Hangboard Training Methodology Review

There are now dozens of hangboards available, not to mention DIY options. There are perhaps, even more suggested training methods. Given the variety of methods, I wanted a succinct overview of the different workouts, how they are used, and their overall philosophy. The following are my thoughts on the subject, but ultimately, you should make your own decisions based on your knowledge, experience, goals, and interests.

Starting with it's humble roots in walking to the top of hills, modern climbing is a marvel of human accomplishment and technology. Despite climbing's widespread public exposure, relatively little science has gone into training methods as compared to more well established Olympic sports like running or weight lifting. Perhaps the complex range of movements and span of physical systems required for any given climb, much less climbing style, challenge the training science that has been successfully applied to other sports. With all that in mind, there are certain common factors that we climbers can take from other sports, like specificity and periodization. After a certain level of overall fitness and technique, climbing, and modern sport climbing in particular, becomes almost entirely dependent on finger strength. It has famously been quoted that for climbers, the limiting factor is usually "from the elbows out."

In running, success can be measured by the combination of speed and distance the athlete runs. In weight lifting, the mass lifted in a particular style is the metric of success. In climbing, the metric of success is the grade of climb achieved. But grades are not absolute, rather ordinal and highly subjective. A climb that "feels like 5.12" to one climber may feel much easier or harder to another climber. This is a fundamental problem to training science. No matter how hard I train, if I am too tall/short, if my fingers are too large/small, (not to mention environmental conditions like humidity) the route is different and I may not be able to send. Therefore, climbing training must start with well defined proxy metrics for success.

Hangboards have long been a unique tool in the climbers training repertoire to isolate muscles and improve finger strength. However, the best means to use them are a subject for debate. A variety of techniques have been suggested, with each top athlete having their own recommendation. Before selecting a technique, one must consider the metric by which to measure success, is it weight held on a specific grip, time on a specific grip, number of cycles on a set of grips? Given the inherently limited number of grips and movements one can do on a hangboard, I will argue that for endurance based activities, a bouldering wall or climbing routes offer a better training facility. The strength of a hangboard lies in it's offering of consistent grips. This allows the user to measure their capability to hold more weight on, or hold longer on, a specific hold.

So how does one best use a hangboard then? My recommendation is the "rockprodigy" method. It combines measurable results with sport specific grip positions. I also see a high degree of value in Eva Lopez's "progression" workouts. In contrast, the "Chris Web Parsons" workout lacks any metric of success or even reproducibility of a given workout.  Workouts like those suggested by Nicros, Metolious, or Ben Moon's School Room seem best suited as substitutes for a workout at the gym.

The "rockprodigy" method, briefly, consists of using weights (with a pulley) to increase (or decrease) the difficulty of a hang. It is recommended that hangboard workouts be followed by two full days of rest, so 2x per week at most. In a given workout, 5-7 grips may be worked. For a given grip, three sets of hangs are performed with each set being 5-7 10 second hangs with 5 seconds rest and each set increasing in load and decreasing in time.

The Lopez method is an 8 week cycle with the first 4 weeks focusing on maximizing the weight added and the second 4 weeks focusing on using the smallest grip possible. Unlike the rockprodigy method, it is meant to be done in addition to regular climbing. Workouts consist of a set of 3 hangs on a defined edge size and load such that one hangs for 10 seconds out of a total capability of 13 seconds. That is, you would fall/fail at 13 seconds, so you stop at 10. Counter to common training philosophy, one does not train to failure.

I appreciate the science behind the Lopez method (see her blog and papers showing percent improvments for various groups of climbers). I also appreciate the fact that the Lopez method can be incorporated into regular climbing as setting aside 4-8 weeks for nothing but hangboard workouts is mind numbing. However, I appreciate the specificity in grip positions utilized by the rockprodigy method (as opposed to Lopez's specialized progression/transgression boards). Both methods utilize repeatable loads and grips with the focus of hangboard workouts as increasing finger strength as opposed to an overall climbing workout. As for which is best, rockprodigy or Lopez, I think the answer depends on your personal style. And who's to say that you couldn't adapt the Lopez method to any hangboard and grip position.

I hope you find this comparison useful. My goal is to be able to track my training and see quantifiable gains.

References:

1. rockprodigy:
1. http://rockclimberstrainingmanual.com/
2. http://www.rockclimbing.com/Articles/Training_and_Technique/The_Making_of_a_Rockprodigy__258.html
3. http://blog.trango.com/category/hangboard-beta/
4. https://www.trango.com/p-232-rock-prodigy-training-center-by-trango.aspx
2. Eva Lopez:
1. http://en-eva-lopez.blogspot.com/search/label/Finger%20training
3. Chris Web Parsons:
1. http://vimeo.com/61430224
2. http://www.climbingstrong.com/2013/03/10/my-thoughts-on-chris-webb-parsons-high-intensity-hangboard-program/
4. Moon Board:  http://www.moonclimbing.com/blog/school/fingerboard-training-plan/
5. Nicros:  http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/effective-hangboard-training-part-1/
6. Metolious:  http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/training_giude_10_min.html

Cracking the Fring Glyph Code

Lately I've been watching quite of bit of the TV series "Fringe."  For those unfamiliar, it starts out vaguely reminiscent of the x-files where a special agent investigates paranormal cases.  However, it is quite distinct from x-files as the focus is less on UFO's and government conspiracy, more on crazy science or science fiction realized.  In the vein of modern cinematic television, the overarching plot takes a more central focus as well.  The point is, its a solid show and I've consumed 3 20 episode seasons faster than I'd like to admit.

As I watched, I noticed the scene breaks were often accompanied by one of set of images.  I made some half hearted attempts to correlate the symbols with the current episode, but never made any progress.  A quick search of the web took me to fringepedia, where I learned that the images made up a code.  They link to a nice post from an ArsTechnica editor Julian Sanchez about cracking the "glyph code."  My first thought was, "I know I could break the code if I put in the effort, so why bother?  I'll just look up the solution."  Then I thought better and decided to crack it myself.  I recommend you give it a try as its pretty straight forward.  The most time consuming part is collecting the data, but I thin the ArsTechnica article links to a repository of the glyphs in each episode.

If you want to crack it yourself, stop reading here, or risk spoiling the fun.

I say that the code is relatively easy as the fringepedia page states that the code is a mono alphabetic substitution cypher.  If you are a fancy computer wiz (like Julian Sanchez), you'll find dictionary attack programs and whatnot (which may or may not be worth the time), or you can stay organized and think logically.

Perhaps it was cheating in knowing that the code was a monoalphabetic substitution (one symbol = one letter), or perhaps it was the simplest and therefore most logical place to start.  Either way, My first step was compiling my data.  With one seasons worth of self collected data (season 3), I did a frequency analysis.  This showed me the three most common symbols (with appearance percentage):  Apple8 (15%), Leaf1 (14%), and SmokeR_3 (11.5%).  That is, the apple image with the dot at roughly the 8 o'clock position, the leaf with the dot at the 1 o'clock position, and the smoke facing to the right with the dot at the 3 o'clock position (not knowing if there were smoke faces looking right with other dot patterns, I ended up recording extra information in the symbol name).  Searching for "letter frequency" quickly brings you to a wikipedia page showing that the 3 most common letters in the English language are:  E, T, and A.

I assigned Apple8 to E and either A or T to each Leaf1 and SmokeR_3.  From there it was good old crossword skills that cracked the code.  Episode 14 was crucial.  Between the episodes romance, the heart shaped dot on the last glyph of the episode, and the fact that the code contained 3 high frequency letters allowed for a good guess.  A six letter word, xEAxTx, related to romance?  HEARTS fits the bill.

To save myself the trouble of typing everything out, I put the episode cypher text into a spreadsheet and linked the plain text to my translated guesses:

This way, whenever I changed a letter in column 2, it would change my translations of each episode's cypher text.  Another key clue was symbol 13 LHand10_7 (left hand oriented at 10 o'clock with the dot at 7 o'clock) being a double letter at the end of a word.  How many letters can be doubles?  The answer is appearently almost all letters, but not commonly at the end of words.  That for the most part takes out vowels and suggests S or L.  Skeptical referencing back to frequency charts (given that we don't have 2 letter words and our limited sample size, the frequency table will be off by a bit), it was relatively straight forward to make educated guesses leading to correct looking solutions.  Next thing I knew, my cypher was pointing out my poor data collection on several episodes.

Its worth noting that my code breaking was simplistic and relied on several features.  First, that each symbol represented a letter.  Second, that each episode produced a word, that is, I knew where words started and ended.  Lastly, I had some good context.  Given a message typed using this cypher, my technique may not have been as efficient.

All in all, a fun puzzle, but not exactly mind blowing revelations in the coded messages.

Andrew Jackson and the Vampires

Andrew Jackson and the Vampires, by James Prohaska

More exciting than how it was taught in HS:

If your like me and enjoy a good historical fiction/alternate history and have a penchant for well thought out zombie and vampire literature, put this on your reading list.  Anything but a Hollywood knockoff, this book does an excellent job of portraying broader historical happenings and their modern reflections on an action packed, fictitious backdrop.  In contrast to "FDR American Badass," (the dvd only B movie) which becomes self mocking and low brow, "Andrew Jackson and the Vampires" maintains its dignity as it retells history and subtly comments on modern society without ever becoming overly serious.  The movie that this script directs in your mind has certain elements of a western: the star, Andrew Jackson, a rugged and rebellious type, quick to fight, and quicker on the draw with his signature flintlocks.  Lets hope that Tarantino directs this one.

Prohaska doesn't get bogged down in the "rules" of vampirism, but twists it to his will to put a face on evil and make a force for us all to unite against.  You will get sucked in by the action, but leave wondering how much is true.  In the world we live in, vampirism is purely fantasy (we hope, or it is an extraordinarily well kept secret), but the rest of the story will make you peer down the rabbit hole.  What you find may be a surprising view of the world we live in today.

A Car Buying Story

So, I just bought a new car.  I thought I'd make some notes about it for myself and then figured others out there might find some of this info useful.  So here it is:

My old ’96 Saturn SL1 was on its last legs (wheels?). I had nursed it along long enough to save a few dollars and scope the car market. I knew I wanted a hatchback with good gas mileage, but still enough spunk to make it worth driving. I got it into my heart and mind that I really wanted a gently used VW Golf TDI. Those are hard vehicles to come by; during my several months of monitoring vehicles in the area (dealerships and private sellers) I only saw 2 or 3 that fit my interest and price range. Other options I was considering included the Chevy Aveo or Cruze, Honda Fit, and the Ford Focus.

Over a period of time, I test drove the Golf, the Fit, and the Focus. The Fit felt like a tin can, the Focus more substantial but still nimble and peppy, but the Golf was the big winner! Solid yet responsive, the low end torque of the Golf TDI put a smile on my face both times I took it for a test drive.

After my Saturn almost stalled out on an evening commute and with a fresh paycheck in hand, I decided I needed to buy a car this weekend. VW Golf TDI’s new were running $25,000+, and even 2011’s with 50,000 miles were hard to find and cost almost $20,000. That pushed me towards the Ford Focus. My company's x-plan discount combined with $3,500 in rebates meant I could get a new Ford Focus hatch back SE (mid level features) for as little as $15,000. Nearly $4,000 off on a new vehicle brings the price near that of a comparable gently used version (~2 years and 30,000 miles). Obviously an older car will be cheaper, but the discounts and rebates outweigh the depreciation that occurs during the first year or so. So a new Ford seemed worthwhile. The 4 door hatchback (5 DR HB) is small enough to maneuver in traffic or a city, but maintains a large internal volume for utility and with the 6 speed automatic dual clutch transmission, gets 38 mpg’s on the freeway according to the EPA (lets see if I can beat that!) (also, the manual only has 5 speeds and is rated for 36 highway, so I went with the automatic). 

Ok, the right car was chosen. Calling ahead, the dealership had 3 2013 Ford Focus SE Hatchbacks to look at in three different levels of accessories. The basic ran $16,000, had the 5 speed manual, no heated seats, etc.; the mid level ran a sticker price of $18,000, had the winter package, 6 speed auto (no tiptronic shifting) but minus the other bells and whistles. The top of the line had the “appearance package” which included fog lights, MyFord Touch Sync, leather interior, tiptronic shifting (“selectshift”), rear disc brakes, and ambient lighting. The extra $2,500 didn’t justify the minimal performance enhancements and questionably valuable extra features. Car selected, mid level with heated seats.

Buying at the end of the month, they gave me the car below the x-plan price at straight dealer invoice (basically an extra $250 off) and then the incentives to boot. At that point, the real selling begins. The finance guy sits down and gives you the quick overview of your warranty, title fees, and how you are paying for the car. Then, while he finalizes the numbers, they try and sell you aftermarket products. This includes paint protection film, rust protection, scotch guard, floor mats, and anything else. I made mental note of what was available and prices, but held off on actually purchasing (more later).

Then, you rejoin the finance guy and he pitches the extended warranty. They offered three plans, the high end, mid level, and “basic” coverage. The high end included prepaying for maintenance, the warranty itself, and tire and wheel coverage. The mid level offered the warranty and wheel coverage, the basic just the warranty. The prepay is for the mileage triggered maintenance like a fuel filter replacement or tire rotation that you’ll get done at a dealership – I didn’t crunch the numbers, but I figure it locks you into service and any savings made by paying upfront will be lost with missed service or contract squirming by the dealers (“Oh, that isn’t covered by the prepay…”). The tire and wheel thing didn’t make a lot of sense – it was unclear what it covered (not flats but some road hazard damage but not other stuff?)…

The extended warranty itself though, was interesting. At $2,024 dollars it extended the bumper to bumper coverage to 96 months (8 years) or 120,000 miles, that’s 1.7 cents per mile (2.4 cents for the extension from mile 36,000 to mile 120,000). It does not cover normal maintenance (oil changes) or collision induced damage, but in theory, it covers everything else. So, in 5 years, if my air conditioning fails, I get that fixed for free. So, it’s a gamble, will one large or two medium things that are coverable go wrong over the course of 8 years at 15,000 miles per year? Several other interesting points were the transferability of the warranty to a subsequent buyer (increased resale value), a pro-rated rebate at trade in (a few hundred dollars if traded in at 100,000 miles), and a full refund if the warranty is unused at expiration. I took the gamble and did it. We’ll find out if it’s worth while. Overall, this was a really stressful part of the buying experience as it was unexpected and a large sum of money. In the future, I would recommend that you ask about this early on in the process and make your decisions before hand. Also, I should have negotiated on the warranty price – any reduction in price would drive the economics closer to my favor.

The three aftermarket products of interest to me were the windshield treatment (Crystal Fusion), under body rust protection, and paint protection films. The general internet forum consensus is that anything sold by the dealer is a ripoff, to just say no and walk away. Crystal fusion is marketed as acting like a permanent Rain-x that reduces/eliminates chipping and cracking (backed by some warranty). Online user reviews are difficult to come buy and not very descriptive, but the one or two found were positive. At $400 installed by the dealer, it’s a chunk of change (ie, one could buy a lot of Rain-X for that price or pay many months of full glass coverage on their insurance). Rust protection research suggests that it’s a ripoff, as in overpriced and it may or may actually make the problem worse. Auto designs and materials have improved over the years such that rust is not as big a problem as it used to be. Also, the $600 rust protection cost goes a long ways towards winter car washes that will really help. Paint protection films seemed to get generally positive reviews. $400 installation of the film is about half cost of goods, but doing it yourself is supposedly difficult (and you could spend any savings on cleaning products and time doing a crappy job yourself). I need to call around and see what prices there are from other installers, but I’m leaning towards doing this one.

Summary of Advice:

• Know your timeline, start early and use the time – know what you are interested in and keep an eye on the local inventory. 
• Look at available options and categorize things as deal breakers or bonus’.
• Heated seats are a deal breaker, tiptronic shifting is a bonus, ect.
• Try building a vehicle on the manufacturer website to see all the options
• Call around to dealerships to see what’s in stock, but know that anyone will get you exactly what you want (color, options, etc.) if you come to them.
• Check dealer websites and look for “see window sticker” to get all the details
• Its easier to see the stuff in person, but helps to know what’s there and what you are looking at
• Don’t feel pressured! Ask for space, ask for them to leave you alone, go home and sleep on it. No matter how good the deal is, there will be another good deal another day.
• Know the steps involved in purchasing a new car:
• Vehicle selection
• Finance intro
• Aftermarket upsell
• Warranty pitch
• Payment
• Haggle on everything – it never hurts to ask for a lower price, the worst they can say is “no.”

Running Data

I'm currently training for the Grandma's Half Marathon this summer.  Taking a cue from my fiancé, I 've started logging my runs.  The first version of the spreadsheet has a page with my workout plan and another with my running log itself.  The log is basic: date, run type, time running, distance, and description/notes.

The date is obvious.  The run type describes the category of the run from rest day to workout.  Time - some people suggest running for time and others for distance.  Each have their pro's and con's, I prefer time, but like to know the distances.  The thing with time is that you can't cheat the purpose of your run by running too fast or too slow.  Your long run will take you 1 hour no matter your pace, so it removes the need to race yourself.  The details column is useful for making note of how I felt.  Its handy to be able to see that I always feel like crap on my run after a long day at work, or that my shoes regularly come untied after 45 minutes.  Even more useful is seeing how nagging aches and pains wax and wane - I tend to forget when things started to bother me and when they stop.  The sore knee I suffered around Christmas (too much mileage trying to keep up with the lady) flaired up once or twice when I ran too fast or too hard, but was gone after 3 weeks of relaxed running.  This is paradoxically the most difficult part of the data to analyze, but also some of the most useful.

The other day I realized that I haven't plotted anything yet and I've amassed 3.5 months of daily running data (yes, there are rest days, missing distances and the occasional hike).  I don't think it means all that much, but here it is, 7 day running averages of my distance and time:

And for completeness, here is all the individual data with Excel's "Moving Average" trendline using 7 periods:

I don't want to discuss my training plan in too much detail, but I'll outline it briefly.  My schedule calls for 5 runs per week, two workouts (sometimes a third being a 5k race), and two rest or cross training days.  One run, usually Saturdays, is designated as a long run.  Workouts and mileage build on the way towards race date and consist of a sustained tempo run and either hill repeats or 400 or 800 m repeats.

Not sure what the data actually mean, but as long as I've got enough Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS) to keep me from running during this brutally winter like spring week, I figured I'd take a look and see if any insights showed themselves.  During January, I was recovering from a sore knee.  Yet I was still able to log my highest mileage/times.  While my knee stopped bothering me, I got my first tast of MTSS.  I cut my running to no more than every other day and my run time to about 20 min.  Lo and behold, notes on MTSS dissappear 12 days later.

Lately, I have been running too fast on my normal days and too slow on my hard days.  My mileage/time has also crept up to a consistently high value.  Perhaps running an appropriate pace for the days schedule and taking a down week will help prevent the onset of injury.  Its a tricky balance to stick to your schedule but flex it enough to avoid injury and fit your daily life.

World War Z

World War Z:  An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks

While fashions come and go, zombies never get old.  Just look at the last 5 years of movies:  Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days later, Shawn of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and soon, Hollywood's rendition of World War Z.  Here we have spanned horror, thriller, comedy, romantic comedy, and blockbuster action, all in zombies.  There are also the slightly more sci-fi bordering on vampire ones like I am Legend, but whatever, the point is zombies are fascinating.  Through zombies one can explore human nature, disaster response, and preparedness.

This review undoubtedly lacks from proper context as this is my first experience with a proper zombie novel.  Sure, I've tried reading a little HP Lovecraft, but I haven't even cracked a Stephen King novel.  That said, I know a good book when I find one.  This is one of those books that will ruin the movie for you - once you read it, you'll see how much it will lose in translation to a movie (that said, I am looking forward to the movie).  But given its quality, don't worry about seeing the movie first and then reading the book.

In a typical book, there is an introduction, plot buildup, climax, and denouement.  Here, the title makes the book a forgone conclusion:  there is a worldwide war as humanity fights for its survival against zombies.  So how do you take a book with a known plot and keep it interesting?

Masterful writing and a unique format go a long way.  The book is a collection of a UN inspectors interviews, or rather the parts of interviews that were too personal for the official report.  Max Brooks demonstrates his skill as he writes in many different voices, reminiscent of Flowers for Algernon, creating a well conceived notion of the zombie apocalypse.  If and when the zombie apocalypse comes, I hope this book is used by the analysts and governments in defending and rebuilding humanity.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.

With each interview, details of the rise of the zombies and the state of humanity are revealed.  Written flat out, the story would be borring, but presented as a series of unique perspectives from various times and places throughout the war, it is fascinating.  A simple statement about the virus spreading through human trafficking is not nearly as exciting as hearing the internal conflict of a trafficker.  Each chapter is a small window, disconected in time and space from all other chapters.  It leaves the reader feeling disjointed and uniformed.  But slowly, dripping with dramatic irony, enough information is acquired that the reader, like the survivors during the war, can build up a coherent picture of what is happening and what can be done.

The concept is so well thought out, it is remarkable.  With such attention to detail - government attempts at coverup, societal fragmentation, the failure of standard military practice, the South Africa plan - the story leaves you with a dreadful sense of inevitability.  How else could things turn out?  Given the current socio-economic-political state of the world, how else could things turn out?  Its a little depressing.

While the plot's ending is somewhat optimistic - the survival of humanity - it raises the question of an all too dark reality, In the face of great peril, can we put our differences aside to overcome the challenge at hand?  In stories like Watchmen (spoiler) where, optimistically  a common threat brings people together and ends longstanding wars and conflicts, WWZ shows a more realistic response.  Even a threat like the zombie apocalypse isn't enough to immediately overcome longstanding (and often well founded) mistrust between people.  Hardliners in positions of authority, in deteriorating chains of command, wield too much power and are just as likely to start a nuclear war as they are to avoid them.

Like all good books, it stands well on its own but is equally interesting as a reflection of modern society.

Traffic

Traffic:  Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)
Author:  Tom Vanderbilt

Ironically, my introduction to the book came about while driving.  On a long distance trip I was trying out a new podcast, 99% Invisible, and was particularly fascinated by the episode about "the white stripe."  The interview subject was discussing how we see the roads we drive on, in this example epitomized by how long we drivers think the white dashes that mark our lanes really are.  I won't ruin it for you, but I will say it was sufficiently intriguing that when I stumbled upon "Traffic" at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up.

Since I started reading the book, I've started driving slower - both because its safer and because I'm looking at the road a little more closely.  The book is at times, overwhelming in the amount of data, or rather research conclusions that are presented.  While many of us know Murphy's Law and most of us have heard of real "laws" like Moore's Law, I lost count of how many different <person's name>'s Laws were listed or how many studies were cited in Traffic.  But its great to know that someone has measured the fact that we adjust the radio 10 times per hour with an average of 1.6 seconds per adjustment.

After reading this book, you'll find yourself slipping into a mediation on the billboard message, "You Aren't Stuck in Traffic, You ARE Traffic."  Vanderbilt thoroughly explores the concept of traffic from its origins, to how it is being combatted, how traffic will change in the future, analogies in nature, the economics, and of course the safety.  Vanderbilt gives an honest effort in tying all this together, but what is the thesis?  Traffic is really complex, mostly made so by human psychology and competing interests between the individual and the system as a whole.

Where does traffic come from?  That question depends a lot on who you ask.  Asking how to fix it gets even more complex.  In Traffic, we learn about Shoup and his theory that free parking is ruining society; or rather, because of the massive subsidies for roads and undervaluation of parking, we get lots of traffic.  First, without any parking spaces or place to put your car, there will be no traffic, second, people trolling for free street parking drive more slowly and have a higher accident risk thereby creating both traffic and major economic damage.  The theory continues.

In Traffic we get an inside look at the windowless rooms and quirky personalities that manage traffic in places like LA.  But we also get a look at how efficiently our roads operate and how people try to design them better.  Often designers are foiled by human psychology, but occasionally they take advantage of it.  For example, stop lights are quite dangerous - there is nothing but a social norm to stop people from running red lights (as is often done in, say, China, which is also really slows things down) - and inefficient in that, for a moment, everyone has a red while the intersection clears.  Why not use a roundabout that solves both these problems?  Or another question is why big, wide roads with huge lines of sight are more dangerous?  The work of a Dutch road designer, described as famous, showcases clever design and understanding of human psychology can lead to excellent results.  The designer created roundabouts, so traffic is always flowing, combined with his signature style of integrating the road into the community.  Not limited to roundabouts, the designer, instead of making huge sight lines with tons of space, which encourages speeding since it doesn't feel like we are going fast, makes the driver a part of the community.  That is, instead of wondering why you have to slow down from 55 to 30 on a two lane road going through an unincorporated town, you slow down to 20 mph naturally because the road is narrow and lined with shops and park space and the sidewalk has no curb and abuts with the road and you make eye contact with passing cyclists and pedestrians.

Perhaps the thesis that ties this book together is the examination of the relationship between individual people, how their psychology influences their behavior in cars, and their interaction with society while driving.  The diversity of issues addressed within the book make it difficult to write any sort of succinct review or summary.  Read the book, you won't be disappointed