A reader recently contacted us suggesting we post a link to Bike & Chain, a book written by an unnamed author who’s reportedly a long time East Coast activist. The Ultimate Guide to Bicycling Culture is not your typical bike book. It’s not a novel, the website claims, “Because novels are fiction.”
After a cursory glance through the pages, Bike & Chain looks promising. The book is available for free online, and broken down by chapter as individual PDF files. Check it out.
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There is nothing worse than the cover design of a self-published book. I hope the writing is a touch better.
Isn’t there some sort of adage about judging a book by its cover?
that adage is dumb. i TOTALLY judge books by their covers.
Wow. over 1,000 pages of material to pour over. Pretty ambitious if nothing else.
I tried reading through some of the chapters that looked interesting to me, but it was really hard to get through… the style is a rambling prose that never really seems to focus on anything for more than a sentence or two. It was more than a bit nerve-wracking.
Crimany! Is this thing tedius! It’s like something a meth-head would crank out (pun intended) while on a 3 day panic.
The web is full of readable self-published books, but _Bike and Chain_ is not one of them. Try Steve Roberts’ very enjoyable _Computing across America_ or _Miles with Maggie_ instead. Or how about _The Road that has No End_? Even if you don’t want to read about cycling, John Sundman’s _Acts of the Apostles_ is excellent, and William Vollman’s _You Bright and Risen Angels_ was originally written in a cubicle at night.