Cyclist's Manifesto
The Case For Riding On Two Wheels Instead Of Four
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Rowman & Littlefield
Published:5th May '09
Currently unavailable, our supplier has not provided us a restock date
The basic thesis of the manifesto is as follows: The American aversion to bicycling for transportation is a unique historical-cultural absurdity that is based largely on false assumptions and bad information. As the nation's acute energy predicament intensifies, the most simple and elegant remedy available is the one that almost never gets mentioned. The avoidance of the bicycle in recent public discourse has been conspicuous, ridiculous, and downright strange. While bicycling, for a variety of reasons, will not be the best choice for everybody, it is realistic to think that we in the US could grow the mode share of the bicycle to around 5%. (This would represent a huge increase in the number of cyclists currently on the road, but would still be far below levels currently seen in many European countries.) Boosting the mode share of bicycling to this seemingly modest level would produce rather intense, far-reaching positive effects (and a few negative ones), at an extremely low cost. The latter half of the manifesto will be devoted to painting the undeniably tantalizing picture of just what those effects might be -- for instance, the health care savings would be astronomical -- and the different ways that individuals and governments can go about wresting back control over their energy destiny. The author's recommendations are surprising. It'll be easier than we think. It will even be fun. The roads are already bikeable, and there's an old bike waiting in the garage behind the wetvac.
"Author Robert Hurst delivers a vigorous forehead slap to America in this feisty manifesto for the age of 'Peak Oil."Praise for Robert Hurst's The Art of Cycling: "Robert Hurst succeeds in writing about urban cycling the way that Rachel Carson triumphed with Silent Spring, the seminal work whose publication spawned Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency, consumer recycling, and how we look at the world." "This empowering cycling book should come in the glove box of every new car sold" -- Marla Streb, World Champion Downhill Mountain Bike Racer "While it's hard to imagine a book about [urban] cycling could fill over 250 pages, let alone strive to be a near masterpiece, that's just what The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street, and all-encompassing how-to book by veteran bicycling messenger Robert Hurst, has accomplished." "With a spot-on foreword written by Luna downhiller Marla Streb and a detailed index of footnotes and bibliography, Hurst has compiled a cerebral but hip manifesto for [urban] cyclists looking to coexist in a system that has left them to fend for their lives." -- VeloNews, Journal of Competitive Cycling "I would like to highly recommend the book "The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street" by Robert Hurst. Not only is it delightfully written (with a sense of humour and a relaxed style) and absorbing ("just a second, dear, I'll take out the trash after I read about curbs"), but it's *dead on*. I've been riding my whole life, never having owned a car, to get everywhere from school to grocery shopping to Canada. And he's *right*. Katherine Stange, Providence, RI (Amazon review)
ISBN: 9780762751280
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm
Weight: 255g
224 pages