Bike Tribes: A Field Guide To North American Cyclists (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Self-infatuated? Pretentious? Vapid? Stereotypical? I can't decide which best describes Magnusen's writing, of which this book is typical. Knowing I am a cyclist, my mother gave me this book thinking I would enjoy it. From the title, I thought I would, too. I ride road bikes, mountain bikes, cruisers, singlespeeds, commuters and even a tandem. Rolling along the paved trail by the river excites me just as much as a 5 hour century. I love bikes and know all kinds of cyclists, so a book about different types of riders sounded great. Unfortunately, this book featured absolutely no cyclists that I know. The first two subjects are stock characters so limited that calling them two dimensional would be a compliment. It only gets worse from there. You will find no nuance, no depth, no real people. You will find lots of preaching about helmets. More than anything else, you will find a general reverse snobbery that unthinkingly denigrates any cyclist who has ever made going faster, or farther, or harder their main goal. I am all for mocking racers, triathletes and other super-serious cyclists. But it has to be done well, like bikesnob does. In Magnusen's case, by a third of the way through the book, all I needed to see was the name of the next type and I knew how the rest of the description would read. That might be good thing, though. Now you can just read the first ten pages and then skip the rest. You'll have gotten all there is. I’m reviewing the ARC that I received. I’m not quite sure how much this will reflect the finished book and am therefore unsure how to rate it. I’ve read/reviewed ARCs before, but this is definitely the most unfinished one that I’ve had the chance to look at. There are place holders for additional pieces of artwork. The writing seems to indicate that there are parts with sub-chapters, but the actual layout of the ARC doesn’t distinguish between the major and minor sectioning. I’m sure all this will be fixed for the final version. The writing also feels unfinished, perhaps because I’m having a hard time figuring out who the target audience is. It has a very soft humor to it, careful only to gently tease the type of rider being described and also careful to encourage empathy for them. The writer very much wants all the tribes to be friends. Another reviewer suggested that this would be a great read for people working on policies involving multi-use areas and bike lane usage. I agree though I don’t image that’s a large enough audience to justify publishing a book. I don’t actually imagine to many decided cyclists buying this to read, but I can see it being something interesting for to flip through. Hubby thinks thinks it should be kept in the bathroom library for casual reading. I, myself, am a recreational rider and admit that I was curious about this book largely because I wish there was a larger bike culture out here in the inner suburbs.
What do You think about Bike Tribes: A Field Guide To North American Cyclists (2012)?
His tribe of choice is obvious and he does little or nothing to build bridges between disciplines.
—Rene
A fun read. Not literature but, if you're a cyclist, you'll relate to some of the humor.
—jasmin
Fun read - for bike geeks only. Vignettes of bicyclists and cycling community.
—omar
Trust me. If you ride a bike, you are in there!
—cool
