I noticed that very intelligent and informed persons were at no advantage over cabdrivers in their predictions, but there was a crucial difference. Cabdrivers did not believe that they understood as much as learned people - really, they were not the experts and they knew it. Nobody knew anything, but elite thinkers thought that they knew more than the rest because they were elite thinkers, and if you're a member of the elite, you automatically know more than the nonelite.

It’s rare for intelligence and drive to intersect in one person.

When they do, look out.

More data — such as paying attention to the eye colors of the people around when crossing the street — can make you miss the big truck.

More data—such as paying attention to the eye colors of the people around when crossing the street—can make you miss the big truck.

Birds in which spatial memory is particularly important—those that store food at a large number of sites, for example—have larger hippocampuses than other birds. ...London taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus than others the same age. ...the size of their hippocampus continues to increase with time on the job.

The London Taxi Cab Study provides a compelling example of the brain’s neuroplasticity, or ability to reorganize and transform itself as it is exposed to learning and new experiences. Having to constantly learn new routes in the city forced the taxi cab drivers’ brains to create new neural pathways. These pathways changed the structure and size of the brain, an amazing example of the limitless brain at work.

"Brains," remarked Cap'n Bill, "is of all kinds and work different ways. But I've noticed that them as thinks that their brains is best is often mistook."

Truck driver gets his truck stuck under an overpass, with Engvall watching.

He's very clever, but sometimes his brains go to his head.

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirming like a toad.

By 2050 most truck drivers won’t be human. Since truck driving is currently the most common occupation in the U.S., this is a big deal.

[The final chapter of the book] sketch a few facts about animal brains that have inspired some of the properties of our vehicles, and their behavior will then seem less gratuitous than it may have seemed up to this poin.t

His brain was his office.

Remember handwriting? Driving is next.