The View From Highway 1

With The View from Highway 1, Michael J. Arlen continued his original and valuable efforts to evolve a new criticism for the still-young medium of television. In the process he has produced an impressive commentary on the passing life and times of this communications-conscious nation. The View from Highway 1 is television critic Michael J. Arlen's second essay collection, originally published in 1976. In twenty-one diverse and perceptive essays, he ranges over such matters as Howard Cosell's sports-announcing style and Tom Snyder's intriguingly abrasive news delivery. He discusses the odd combination of anger and comedy that animates All in the Family and the buried eroticism in certain detergent commercials. He provides a masterful analysis of the diminished role of foreign news on television, and also a fascinating study of TV's often inept interviewers and their "How do you feel...?" interviewing techniques.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates

Various methods of assessing noise, loudness, and noise annoyance are reviewed and explained; sources, types, and intensities of traffic noise are noted; typical means of abatement and attenuation are described; design criteria for various land uses ranging from low-density to industrial are suggested and compared with the results of previous BBN and British systems for predicting annoyance and complaint; and a design guide for predicting traffic noise, capable of being programmed for batch and on-line computer applications, is presented in form suitable for use as a working tool. A flow diagram describes the interrelationships of elements in the traffic noise prediction methodology, and each element is discussed in detail in the text. The text is presented of a tape recording that takes the listener through a series of traffic situations, with such variables as traffic distance, flow velocity, distance, outdoors and indoors, and presence or absence of absorbers and attenuators.

A unique literary and artistic guidebook to one of the world’s most amazing drives—California State Highway 1, a narrow strip of roadway etched between cliffs and the ocean that leads travelers through the state’s beautiful natural attractions. Lavishly illustrated with original watercolors that depict the glories of the California coast, this book takes an appealingly idiosyncratic perspective as the authors record their explorations off the beaten path, their serendipitous discoveries, and their reactions to the places and people they encounter. A contemplative mixture of captivating artistry and personal essay, this travelogue offers an accessible introduction to many little-known details of scenic California.