Street Smarts - by Deborah Warren (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Travel through the endless lore of roads, turnpikes, highways, and whatever byways humans have put on Earth in these short, funny, and interconnected essays.

Deborah Warren is a sure and entertaining guide to nearly every road-related topic out there--from odonymy (the study of street names) to map-making techniques to the history of the world's most celebrated lanes.

Did you know...

• The word "travel" derives from the Latin tripaliare, meaning "to trouble, to torture."
• The length of the parasang, used in Arabia and Persia, was a day's walk, its distance a function of climate and terrain.
• Streets with female names are higher-value than ones with male names according to Realtor.com.
• Japan does not name its actual streets. You typically get directions and addresses from landmarks or traffic signals.
• Skippers Canyon Road in New Zealand is considered so dangerous that your rental car insurance won't be honored if you drive on it.
• Street names in the US include Bucket of Blood Street (Holbrook, AZ), Divorce Court (Heather Highlands, PA), Haviture Way (Eugene, OR), Weiner Cutoff Road (Mallard Landing, AR), and Justin Bieber Way (Forney, TX).

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR DEBORAH WARREN AND HER BOOKS

"[Warren's] curiosity and embrace of the unpredictable, as well as her delight in both the archaic and the homespun, animate Strange to Say, a tour of English that savors the language's mutability."
―Wall Street Journal on Strange to Say

"[Warren] brings a poet's ear and eye to Strange to Say, finding joy in the words as much as in their pedigrees . . . A brilliant, holistic approach."
―Los Angeles Review of Books on Strange to Say

"Warren goes anywhere, inhabits anything: it is fun to see a poet so willing to embrace metamorphosis . . . A great book."
―The Millions on Connoisseurs of Worms

"Immensely engaging . . . Steeped in references to Greek and Roman history and literature, this book sings with an erudite yet accessible energy one might expect from a former Latin teacher. After finishing this collection, readers will definitely want to dive into the rest of Warren's oeuvre."
―Booklist on Connoisseurs of Worms

About the Author

Deborah Warren is the author of six books. She has published two works of non-fiction, Strange to Say (Paul Dry Books, 2021) and Weird and Shocking Fact About Famous Figures; four poetry collections including Connoisseurs of Worms (Paul Dry Books, 2021); and a translation of Ausonius: The Moselle and Other Poems. Warren's writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Paris Review, Poetry, and other publications, and she has won the Robert Penn Warren Prize, Robert Frost Award, and the New Criterion Poetry Prize among others. She lives in Massachusetts.