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.
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.