Driving by Memory

by William L. Fox

Road trips to Las Vegas are the occasion for this entertaining meditation on the quintessentially American experience of driving across the desert. William Fox, successively exiled from California, Nevada, and New Mexico, has spent more time than most of us driving to Las Vegas--and he has taken notes on three recent trips, his own way of bringing cohesion to the vast and mind-numbing aspects of the freeway. Approaching the most postmodern city on the planet from three directions, he examines the landscape and what we do to it while also trying to figure out who he is, what that means, and the nature of the transformations of land into landscape through art and architecture, landscape design, and advertising. Fox's history of the region, both natural and cultural, highlights the creep of the urban supergrid across the most extensively traveled desert in the world. This is a profoundly personal, even idiosyncratic book about the most public of subjects--living in the postmodern West at the end of the millennium and what the cities, the freeways, the open spaces, and the billboards tell us about ourselves.

Genres: Space, Science

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this immediately after reading Robert Zubrin's Mars on Earth.

This book describes the work of NASA's Mars analog station on Devon Island in northern Canada. A Mars analog station is a project set in a cold and dry region of the earth for humans to learn how to adapt to a future martian encampment.

Both books are set in the same remote region of Canada at almost the same timeframe. Zubrin's book is a first-hand account of his endeavor to build a Mars analog station in the Canadian sub-Arctic. Fox's book is an observational account about his encounters with NASA's existing Mars analog station, which was established before Zubrin's project.

Fox's writing is more empathetic than Zubrin's and does not veer toward any controversy. Fox's interaction with Zubrin's project is fleeting, and although I expected this book to be a counterpoint to Zubrin, it is that, but only peripherally. Fox does not explicitly compare the two projects, although it seems clear that Fox is wary of Zubrin and did not express much interest in that project.

Fox's book does shed some light on my own misgivings for Zubrin's abrasive, 'my way or the highway' style, and it was good to have that sympathetic perspective.

[Samantha (AK) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part memoir, part history, and part speculation on the human spirit. Fox weaves through his account of time around the Haughton Crater with reflection on how humans came to consider Mars and where we might go from here.

The look into the author's mindset and thought process on how humans relate to unknown terrain was enthralling. However, if you're looking for a straight up account of events, you may want to look elsewhere. While I enjoy the diverse and tangential narratives the author employs, it may not be to everyone's taste.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haha. Good book. None of y'all will ever be able to read it, though, as it never really got released. I got to read it, though. I'm special.

[Abtok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything and Everything by Bill Fox should be required reading.