Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point, which was recommended to me by Auren, and I devoured it almost immediately. The other day my mom forwarded an article to me. It’s long, but very interesting (though the Freudian analysis of the SUV is a little much). I asked her if she knew who wrote the article (it was copy-and-past by email) and that was when I learned that the author is Mr. Gladwell.
I highly recommend you read Big and Bad: How the S.U.V. ran over automotive safety. It’s truly amazing to see how twisted American consumer minds have become.
Personally, I will always drive a small, nimble car. Stick shift too, of course.
on May 6th, 2004 at 9:28 pm
Awesome article about SUVs
Wow. This is a (longish), but incredible read about how unsafe SUVs actually are by Malcom Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point which I’ve been meaning to read. Seen here….
on May 7th, 2004 at 1:24 am
Just a comment as an SUV owner. I too bought in to the “its bigger so its safer” hoopla. I will say though, as a parent of 3 young kids, the laws require me to have a 3rd row in order to shoulder strap my kids in. While my oldest is about 2 to 3 years away from being big enough to sit in the front seat of my mid-size car, I can’t fit 3 car seats in it presently, therefore I am stuck buying a minivan, a choice of only a couple of wagons, of which I think maybe one or two is affordable, or SUVs. Now that I spent $50K on a Denali, I wish I had bought the Volvo wagon instead as it was cheaper, gets better gas mileage, and is pretty safe as well. Still, there are times, like long trips, where the XL model we got is extremly helpful with the extra trunk space. My wife comes from the islands, where they are used to packing everything but the kitchen sink, only she tries to take that too! So we really do need the extra room. You wont find that out of a minivan or a wagon, period. You’d have to rent a trailer or pack a lot on top of the roof… which isn’t all that bad anyway.
on Oct 12th, 2004 at 7:58 pm
Awesome article about SUVs
Wow. This is a (longish), but incredible read about how unsafe SUVs actually are by Malcom Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point which I’ve been meaning to read. Seen here….