HOW ANNALISA AND ADAM GOPNIK LEARNED TO DRIVE. Annalisa commented here about how when I was teaching her to drive, my advice on merging was only: “Oh, they sort themselves out.†She also reminisces about how when she was concentrating on driving, I talked to her all the time about things unrelated to driving—I suppose the kinds of things that I talk about on this blog.
Adam Gopnik had an article in the New Yorker (February 2) about how he was taught to drive late in life in New York City. His instructor, Arturo Leon, had him pull out into traffic immediately. Gopnik observes: “As I drove, struggling to keep the terror down, Arturo kept up a non-stop patter.”
Gopnik eventually decided that: “His constant talk… was intended to make you… [relax completely]… by not allowing you to think too much. Dread is always the product of imagination.”
I am delighted that I instinctively arrived at the teaching techniques of an expert professional.
I seem to remember you telling me about President Eisenhower as I struggled to drive through an ice storm on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I can only be grateful that I was taught by the best.