Going Back To School In Your Car

You already know that your daily drive can make you aggravated, exasperated, and even potty-mouthed. But did you know it could make you smarter too?


A USC study found that drivers who cover an average of 12,000 miles a year will, over the course of three years, spend enough time in their cars to complete two full years of college. That could make commuting the single most important educational tool we have. Think of it as the U of YC: the University of Your Car.

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m committed to constant self-edification. You can find new and used audio books online for cheap, and your local library branch has shelves of audio books of all kinds that you can borrow for free. Here are a few course offerings to consider:

Required courses. Have you had the desire to refresh your memory on World History? Perhaps understand how the mind works with an audio on Psychology. Whatever class you've been thinking of taking, there's an audio book covering the topic, from actual college lectures to best-seller non-fiction.

Get a degree in business. All the best business titles come out instantly in audio books. Learn to make friends and influence people, give yourself a total money makeover, or start thinking like a billionaire—all before you get to the office in the morning.

Stay informed. Check out www.audible.com. You'll find your favorite radio shows like Car Talk and Fresh Air available for purchase, so you can listen whenever you want. You can also find audio versions of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal available for daily download.

Learn a new language. Remember those old language tapes? Well, they still make those. And they're better, now. Promise. And what better place to work on that accent of yours than alone in the car? And the people in the next car watching you talk to yourself—they can think what they want.

Since you're the dean of admissions and you make the reading (or, rather "listening") list for this degree, you can study what you want. Your commute isn't getting any shorter, but at least now you can get smarter while you're getting where you need to go. And the next time traffic is stopped dead on the freeway, look on the bright side: you can take notes.