of the car's development, and inevitable insertion into our lives. It definately makes me want to learn how to ride a bike again (ps: those adages saying "... like riding a bike, you never forget..." are mistaken! You DO forget how to ride a bike, which was evidenced when, after not riding for a long time, I tried again and ran into a car--- not so easy....) :)

But i digress... there are a lot of useful facts, and some good arguments about reducing car use, and enjoyed the parts about car advertising (if you are interested in this as well, check out "No Logo" by Naomi Klein--- excellent). I also liked that this book was not about getting rid of your car outright, but that it presented other options for those who are not willing to give up the love affair cold turkey.

Thanks for starting this ray ecoboy! I will be sending my copy off to cliff1967 this week!

Released on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 at A fellow bookcrosser in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada.

Sending this bookray off to cliff1976--- hope you enjoy! :)

Release planned for Thursday, October 23, 2003 at the post office to a fellow BookCrosser mailed in Lydd, England United Kingdom.

Got it this morning!

Thanks to ecoboy and all who have passed the book on so far. I've been looking forward to reading it.

The book arrived today.

Lots of good ideas on how to become less dependent on the car. Living in Houston where urban sprawl is a way of life for so many, this is a must read. I live near downtown; a choice I made 25 years ago to live near the work place. I'm in the minority among my co-workers. For several years I have been riding the bus to work several days a week to cut down on car usage thus cutting down on stress and finances.
I often walk to the grocery store but I'm now convinced that the bicycle needs to be dusted off and put to use again. Thanks for sharing the book. I will get it in the mail to debnance today or tomorrow.

I can't wait to learn how to divorce my car! I'm set to finish the last hundred pages of Reading Lolita in Tehran today (a bookring also) and then I will start this book. Thanks for sending it and sharing it, ecoboy!

(Bookring "B")

My husband and I did a dramatic downsizing twenty years ago. We sold our big house, sold one of our cars, and moved back to our hometown, buying a small house right in the middle of town. At that time, and for the next fifteen years or so, I did almost everything on foot or on bicycle. I worked for my brother-in-law and even rode to work and made bank deposits on my bicycle.

Then I got a job that necessitated driving, lots of driving, hundreds of miles a month. And our sons turned into teenagers who desperately wanted to drive.

Now we are back where we started with cars and I hate it. I've often proposed several ideas for my town, including making the town center car-free. My idea was to park all cars around the perimeter of town and have only those cart-like bicycles (is there a name for these type of bikes?) within the city itself. I am always keeping an eye out for one of those bicycles myself. And I'm rethinking my driving-crazed job. A job in town would allow me to go back to those wonderful walking and biking days.

Thanks for sharing this book, ecoboy. You've got my mind popping with possibilities. I will send it along to the next reader as soon as I hear from this person.

Released on Thursday, January 08, 2004 at Postal System: Bookring/Bookray in Alvin, Texas USA.

Off to a BookCrosser in Oklahoma!

Bookring B. Got this yesterday. I live in Oklahoma City (USA) which at one point had the most cars per capita in the US. You can buy cars for next to nothing (it seems), the bus system is infamously inconvinient and difficult to use, and there are no sidewalks. I swear, none. I can't remember the last time I saw a sidewalk. Perhap this book will give me the knowlege to change, or at least get around some of that. Goodness knows I need it, my car was totaled New Years Eve so the timing for recieving this was perfect.
I'm finishing up another book, but I should be starting this in the next few days.

I finished this book a few days ago but some personal stuff came up and I was unable to journal it.
This book was great.. It encouraged me to look into our transit system and I found out it was renovated fairly recently. I still have to figure out some things about using it, but I plan to take the bus downtown when I have to go to court about a ticket I got (thankfully the main transit point is just a few blocks from the place I have to go).
I'm still not sure how easy it is going to be being "car-lite" with two kids, but I'm going to see what I can do
It's funny the prejudice that the transit has (in my area, at least). My mother's immediate reaction to me mentioning to her I was taking the bus was to comment on the scum that is on the bus and what might "happen to me". *sigh*
This book also gave me a different point of view on issues I took for granted (eg the government building roads) and the cartoon on page 72 was a revelation to me (let's get the South Americans to stop burning down the rain forests... yeah, the South Americans).
I like the different options suggested, and the strong evidence that the car need not be as used as it is. I think some of the things went a bit far, but it was such a minor part of the book that its not really worth mentioning.
I'm going to have to buy a copy of this book for my personal collection now... I swear, bookcrossing has added more books to my "to be bought" list...
I hope to be sending this on soon, some personal problems have been slowing down my ability to send the books I need to send.

Just received the B list copy. I'm overwhelmed with bookring books at the moment, but I don't think this one will take me long to read.