The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles
by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
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Description
In a book that is "a must for anyone who has loved a motorcycle" (Oliver Sacks), Melissa Pierson captures in vivid, writerly prose the mysterious attractions of motorcycling. She sifts through myth and hyperbole: misrepresentations about danger, about the type of people who ride and why they do so. The Perfect Vehicle is not a mere recitation of facts, nor is it a polemic or apologia. Its vivid historical accounts-the beginnings of the machine, the often hidden tradition of women who ride, show more the tale of the defiant ones who taunt death on the racetrack-are intertwined with Pierson's own story, which, in itself, shows that although you may think you know what kind of person rides a motorcycle, you probably don't. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
the book was interesting but i'm not very interested in motorcycling. i would have enjoyed it as a magazine article. it never really seemed to be about travelling to a destination but about the bike you're riding, the problems or beauty of it, the people you meet, the classes you take.
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Club Read's Recommended Nonfiction Written by Women
618 works; 30 members
Author Information
7+ Works 389 Members
She lives in upstate New York. She is the author of The Perfect Vehicle: What Is Is about Motorcycles. (Bowker Author Biography)
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1997-04
- Epigraph
- All things considered there are only two kinds of men in the world: those that stay at home and those that do not.
Rudyard Kipling
There are only two kinds of bikers: those that have been down and those that are going to go down.
Biker saying - Dedication
- For Luc Sante.
- First words
- From my mother I learned to write prompt thank-you notes for a variety of occasions; from Mrs. King's ballroom dancing school I learned a proper curtsy and, believe it or not, what to do if presented with nin eating utensils ... (show all)at the same place setting, presumably at the home of the hosts to whom I had just curtsied. From motorcycles I learned practically everything else.
Foreword: At precisely this moment someone, somewhere, is getting ready to ride. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Future scents await by the road.
- Blurbers
- Lezard, Nicholas; Taylor, Michael; Pirsig, Robert; Sacks, Oliver; Marlowe, Ann
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Sports and Leisure, Biography & Memoir, Travel
- DDC/MDS
- 796.75 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Sports Car Racing Motorcycle racing
- LCC
- GV1059.5 .P54 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Recreation. Leisure Recreation. Leisure Sports
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 161
- Popularity
- 202,719
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.95)
- Languages
- English, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 2
