The Cyclist's Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four (Falcon Guide) [Paperback]

Robert Hurst (Author)

Book Description

Series: Falcon Guide | Publication Date: May 5, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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)

From the Back Cover

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; First edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762751282
• ISBN-13: 978-0762751280
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good history lesson, less good as an argument, July 11, 2009

By 

Steve W. Tally "author" (West Lafayette, Ind. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cyclist's Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four (Falcon Guide) (Paperback)

This was a fascinating book, but it wasn't what I expected. The book does a good job of reviewing the history of the bicycle and the automobile, and how decisions in the 20th Century led the U.S. to focus on the car instead of the bike. The history lesson is well-done and any cyclist would enjoy it. As an argument for more cycling infrastructure, though, it gets weighed down by this lengthy look back. It's a very good book--as a cyclist and a historian I couldn't stop reading it--but if you are looking for something to give to a local opinion leader to influence public spending I'd look elsewhere. Despite the cover blurb, it's not the Silent Spring of bicycling. Still, I'd rate it as one of the best books on bicycling I've read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change Your World: The Cyclist's Manifesto, December 14, 2009

By 

Jeff Horsager (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cyclist's Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four (Falcon Guide) (Paperback)

The Cyclist's Manifesto is the second Robert Hurst book I've read, which should tell you that I like what he has to say enough to continue to buy his books. That, combined with the fact that I've been an avid cyclist my entire life will reveal my bias towards bicycles as a mode of transportation. A bias that Mr. Hurst most definitely shares.

In general I'm against continuing to read things that support what you already believe (what's the point?). It tends to lead to narrow-mindedness and intolerance of foreign ideas. But I do recommend reading this book even if you already toe the party line. He has a way of articulating ideas that really resonates and invigorates. I found it inspirational enough that I've re-dedicated myself as a soldier in the revolution. I learned some new things along the way, but in general it performed the role of a great pep talk, which is exactly what I was looking for.

However many copies of this book get sold my bet is that almost to the reader he is preaching to the choir. This is a shame because I think this book has a lot to offer the bicycle-curious. Some of his rants seem to play a little fast and loose with the facts (while staying true in a general sense). Additionally his hard-line stance (even for a cyclist) may be repelling to some, but in the end his message is truly liberating.

The book begins with the history where cars and bicycles converge (if you didn't already know this, these histories are very much intertwined), continues on with the mess that we've created through political and personal cowardice, and ends with a bang that would likely convert even the hardened, gas guzzling SUV pilot.

Admittedly he provides no easy answers. He even claims that someone who doesn't own a car or even take the bus is still beholden to petroleum, like it or not. I'm left with the impression that if everyone went to bicycles tomorrow it would be an improvement, but still wouldn't solve the energy problem.

Anyone reading this book who converts to a bicycle way of life is unlikely to change the world, but will, however, change their own world. Dramatically. And that, comrades, is where this book truly shines.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Off topic rant, December 25, 2010

By 

Thomas Baumann (East Lansing, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cyclist's Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four (Falcon Guide) (Paperback)

I am a cyclist and a cycling advocate and I did not enjoy reading this book. First of all, it is not a manifesto. It is more like a collection of stories, mostly histories, some so completely off topic that I was wondering if I grabbed the wrong book by mistake. The stories are so disconnected that the whole thing reads more like a blog. And it is a rant. It is more about the problem of oil running out than about cycling. In addition, the author obviously has a problem with so many other cyclists, especially with what they wear, that at the end this book did not at all feel inspiring to get on a bike. For me, this book didn't make the case for riding on two wheels instead of four.