Customer Reviews (1)

Factual & down-to earth: excellent reference book
For inventors & innovators, this book contains everything needed to answer detailed preliminary questions on the main aspects of human power and its application on land, air and sea. The only drawback was that the section on flying was a little short and the section on cycling a little long, but the cycling stats fed into the flying machines anyway so no real loss. Plenty of charts, stats, references on air and water resistance, human horsepower, peak performance issues, actual test results. Very impressive collection of information, well worth the price. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

no title
Whew!What a tome!Oversized paperback of over 600 pages and thin paper at that.Filled with any and everything about bicycles you could possible imagine.Lots of terrific illustrations and pictures, many from very early times.Much so darned technical, about all the zillion parts of a bike, that I must admit I skimmed over.Pages and pages of footnotes, a glossary and a huge, huge bibliography containing even videos and artwork and music about bikes.This book just leaves no stone unturned in discussing its subject.It's more than you want to know.Even recipes, which of course I made, two of which were horrible; the pasta carbonera and fruit punch delicious.Perry is to be commended for the extraordinary amount of work done to write this treatise.

"Cult?"--Seems Normal To Me!
What a great book!At time of its release in 1995, "Bike Cult" was the first attempt at an encyclopaedia of cycling.This fat book (570 rather dense pages) covers the history of the bicycle its high-performance engine (that is, the human body), the bicycle as transportation and, lastly, the culture of the bicycle and the effect it has had on the human spirit.

There have been some changes in bicycle technology since 1995, and of course the tables of race winners is out of date, but "Bike Cult" remains a fascinating look into the origins and use of "the perfect machine."I enjoyed the lovingly described history, which not only went over the bicycle as a whole but devotes sections to individual parts of the bike, such as handlebars and seats, and the whole question of how a bicycle is steered.It is a mad compendium of information: there is a list of international names for bicycles and related items on page 99, and we learn that the Hawaiian word for bicycle is ka'a paikikala, while in Uruguay it is known as a chiba.

The benefits of cycling are described in detail but there is no attempt to shield us from descriptions of bicycle ailments discovered in the heyday of cycling in the 1890s.However, in these times of great concern about the rise of obesity in America and Europe it is clear that the bicycle offers a solution, particularly when we read that Tour de France riders burn 6,000-9,000 calories per day!

But where are we to ride, given the modern, car-centric world we live in?The section of the book entitled "Bikeable Planet" is beguiling.For a brief and glorious moment, bicycles were actually seen as the best transportation alternative for the West and in some countries they still are.Too often derided as a child's toy and treated by motorists as a menace, the bicycle can, with proper planning, be integrated into an urban transportation network.Low-cost in terms of acquisition, space requirements and maintenance, the bicycle in operation does not pollute, create noise or horrific traffic congestion.In the United States alone each year more than 40,000 people are killed in traffic accidents.Nonetheless, those who would propose bicycle-inclusive transportation systems are often derided as dreamers or utopian socialists or worse.This section of "Bike Cult" is provocative but perhaps only because our society has gone in an illogical direction.

Author David Perry, who operates a bicycle shop in New York City, then takes us on a tour of cycling as a sport, including not only the expected pro racing/Tour de France information, but also strange sports such as Indoor Cycling and Bicycle Polo.Then our long journey takes us into art and bicycles and fashion and bicycles and even sex and bicycles.

"Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity," said Lord Charles Beresford.And we should thank David Perry for this enchanting and entertaining look at the bicycle in all its forms and seasons.This is the kind of book that gives pleasure every time one opens it, reading at random.Addictive!

For All Bike Lovers
This book definitely caters to bicyclists of all types, with an exhaustive array of passages concerning all aspects of the bicycle. Dave Perry covers pretty much covers all the bases with his highly enjoyable writing style, and scattered illustrations on almost every page. I particularly enjoyed the role of the bicycle as personal transportation AND as a working tool, not only in the States, but all over the world. The book makes the simple bike a cult symbol to the reader, and sets itself apart from all those other books out there by leaving out the "what gear do I need?" sections and fix-it-yourself stuff, and keeping the love for the bike foremost in your mind.

Fun, somewhat useful and hopelessly stuck in the 1960s
This is certainly an enjoyable book to dip into and read, so long as you don't take all of what you read as gospel. It's very much a political tract of the "appropriate-technology" school which likes to paint apicture of a utopian society that has all the benifits of industrializationwithout industrialization per se, and the benifits of large-scale economieswhile pushing small planned economies.

Not to say that there aren't a lotof desirable notions they push. What bicyclist wouldn't like to live in acar-free village where you could actually do your shopping safely on abike? Who wouldn't like a car-free inter-city bicycle highway? Of course,such bike roadways rapidly become pedestrian/roller blade/dog walkingroutes with 12 mph speed limits, and the car-free city is great until youneed a refrigerator delivered or have to move, or perhaps need anambulence.

But it's still a fun read.

Enjoyable, with a lot of Gee, I didn't know that.
An informative, entertaining great for rainy/snowy days book loaded with history,information, evolution of cycling and human powered vehicles.Not a repair manual, but some tips are given.Lot's of information on healthand safety. ... Read more

Book Description
An amazing and deeply insightful account of how two normal guys decided to embark upon the unthinkable: an attempt to circumnavigate the globe using just human powered means.

On a rainy, miserable Monday morning in Paris a twenty-something bureaucrat decides there must be more to life than the United Nations project on which he is working. Stevie Smith tries to figure out what he could do of great significance and hit upon the notion of a trip around the world using only human power—no motors, no sails, no balloons—maybe the last great first. With no experience, no particular expedition skills, and no money, the adventure begins.

A pedal-powered boat, a bike, in-line skates, and a lot of hilarious non-heroics take Stevie and his buddy, Jason, where no one has gone before. A bike ride through Europe by a guy who's never ridden much beyond the corner grocery; a pedal-boat trip across the Atlantic in 111 days by two guys whose combined sailing experience was a bout or two in a dinghy on the English coast; a bike and in-line skates get them across America; more pedaling to Hawaii…

No travel writing has more accurately captured the old adage, "it's the journey and not the destination." Therein lies the simple beauty of this entertaining travel tale—a search for simplicity, integrity, and freedom. 12 black & white photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Where's the proofreader?
I tore through this adventure yarn in a weekend, reading parts out loud, and laughing a lot.The chutzpah!For all the environmental credentials, it's really a colonial attitude: let me inflict my ill-conceived folly on you and you pay for it!I also found the several glaring spelling mistakes of geographic places irritating.They weren't even consistent, misspelling them differently in different places.For the record, it's Extremadura!Honokohau!Leleiwi!
Fun read, though.

Would you consider cycling across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?,
Well Stevie Smith did, and his book describes the true story of how he and a friend set out on a seemingly impossible adventure to avoid the tedium of office life and do something truly unique. The book is a fantastic read, written from the heart and describing an adventure that no sane person would even dream about. A must read.

A story of change and motivation
Looking for high adventure? Read Pedaling To Hawaii: A Human-powered Odyssey. A Parisian bureaucrat decides to change his life and with no special skills and no money, he and his friend ride through Europe and pedal-boat across the Atlantic in 111 days. Using skates, bikes and boats and the two cross the US and then go to Hawaii their high adventures combine with life-changing insights in a story of change and motivation.

Incredible story
Awesome, awesome book. This treasure joins about three dozen other adventure books in my library and is one of only a few that I have read twice. It's honest, funny, intense and thouroughly entertaining. Thank you for sharing your story Stevie!!

Greg K
[...]

how not to make a major undertaking
This book details the first part of a human-powered expedition around the world. The first section details the initial motivations of the two primary participants, the design and early funding of the pedal boat that would handle the oceanic portions of the journey. This is followed by the journey itself, which can be divided roughly between England->Portugal, Portugal->Miami, Miami->San Francisco, SF->Hilo. (The expedition is apparently continuing, but the book stops here where the author is drastically scaling back his role)

That they made it at all is impressive. Certainly the oceanic parts were dangerous. They were underfunded almost throughout, and conducted little or no planning and assesment. But that the journey was perhaps foolhardy does not decrease the accomplishment of the participants.

However, this is not like Bryson's _A Walk in the Woods_. The participants are not innocent, and Mr. Smith has attitudes which can be jarring. The two primary problems I had with the book while reading it were:

-Politics and philosophy that are slightly off: Mr Smith observes "fishing vessels" between Cuba and the US which are moving but don't have nets set. Without any commercial fishing expertise he immediately asserts that the US is paying Cuba to intercept refugees before they reach US shores (p118). The author unapologetically overstays his tourist visa in the US out of convienince. The author is near condscending towards people who cycle with support teams (specifically p156-158), without acknowledging differing motivations.

-Dwells on bad incidents: The journey is underfunded from the start, and obviously some discussion of the fundraising process is needed. It's cynical at points however, considering the degree of support that was rendered (at one point in the pacific crossing, the US Navy is prepared to divert a destroyer to deliver a water purifier, a passing trawler gives the relief crew a tow saving the boat off Monteray, etc, etc). The journey accross the continental US is a row of bad experiences-- surely something good happened, or he ran into someone that was nice to him, rather than lecherous truckers and pot-bellied sherrifs the entire way.

During the voyage, the author grows a bit and the philosophical points are thankfully understated.

So, all told if you have an interest in the voyage the book is worth reading. If your looking for how not to plan a significant undertaking, this book is for you. But beyond that, there is little to hold the reader's interest. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, published by American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) on September 1, 1996. The length of the article is 864 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Greek Olympic cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos has set endurance and distance records that may never be broken in a 1988 study called Project Daedalus. The man pedaled a human-powered aircraft called the Daedalus for almost four hours and a distance of 119 km over the Aegean Sea from the island of Crete to the island of Santorini. The four hour flight required the amount of oxygen needed to pedal a bicycle over level ground at 37 km per hour or the mechanical output needed to complete two 42.2-km marathons in two 2 hours and 20 minutes run consecutively without pause.

Citation Details
Title: The limits of human performance: Project Daedalus.
Author: Ethan R. Nadel
Publication: Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1996
Publisher: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)
Volume: v67Issue: n3Page: pS71(2)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Management Quarterly, published by National Rural Electric Cooperative Association on June 22, 1994. The length of the article is 2248 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Economic and environmental concerns are fuelling interest in natural gas-powered vehicles. Economically, natural gas is appealing because it is abundant and cheap, and its increased use will help lessen the dependence of the US on foreign oil. On the environmental front, this energy resource is attractive because of its clean burning nature. Aside from these reasons, interest in alternative energy-powered cars is being driven by government pressure. The Alternative Motor Fuels Act aims to stimulate the development and use of alcohol and natural gas as transporation fuels, while the National Energy Policy Act of 1992 mandates the use of alternative fuel replacement vehicles in federal and state governments. This development may open opportunities for rural electric cooperatives to provide fueling stations. The pros and cons of becoming a provider of compressed natural gas for refueling vehicles are cited.

Citation Details
Title: Are natural gas vehicles in your future?
Author: Scott Welk
Publication: Management Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 1994
Publisher: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Volume: v35Issue: n2Page: p12(5)

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