An Amazon Best Book of the Month, September 2014: In 2006, a pair of rocket scientists died on a Utah highway, killed in a collision with a student named Reggie Shaw, who had been texting at the time of the accident. A Deadly Wandering uses this moment to launch itself into an investigation/rumination on the increasing presence of technology in our lives, probing for answers to the question How much is too much? This might have been boring if anyone but Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel had written it. The result is anything but: Richtel has combined his savvy as a New York Times science reporter with his skill as a writer of technology-infused thrillers to weave two separate, if related, stories together: the tragedy—and ultimate redemption—of Reggie Shaw, and the deleterious effects of technology on our brains, bodies, and culture. A Deadly Wandering is a riveting blend of humanity and science, and a masterful work of narrative nonfiction. — Jon Foro "Comprehensive research underlies this compelling, highly emotional and profoundly important story." xa0- Kirkus (Starred Review) A landmark exploration of the vast and expanding impact of technology, rivetingly told through the lens of a deadly collision One of the year's most original and masterfully reported books, A Deadly Wandering by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Matt Richtel interweaves the cutting-edge science of attention with the tensely plotted story of a mysterious car accident and its aftermath to answer some of the defining questions of our time: What is technology doing to us? Can our minds keep up with the pace of change? How can we find balance? Through Richtel's beautifully constructed narrative, a complex and far-reaching topic becomes intimate and urgent—an important call to reexamine our own lives. On the last day of summer, an ordinary Utah college student named Reggie Shaw fatally struck two rocket scientists while texting and driving along a majestic stretch of highway bordering the Rocky Mountains. Richtel follows Reggie from the moment of the tragedy, through the police investigation, the state's groundbreaking prosecution (at the time there was little precedent to guide the court), and ultimately, Reggie's wrenching admission of responsibility. Richtel parallels Reggie's journey with leading-edge scientific findings regarding human attention and the impact of technology on our brains—showing how these devices, now thoroughly embedded into all aspects of our lives, play to our deepest social instincts and prey on parts of the brain that crave stimulation, creating loops of compulsion, even addiction. Remarkably, today Reggie is a leading advocate who has helped spark a national effort targeting distracted driving, and the arc of his story provides a window through which Richtel pursues actionable solutions to help manage this crisis individually and as a society. A propulsive read filled with fascinating scientific detail, riveting narrative tension, and rare emotional depth, A Deadly Wandering is a book that can change—and save—lives. Matt Richtel is a Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times reporter and bestselling nonfiction and mystery author. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Meredith, a neurologist, and their two children. In his spare time, he plays tennis and piano and writes (not very good) songs. Visit him online at www.mattrichtel.wordpress.com. Read more
Features & Highlights
From Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Matt Richtel, a brilliant, narrative-driven exploration of technology’s vast influence on the human mind and society, dramatically-told through the lens of a tragic “texting-while-driving” car crash that claimed the lives of two rocket scientists in 2006.
In this ambitious, compelling, and beautifully written book, Matt Richtel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the
New York Times
, examines the impact of technology on our lives through the story of Utah college student Reggie Shaw, who killed two scientists while texting and driving. Richtel follows Reggie through the tragedy, the police investigation, his prosecution, and ultimately, his redemption.
In the wake of his experience, Reggie has become a leading advocate against “distracted driving.” Richtel interweaves Reggie’s story with cutting-edge scientific findings regarding human attention and the impact of technology on our brains, proposing solid, practical, and actionable solutions to help manage this crisis individually and as a society.
A propulsive read filled with fascinating, accessible detail, riveting narrative tension, and emotional depth,
A Deadly Wandering
explores one of the biggest questions of our time—what is all of our technology doing to us?—and provides unsettling and important answers and information we all need.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
5.0
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Amazing.
Heads up, don't buy this book if you have any sort of time sensitive work or activities planned. Once you start it, you won't be able to put it down, so plan accordingly.
A Deadly Wandering is one of those rare books that manages to convey scientific data in an interesting - riveting even - way. The book is all about attention, our ability to focus on one or more activities, and the impact of attention-demanding devices like phones and computers. It isn't preachy and it isn't dry, instead, Richtel combines the story of a Utah boy who killed two rocket scientists while he was driving his car while texting with the scientific research surrounding attention, focus and our modern technology.
Much of the book takes place in Utah, not only because the story is woven around Reggie Shaw, the boy who killed the scientists, but also because some of the most important research has come out of the University of Utah. I live in Utah and I was incredibly impressed with how carefully Richtel handled the local culture. Normally people writing about Utah fall into one of two camps: vilify the mormons or think the mormons can do no wrong. But Richtel stays fairly neutral even while injecting emotion and life into the story - no easy task. He talks about the insular nature of LDS communities without criticizing them and he mentions the philosophical flexibility of Utah representatives (for example: one individual is against any government interference in private life at all, except when it is government interference that supports their own moral beliefs) without turning them into evil caricatures or heroes.
I mention this for two reasons: first, the story is that much better because it is even-handed, but second, the story's main character, Reggie Shaw, is the type of person who requires a very careful hand. In fact, the entire topic does. Neither Reggie nor the people who find themselves distracted while driving are evil - even if they do awful things - and nothing in this life, these situations or this book is black and white. And that's a good thing, because by the end of the book, you find yourself questioning what you know and looking inward at yourself and your own behaviors, rather than passing judgement on the people in the book.
More than a story about a tragedy, it is a tale with a cast of characters that will change the way you look at people and will absolutely change the way you look at the technology in your life. Richtel isn't encouraging people to step back into some 17th century tech-free zone. But he is encouraging readers to look at their own behaviors and find the courage to be honest with oneself. Highly entertaining, endlessly informative and gorgeously written.
91 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Compelling, Thought-Provoking, Must-Read Book
This captivating book asks important questions:
Is technology benign?
Has technology surpassed the limits of the human brain?
How much are humans capable of taking in, even when they are focused on something else?
The book is written in a narrative format, where the scientific information is woven into the stories of several people. The book is centered around a car accident, where two rocket scientists were killed by a teen who was texting while driving. The book is written in such an engaging way, that I could not put it down once I started it.
Along the way, I learned about how attention science evolved, beginning with World War II cockpit experiments. How much information can pilots take in, before they start making mistakes? The book goes through the advent of Silicon Valley, PCs, video games, and car phones. Such a rapid increase in technology has an effect on the human mind. Are those effects benign?
This book encouraged me to ask questions about science, technology, and the human brain. I will be thinking about it for a long time to come. This is a must-read book!
57 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Seriously, This Book Can Change Lives
I chose this book because I have young text fiends in my extended family and worry about them as they begin to drive. More than a manual of safety tips for parents of inattentive drivers, A DEADLY WANDERING closely follows the result of an accident that could have been avoided. We get to know the victims, the perpetrator, the families affected.
There are some passages of scientific detail on the brain, the ways that people can multi-task and the ways that they cannot. Though science, especially neuroscience, may be a no-go for some readers, it is definitely something for that latent scientist is me, the wordsmith.
A DEADLY WANDERING, written by Pulitzer Prize winner, Matt Richtel, will hold your attention as well as any well-written true crime book out there. That it is applicable to each and every family with a driver or a phone addict or a texter among them makes it that much more important. If I were teaching AP Lit or AP Science or a college course, this book would be on my syllabus. It is that important.
43 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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A challenge to read
Ultimately after finishing this book, I felt it had good information on distracted driving...but it was hard for me to read. The first half of the book drug on and I had to make myself read a little each day. The problem for me was the way the book was going back and forth between chapters on Reggie Shaw's story (the seminal case on texting and driving), the Neuroscientists (the data)and other ancillary info such as Terryl and Linton.
When I read a non-fiction book, I am looking for facts and information. All during Part 1, I was frustrated and thinking "why is this in here?". Let me give you an example from Chapter 4 Reggie, beginning in paragraph 5:
"Everything was going to be okay, she told herself. Reggie was a polite boy, and the son who'd already survived a few challenges - the concussions in football, that goofy, lovable awkwardness, the odd birth. The day he was born, in late January 1987, Mary Jane's doctor wanted to be there for the birth, but also to leave on a family vacation. He induced labor by stripping Mary Jane's membranes at this office and, a few hours later, Ed hustled her to the hospital. The baby came a few hours later, on the early morning or January 28. They had to suction his head to get him out.
"He came out with a cone head." Mary Jane laughs when she tells the story. "I told the doctor to put him back in because he wasn't done yet."
Then there were the earlier chapters on Terryl. I had no idea why I was reading about this woman and the abuse she went through as a child. Eventually, you will find that she does play a major part in Reggie's prosecution.
The parts of the book dealing with Reggie's story are all meant to develop characters and help you identify with the people effected by the accident caused by Reggie Shaw. If you want to put a face to the dangers of texting and driving, this story will do that for you.
If like me, you just wanted to get some facts on the dangers of texting and driving, read the chapters titled "the Neuroscientists".
26 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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This is an important and enlightening book, a "must-read"
I just finished A Deadly Wandering last night and was very moved by it for a number of reasons that I am still contemplating. This is a very well written, absorbing, enlightening and factually well supported non-fiction novel. I found it hard to put down, but even more importantly, found it extremely relevant to my life and my work.
I have not been an in-car texter for a decade now, having realized very early how dangerous it is, but was thrilled last year when my new car came with hands-free ("legal" in CA) phone capabilities, which I have used on occasion. After reading the book and internalizing the sobering science of attention, I turned off the Bluetooth on my new iPhone 6 before getting into the car this morning.
I have a super long commute to and from work each day and, like many, consider those hours “productive time” when able to take a work call or catch up with a relative or friend while commuting. However, I will now not be using my phone in the car while in motion ever again.
People's lives and safety are unquestionably more important than any of the multi-tasking conveniences these increasingly capable devices can bring us in our busy lives and I do not want to end up like the book’s protagonist, Reggie Shaw. So, through Matt Richtel, that young man with a tragic past has touched one more life.
For folks like myself who have worked in the internet technology industry, and particularly the mobile industry, since its early days, it is really moving to read a true story about how these technologies are distracting people even to the point of death either in traffic causing horrendous and preventable accidents or in their personal lives, with children tuning-out, relationships being eroded and very real and unnecessary stress being added to our lives with the gadgets and services demanding or even addictively sucking away your attention.
Having spent most of my career working for the biggest names in mobile evangelizing mobile technologies like texting, mobile internet, mobile navigation, and mobile apps, I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility for increasing awareness for this important new scientific evidence for technology’s impact on attention, awareness, brain function and brain health. There are positives and negative implications and possibilities and as a society should make raise awareness of both and take action. Awareness is an opportunity to find solutions.
As a yogi, a meditator and a stepmother, I also see the impact of technology on our selves, our relationships and on our children. We must think about how our children use these technologies and monitor whether we feel they are helping or harming our or their personal physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing.
I believe this is an important book and I hope that others will take the time to read it and to examine their own relationship to technology, that of their families and, if relevant, in their work.
15 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Educating, Entertaining, and Engaging
There is a reason that Matt Richtel won a Pulitzer prize. He is a skilled journalist and a talented writer and both of those qualities come together in this engaging book. I was pleasantly surprised at his ability to incorporate scientific depth and data into a highly readable book. The personal stories of the involved parties in this true story add human interest and help make this a well-paced book rather than a dry telling of the science behind attention and why we think we can multi-task more and better than we really can. This book will educate you, entertain you, and make you feel for the parties involved as his ability to help you get to know the real-life characters in the book is so deft.
It usually takes me awhile to finish a book as my interest tends to wander. I finished this one in three days.
8 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Full disclosure -- I have not read this book. ...
Full disclosure -- I have not read this book. This is not a review of the book but a comment on Amazon pricing. How can the kindle version cost more than the paperback version. The kindle version is essentially a license that has no cost of production aside from the intellectual and associated costs. The paperback needs to be printed, packaged and shipped -- and costs more, both to the consumer and to the environment -- than the mobi. That is not ok.
7 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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The face of distracted driving and its consequences.
Distracted driving. In 2014, it's a common phrase but in 2006, text messaging was still in its relative infancy. It's hard to imagine now but a mere eight years ago, not a single state had any texting/distracted driving laws on the books. It is in this environment that the tragic accident profiled in A Deadly Wandering takes place.
Author Matt Richtel displays his prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning talents here as he weaves the coming together of distracted driving awareness, scientific data and the scope of human attention, and the work of advocates to enact legislation to address the rapidly changing world of technology.
From 19-year-old Reggie Shaw, the young man whose texting and driving caused a fatal accident that took the lives of two scientists along a Utah highway in September of 2006, Richtel goes to great lengths to profile the individuals involved in a case many credit with bringing the dangers of distracted driving into the national spotlight.
A Deadly Wandering is an ambitious book and attempts to not only tell the story behind the accident, but also to probe the neurological data of how our brains function and at what point we stop being able to process information and continue to effectively - and in this case safely - multitask.
Unfortunately, the generation of drivers who need to heed these cautions the most are unlikely to take the time between sending out Tweets and posting to Instagram to read Richtel's thought-provoking book.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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A Strange Slog
This book was almost unreadable. It lacked focus, contained too much irrelevant information, and attempted, strangely, to romanticize non-fictional characters whose lives could not bear that strain. The narrative bounced among the lives of various characters, a court case, neuroscience, emotional and sexual abuse, legislative history, life in Mormon Utah, and texting. Unfortunately, these threads were never fully integrated with one another.
The details of characters lives, from irrelevant biographical material to what they were wearing, where they ate on particular days and whom they were dating, provided odd little forays into dead ends that added nothing to the narrative or character development, but certainly made the going rough. The attempt to raise specific individuals to the level of heroic archetypes failed miserably. I would also argue that scientific research into human attention capabilities do not need to begin with Helmholz.
The truly sad thing is that this book should have been interesting and necessary reading for people living in an age of technology that is changing the way we look at and craft our world, one another and ourselves. I truly wish this information had been distilled and presented in a focused narrative. I think it could have been powerful.
Sadly, it was just a strange slog.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Overcoming a Deadly Connection
This compellingly eloquent book is of immense importance for our society. Matt Richtel weaves together significant scientific research into the reasons for and effects of our powerful attachments to our cell phones with the poignant and complex true story of a particular deadly accident caused by a teenager who was texting while driving. Every person who owns a cell phone and drives a car should read this book and absorb the dire reasons why ANY use of a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle is potentially disastrous. Richtel's talent as a writer allows him to combine the emotional impact of the pathos of the story of the accident, which killed two talented scientists who were husbands and fathers and completely transformed the life of the youg driver who caused the accident, with the stark logos of undeniable scientific facts about the inability of our brains to focus effectively on more than one thing at a time and why we are so irresistably tied to our devices. Richtel moves our hearts and informs our intellects in order to get us to examine our own habits and reform them appropriately. The more people who read and respond to this amazing book, the safer our streets and highways will be.
