{"id":1498,"date":"2020-03-06T16:56:53","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T16:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/?p=1498"},"modified":"2021-05-21T18:13:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T18:13:01","slug":"driving-like-crazy-by-p-j-orourke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/?p=1498","title":{"rendered":"Driving Like Crazy<\/em> by P.J. O’Rourke"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″ custom_padding=”1px||||false|false”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

Driving Like Crazy<\/em> by P.J. O’Rourke<\/h1>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Artists-sketch-of-luncheon-with-PJ-ORourke.jpg” _builder_version=”4.3.2″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

PJ O’Rourke illustrated by Lyndon Hayes<\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″ custom_padding=”1px||||false|false”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

I can say three things with absolute certainty:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I love the writings of P.J. O\u2019Rourke — I have read every one of his books.<\/li>\n
  2. I know next-to-nothing about cars.<\/li>\n
  3. This is the longest subtitle of any book I have ever read:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Thirty Years of Vehicular Hellbending, Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed to Be — With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Mowing Our Lawn\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/PJ-ORourke-photographed-in-1970-and-2016.jpg” _builder_version=”4.3.2″ width=”94%” box_shadow_style=”preset2″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

    P.J. O\u2019Rourke c. 1970 (left) and 2016 (right)<\/em><\/p>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/PJ-ORourke-quote-about-over-regulation-of-the-automobile-industry.jpg” _builder_version=”4.3.2″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.3.2″ custom_padding=”0px||||false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

    So because of #1 \u2013 and either because or in spite of #2 \u2013 I adored this collection of stories.\u00a0P.J. has a way of taking the mundane and absurd and turning it all into laugh-out-loud writing tinged variously with sarcasm, irony, snarkiness, libertarianism, and occasional dollops of nostalgia.<\/p>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

    This book touches upon almost any vehicular experience you can imagine.\u00a0Topics include road racing in the eerie Baja California desert, steering a rusting hulk of a Soviet army truck, and grieving the decline of the Detroit muscle car.<\/p>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n

    \n

    “There’s a lot of debate about what kind of car handles best. Some say a front-engined car; some say a rear-engined car. I say a rented car. Nothing handles better than a rented car<\/strong>. You can go faster, turn corners sharper, and put the transmission into reverse while going forward at a higher rate of speed in a rented car than in any other kind.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Quote-from-PJ-ORourke-about-driving-like-a-native.jpg” _builder_version=”4.3.2″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/groveatlantic.com\/book\/driving-like-crazy\/” button_text=”Read an extended excerpt” _builder_version=”4.4.2″ hover_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    My bar-none favorite author records vehicular adventures – from racing in the creepy Baja California desert to steering a rusted out Soviet army truck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Artists-sketch-of-luncheon-with-PJ-ORourke.jpg?fit=440%2C276&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2020,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions\/2020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}