Customer Reviews

Bicycle: Around the World

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This is a 416p book of color photographs about the size of a thick paperback. It is a montage of images of parked bicycles outside temples, parks, buildings and markets as well as in the garbage. There are no words. It documents the view that the bicycle is a cultural artifact the expression of which is determined by its context. Many are adapted to specific uses such as being used as a scarecrow in a field or selling food and carrying loads/passengers. There are pictures of bicycles in every country of the World; the USA, Netherlands, China, India, Africa, Turkey, etc. The pictures are not organized by country. It has pictures of both sleek custom tandems with vintage components and rusty, dirty Third World load-haulers. It gives you a current panoramic view of the many different uses a bicycle can be put to and still be a bicycle. Every time I pass a bicycle I look at it. The author does more than just that; she photographs them. This book is a stunning Avant-Garde expression. I personally love artistic expressions that push the limits of our assumptions. It has no page numbers and no table of contents. You get the idea that these are photographs of bicycles she saw as she was traveling the World. If, like me, you like to look at bicycles and like artistic expressions this book saves you the plane fare of traveling around the World to see the many contexts in which they can be found.

This is a fun book about a very healthy form of exercise. Great photos of bikes for everyday cycling as opposed to racing from around the world.