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Paved Paradise
- How Parking Explains the World
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize
Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New Republic
“Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.”—The New Yorker
“Wry and revelatory.”—The New York Times
"A romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft, lust, greed, political chicanery and transportation policy gone wrong . . . highly entertaining."—The Los Angeles Times
An entertaining, enlightening, and utterly original investigation into one of the most quietly influential forces in modern American life—the humble parking spot
Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a shocking number of Americans kill one another over parking spots, and we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Since the advent of the car, we have deformed our cities in a Sisyphean quest for car storage, and as a result, much of the nation’s most valuable real estate is now devoted to empty vehicles. Parking determines the design of new buildings and the fate of old ones, traffic patterns and the viability of transit, neighborhood politics and municipal finance, and the overall quality of public space. Is this really the best use of our finite resources? Is parking really more important than everything else?
In a beguiling and absurdly hilarious mix of history, politics, and reportage, Slate staff writer Henry Grabar brilliantly surveys the nation’s parking crisis, revealing how the compulsion for car storage has exacerbated some of our most acute problems— from housing affordability to the accelerating global climate disaster—and, ultimately, how we can free our cities from parking’s cruel yoke.
What the critics say
“You might expect a book about parking to be a snore. But I have news to report. Henry Grabar’s Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World is not a slog; it’s a romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft, lust, greed, political chicanery and transportation policy gone wrong . . . [Grabar] lays out the issue cleanly and clearly . . . His highly entertaining take on a serious subject will persuade more people to at least take a good look.” —The Los Angeles Times
“[A] wry and revelatory new book about parking (a combination of words I never thought I would write) . . . The dream of the open road assumes a place to put our cars when we arrive at our destination. This is perhaps why so many Americans expect parking to be 'convenient, available and free'—in other words, 'perfect.' Grabar empathizes with these desires, which is partly what makes Paved Paradise so persuasive.” —Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times Book Review
“Henry Grabar’s Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World covers a topic most people overlook . . . The author himself makes the bold claim that 'parking is the primary determinant of the way the place you live looks, feels, and functions.' By the end of this compelling and insistent book, you might actually believe it.” —The Wall Street Journal
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What listeners say about Paved Paradise
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Angela Augsbury
- 2023-06-02
Preaching to the converted!
I fully admit I am already in agreement with the author's premise but I really enjoyed the history and deep dive in policy. Very good listen and entertianing as well! Gift to the member of your family or friends that circle for parking endlessly!
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-05-30
Excellent and reasonable take
The author makes a seemingly dull topic full of life and lays out a compelling argument that we all — drivers included, importantly— would be better off if we re-thought how we store our private automobiles. He doesn’t lecture or shame. Rather he lays out the facts and let’s the listener reach a logical conclusion.
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-06-01
Mixed use parking
Great work by Grabar. Shapiro not so much but gets the job done. Would benefit from an expressive reading by someone like Terry O'Reilly.
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