"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)

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.
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The Cyclist’s Manifesto makes the most powerful case to date for a simple fact: America can no longer afford to ignore the bicycle as a tool for serious transportation.
Why we’re entering a different phase in the history of energy, why we can’t afford to ignore it—and why the bicycle provides a uniquely empowering way of dealing with it The Cyclist’s Manifesto makes the most powerful case to date for a simple fact: America can no longer afford to ignore the bicycle as a tool for serious transportation. Robert Hurst takes off his gloves to lay out the case in favor of the bicycle as today’s superior mode of transport—and to voice a resounding call to action for people to use it. Hurst visits a surprising variety of places and historical moments in search of an explanation for America’s dysfunctional love-hate relationship with the most efficient vehicle ever invented. He argues that the American aversion to bicycling for transportation is a unique historical-cultural absurdity based largely on false assumptions and bad information. Written with wit and more than a little exasperation, The Cyclist’s Manifesto paints a tantalizing picture of the potential benefits of an increasingly self-propelled America, and beckons the frustrated driver, transit user, or pedestrian into the streets for a healthier, happier life on two wheels.
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780762751280
Publisert
2009-07-05
Utgiver
Rowman & Littlefield; Falcon Guides
Vekt
255 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
13 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
224

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Robert Hurst, a veteran bicycle messenger who has cycled nearly 200,000 miles and 20,000 hours in heavy traffic, is a student of history and the author of several FalconGuides, including The Bicycle Commuter’s Pocket Guide and The Art of Cycling.