Customer Reviews

Bodies in Motion: Evolution and Experience in Motorcycling

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"Why do you ride a motorcycle?" All of us have struggled to find the words that accurately explain our passion. What about motorcycling is so rewarding that it outweighs the risks and inconveniences? Why do we choose a mode of transportation that goes against the grain?

Author Steven Thompson first approaches the question from an evolutionary perspective. He argues that riders harbor an innate need to move about, acquired from our tree-dwelling ancestors. He coins the term "automobility" to define the positive sensations that humans (especially riders) experience while in motion. The motions experienced while riding a motorcycle, with its changes in speed, lean, and rapid acceleration and braking, echo the same sensations our ancestors felt while jumping in and swinging from tree to tree.

The author draws on studies of human biomechanics that demonstrate that humans enjoy, even prefer motion. Our bodies, on a non-mental level, are programmed to favorably respond to motion. This response to motion was originally a survival tool used by our ancestors to avoid predators and keep them going in their endless search for food. We are hard wired to seek out motion. Riders may simply be better attuned to this cellular-level drive.

We may be similarly programmed in terms of the types of machine we prefer. Humans are visual creatures. Mr. Thompson examines various engine configurations and motorcycle types as organisms. Why do V-twins and inline-fours thrive in the marketplace while other engine layouts stumble? Why do cruisers and sport bikes dominate the marketplace and other designs (super-motard, recumbent) languish?

By far the best part of the book is the discussion on motorcycle engine vibration. The author commissioned a study that tested and measured the vibration characteristics of nine different motorcycles. For the first time ever, we have good, measured data on how different bikes vibrate and are able to analyze rider preferences. One man's pleasant thrumming is another's shaking heap.

The acid test for me is does this book inspire? Bodies in Motion has me mentally re-riding every bike I have ever ridden. I question what it is about specific bikes that I find appealing and which leave me cold. I have read over 100 books on motorcycling and Bodies in Motion is the only book that has been able to articulate the sensations and elation I feel when riding. If you ride a bike, you must read this book.

Hi,

I tried to skim this book quickly on Friday night, after dinner, and a very long day, but gave up in frustration. I needed to start from the beginning, and read it sequentially. And I didn't expect to like this book - I'd pre-judged it by the graphics on the cover, and the concept of it. Many have explored the question of 'Why do we ride?' What more could be written on the subject? Just another book, new title, with content I'd probably seen before in 'Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance' or 'The Perfect Vehicle' or various short stories I've read over the years on the subject. I couldn't have been more wrong....

Two sentence summary:

'Bodies in Motion' is a fantastic and completely unique piece of motorcycling literature, explaining to ourselves why we ride motorcycles, and after reading it I understand why Andy Goldfine felt it was an important work. We're simply hard-wired to enjoy the many stimuli that motorcycling provides.

Detailed summary:

I tend to read at night, usually a chapter at a time in a series of short stories (my favorite type of reading / writing). 'Bodies in Motion' is so densely packed with new concepts and ideas, that a chapter at a time is about all I could manage. Actually, I'd read several pages, ponder the implication, read a few more pages, ponder some more, and at the end of each chapter I'd close it and go to sleep for the night. Read in that manner on weeknights, it was about a 2-3 week read for me.

Steven Thompson is an historian by training, a longtime avid motorcyclist, moto editor, and motorcycle racer. So BIM isn't a book of frilly prose about what we feel when we ride, ala 'Zen and the Art...' or 'The Perfect Vehicle.' Instead, BIM takes the tack of: "Given that we feel wonderful when we ride, why? What are the underlying drivers behind our feeling so good?" Thompson then examines the biological and psychological reasons that motorcycling really hooks a few of us, in every generation.

He starts with human origins, in the trees, as primates; and proposes that we developed our love of movement, and our hand-eye coordination, there. Movement and acceleration simply feel good to us, due to our origins. As kids, those instincts are still strong. What child doesn't love climbing trees, monkey bars, teeter-totters, swing sets, and even bicycles? Thompson's theories and proposals, trying to answer the "Why?", grow out of that basic idea, that we're hard-wired to enjoy these things.

If that were his only proposal, 'Bodies in Motion' would merely be an excellent short story. But there's so much more, that the first chapter above is merely the foundation for the others that follow. He delves into the idea that many of us have the psychological traits of Hunters, i.e., that only when we are fully occupied in a demanding, ever-changing environment, are we satisfied and happy; in a way that our day-to-day lives do not satisfy.

Thompson delves into art and music, proposing that many of our commercial endeavors started as toys, then art, and finally commercial enterprises. Some examples: it appears that flowers were among the first plants cultivated by man, predating agriculture. Metal, glass, and ceramic beads appear in the archeological record as artsy trinkets, long before metal spears or ceramic water jugs. Metal jewelry predates metal weapons. He proposes that two modern men welding metal, one an artist making sculpture and the other a craftsman in a fabrication shop, doing basically the same work, derive the same pleasures and satisfaction from it, differing only in their title.

And music....Thompson compares the primitive beats of disco and religious rituals to music, and the beats in our motorcycles' exhausts, i.e., that for some people the exhaust of a well-tuned and well-ridden motorcycle is the accompaniment to their "performance art." Thompson also proposes that the motorcycles' vibrations themselves are a part of the almost-mystical experience of motorcycling. And as part of that proposal, he includes the vibration signatures of a diverse group of machines: a British single, a British vertical-twin, a German flat-twin, an Italian sporting V-twin, a British triple, a German four, a sporting Japanese V-four, a Japanese six, and a Harley.

For me, a long-time rider, there were so many incidents of deja vu scattered throughout the book, that I'm a bit stunned. Many of Thompson's theories are answers to questions I've had at a superficial level, and never followed up on. Thompson has explored deeply those same questions, and more, and returned with theories that make logical sense. For that reason, 'Bodies in Motion' is an exhausting, cerebral, mentally stimulating, educational, and extremely satisfying book to read - all of which is meant as high praise.

This is an unusual book, the product of deep thought and extensive research to address a fundamental and personal question for any motorcycle enthusiast, namely, why do I like riding so much? A rider for fifty years, I've been told more than once that there are safer, more comfortable, and even cheaper ways to get around than riding a motorcycle. So why? Why? I'd always tossed out a simple answer to anyone who asked me (like my mother): "Riding is sort of like skiing," I'd say. Now, after reading Bodies in Motion by Steven Thompson, I have a better, more satisfying and honest answer: "I was born this way."

Yes, it's in my genes. I don't think this answer would have pleased my parents, but then motorcycling isn't about satisfying other people. Thompson deals fairly with the widespread opinion that social and cultural values are the drivers. While they are of some relevance, it's really our evolutionary heritage, the way we are wired in the Darwinian sense, that makes (some of) us love the feeling of riding. It's the 'feel,' the strong stimuli served up as the motorcycle puts the rider's body in motion that leaves the brain wanting more. The pleasure our hairy ancestors got from swinging in the trees was the result of an evolutionary force that guided their survival and development. That force is still at work in our modern brains.

Bodies in Motion is written on a high level and, necessarily, uses some of the vocabulary of the social and physical sciences from which the book's insights are drawn. It's not your 'quick read' whose purpose is to distract and entertain. It demands the reader's attention and a willingness to think about what's proposed. But if the reader makes the commitment and invests the effort, he or she will be rewarded with new knowledge and understanding, and not only about what makes motorcyclists tick. The insights apply to everyone who experiences pleasure from motion. It you ride, read it. If you don't ride yourself but care about someone who does, you too should read Bodies in Motion.

This book has brought the feelings and sensations that I have experienced riding motorcycles, but have never been able to describe, from imagined to real constructive thought. It is ground breaking and over time will change the way society at large views transportation on two wheels. My suggestion: If you ride a bike, read this book...It will change the way you see yourself.

This is a stunning and unique work that explores why many of us find pleasure in operating high speed vehicles, particularly motorcycles. The thesis, convincingly argued, is that the physical sensations of acceleration and vibration, the G forces in cornering, even the noise of the engine, satisfy urges that are rooted in brain chemistry and evolutionary biology. It's a wide-ranging discourse that visits human culture and history, design theory, neural science, engineering, and psychology, among other disciplines. This is the work of a first-class intellect: audacious, original, and well-written. (Even more impressive, the author is an accomplished international motorcycle road racer).

Highly recommended.

Certainly not perfect in execution, but a unique answer to an interesting question. It offers a reasonable explanation to those who don't ride, and increases the self awareness of those that do. Money well spent.

I found Mr. Thompson's book to be disappointing because he did not go far enough. To my mind the "book" is really a series of essays which are not entirely cogent as a single work. I was very excited by the premise related to vibration, as many of the spiritual traditions of history speak of life in terms of vibration; I hoped that Mr. Thompson would put some scientific mettle to the talk of peak experience common to riders. Sadly he did not; his discussions about the human psycho-biological prediliction for motion based on our tree dwelling ancestors was tenuous at best. To my mind he gave much too little credit to the social dimensions for riding without providing more empirical evidence to support his thesis about vibration being primary, though I am fascinated by his argument that one begins riding for social reasons but remains a rider based on psycho-biological reasons. As another reveiwer stated, his research demonstrates that an older motorcycle vibrates more than a new motorcycle. This is not a breakthrough discovery. There are elements of the book worth considering but as a whole it fails.

As someone who has who has been enthralled with any motorized conveyance since I was a toddler and has practiced meditation since I was a young adult, I have come to appreciate that there are meaningful benefits to any physical activity that requires a high degree of concentration that go far beyond simply arriving at a destination or scoring points in the form of heightened awareness. That's where this book comes in. Steven Thompson does an admirable job of introducing this prospective. If you are a rider yourself and have ever pondered why you love it so much, or if you, (like myself) are casting about to somehow articulate your love of motion to anyone who just doesn't get it...here's your book. Highly recommended!

Well

Now I know more about what attracts me to riding, the actual reasons behind the scenes. A very in-depth and extremely well researched book. Brilliant insights into why riders crave the ride, and more meaning behind why we all wave to one another. Bikes bridge the gaps in social circles.

When I first got this book, I described it to a friend, who replied that it sounded like one of those books that tries to explain why sex is fun. At the time I attempted to defend the book, but after reading it, I have to agree with my friend. In the end, this book is an answer to an unecessary question. The people who ride know the answer, the people who don't do not care to ask.

I'd also like to say that this book is the worst example of "padding out" I've ever seen in print. It's listed as being 420 pages, but almost half of that are the statistical results of a vibration study the author commissioned a college to perform. There is chart after chart of footpeg vibration, handlebar vibration, seat vibration, etc., both at speed and at idle. The conclusion (if there is one...I'm not convinced)? A 60's Triumph vibrates more than a modern BMW. You don't say.

In closing, I can only recommend this book to those who enjoy analyzing something to death. For the rest of us, there's Peter Egan.