Big Guy on a Bicycle: Books

Books For the Gearheads in Your Life

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:29:44 GMT

OK, I guess it's time for a book review or two. I've previously said a few words about Greg Moody's books of cycling fiction. It's still a largely empty genre, but I am happy to say that more and more writers are clipping in (I almost said "stepping up to the plate", but that's the wrong sport) and giving it a good effort.

I recently spent almost two weeks sitting on my butt at home following surgery. For the first several days, the drugs I was on kept me loopy enough that reading didn't seem like a great idea (so I went to Blockbuster instead to catch up on some movies). Once I weened myself off of the drugs, I first finished reading "Ghost Rider" by Neil Peart (not a cycling book, though he is a cyclist). Then I picked up the first of two books that John B. loaned me; "The Race" by Dave Shields.

Dave writes a story about a man in the middle of the Tour de France struggling to put his past behind him and his future in front of him. He's unpopular with most cycling fans, and is mostly thought of as a 'man of wasted potential' by his team. The story follows just two stages of the tour and deals with his interactions with his team director, his girlfriend, his team owner, his team leader, his other teammates, and also his long time nemesis / former teammate. That second stage culminates in a finish atop one of cycling most storied climbs, l'Alpe d'Huez. A large part of the story deals with his shifting role on the team as the race progresses, peppered with flashbacks to his formative years and his path into the sport.

I'm glad I was off work that day I picked up the book to start reading it. I began that morning after breakfast and read all day, finally finishing up late the same evening. It's obviously not a long book compared to most (it usually takes me a week or two to finish a book, reading for an hour or two each night that I have time). Still, it was a story that kept my interest the whole way along. I found it to be well written and entertaining, which is exactly what I wanted. It isn't deep or philosophical, but it is exactly what it should be.

My opinion? It's a very good book, and has made it into my select list of favorite cycling-related books (along with the aforementioned Greg Moody books). In fact, I think I'll even add a new list of those books off to one side here. Coming soon to a blog site near you.

I'll review Dave's other cyclo-fiction book in another day or so...

Book Review

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:58:47 GMT

If you look along the left side here, you may notice that my "Books I'm Currently Reading" block has changed. I finished one, and I abandoned one, at least temporarily.

I completed reading Neil Peart's "The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa", which tells the tale of his trip across Cameroon by bicycling with a small group of cyclo-tourists. Neil doesn't sugarcoat anything in this book, offering a peek inside his mind as he discloses his thoughts on a variety of things he encounters along the way. To say much more might be giving too much away, so let me just recommend it and move on. I took that book to John B. today so he can read it (and I returned his DVD of "PRO").

I abandoned "A Walk In The Woods" by Bill Bryson. I'm really surprised that I did, as I generally like Mr. Bryson's writing. Still, I just couldn't get past a certain event that occurs that, while seemingly innocuous to most people, I found it, well, disturbing I guess, or at least disappointing. I ended up putting the book down and picking up something else, which I rarely do. Maybe someday I will go back and finish reading it, but for now I seem to have diverted my attention to other works. I think I will end up reading his "A Short History of Nearly Everything" first, though.

I have just started reading "Ghost Rider: Travels On The Healing Road", which is another of Neil Peart's books. I will be sure to review it here once I finish reading it. I have also just gotten a couple of books from John B., which will appear as soon as I finish "Ghost Rider".

Literature of Our (Or At Least My) Time

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 02:11:00 GMT

I read once in a while. Yes, it’s true; we engineers do know how to read. Some of us can even write a little. Some of us even write…(gasp)…poetry. But I’m not going to subject you to that right now. I’m going to instead mention a few books that I’ve read recently that I rather enjoyed. This is by no means an exhaustive list of decent books.

1. 1. Two Wheels, by Greg Moody

Actually, I’ve read five books by Greg Moody in the recent past. The books center around the life of Will Ross as he ends his professional cycling career and moves on into different phases of life, but he always seems to be involved in mystery, death and intrigue. Of the five books I really liked the first three the most, being the one mentioned above, Perfect Circles, and Derailleur. Actually, I really liked the fifth one, Dead Air, but I was mixed on Deadroll, which was his fourth book. To tell you why would be too much of a spoiler, so I’ll leave at that, except to say that if you’re going to read the fifth book, you need to read the fourth one first. I don’t think anyone else has tackled the cyclist murder mystery genre, but Mr. Moody does a fine job with it.

2. 2. Off to the Races, by Samuel Abt

Sam Abt has been a journalist covering the sport of cycling since 1977. This book is a collection of his best articles as picked by the author himself. If you want to see a great cross-section of the European side of the sport over the last several decades, this book is well worth reading. Graham Watson’s photos being included is icing on an already sweet cake (I especially love the side-by-side photos of Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon as they reflect on the finale of the 1989 Tour de France).

3. 3. Heft on Wheels, by Mike Magnuson

Mike is part (but only a small part) of my influence for creating this blog in the first place. The book goes through his process of self-transformation after he decides to give up the Vita Grassa (fat life) and become the cyclist within. His methods are far more extreme than mine, but then, he had more to, um, lose (pun semi-intended).

4. 4. Long Way Round, by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman

Keeping (briefly) with the two-wheeled theme, I really was fascinated by the whole approach taken by these two men as they set out to circumnavigate the world by motorcycle. Just two guys and their BMW bikes. And the cameramen (remember the TV show that went along with the book?). And the directors. And production people. And… Well, they didn’t really set out to have that huge party of folks along, but they needed some sponsorships in order to make the trip, and selling your soul to the…sponsors…often goes along with that. Having the Teutuls and the rest of the Orange County Choppers crew ride the last bit with them must have been a huge rush.

5. 5. The Hidden Life of Dogs, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

OK, I’m moving away from wheels, but I do have other interests, and one of them is dogs. Elizabeth really delves into the whole world of dogs from the point of view of someone who thinks of dogs truly as companions with complex psychologies rather than as simple pets. There’s a lot of truth to be seen in this book, though she does get a bit flaky at times. I would have to call her a kyonpologist (one who studies dog societies).

6. 6. The Death of Common Sense, by Philip K Howard

The subtitle of this book is How Law is Suffocating America. Well, he’s right, or at least I can say that he’s right from the environmental law standpoint from personal experience. I have worked with the EPA and with numerous state versions of the same, and I can tell you that a lot of money is wasted simply because people are afraid of changing bad laws, or because they change them and make them worse. Thomas Jefferson once said “That governs best which governs least.” Mr. Howard proves to us that nobody in government today has ever heard that, or heard it but quickly ignored it.

7. 7. Acquired Tastes, by Peter Mayle

Mrs. Guy is very fond of the books of Peter Mayle. Many of them center around his life in and around Provence, France. This book is more about finding the best things in life, even if you can’t afford them. Many of these short articles reinforce the old “If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it” maxim. If I ever need a $1,300 pair of men’s dress shoes, at least I know where to look. Another book by Mayle I’d recommend is A Dog’s Life, as told by his family dog.

8. 8. French Impressions: The Adventures of an American Family, by John S Littel

While Mayle writes more about the modern-day details of an American living in Provence, John Littel presents the life of a woefully unprepared American family who moves to France in the 1950s. The book is really taken from the extensive notes of his mother, Mary, and so is told from her point of view. Hectic, comic, but never mundane.

9. 9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon

Except for Moody’s books (see #1 above), the rest of these have all been non-fiction, but let me add to the list another fictional work. Mark Haddon has spent time working with autistic individuals, so he wrote this story from the point of view of an autistic child (though it took me a few pages to figure that out since I don’t read the liner notes before I read most books – they usually give too much away). This book follows the adventures of Christopher as he searches for the killer of a neighbor’s dog (that detail is right on page one, so I’m not really giving anything away). It is a real eye-opening book, especially if you’ve never spent any time around people with autism.

10. 10. Nine Horses, by Billy Collins

This is a book of poetry by the former Poet Laureate of the United States (2001-2003). My personal favorite is ‘Litany’, where Billy takes two lines from a poem by Belgian Jacques Crickillon and rewrites the whole poem around it. I found a link to a site with just this poem, so if you’d like a sample of his work, feel free to check it out.