The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles
Author | : Melissa Holbrook Pierson |
Publisher | : W. W. Norton & Company |
Total Pages | : 241 |
Release | : 2011-01-12 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780393078367 |
ISBN-13 | : 0393078361 |
Rating | : 4/5 (67 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles written by Melissa Holbrook Pierson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-01-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book, a polished, winding meditation on the theory and fractiousness of motorcycles, celebrates both their eccentric history and the wary pleasures of touring."—The New Yorker 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, 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.