Customer Reviews

The Longest Ride: My Ten-Year 500,000 Mile Motorcycle Journey

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The first half of the book really shines. It is an excellent narrative of what might be one of the worst prepared for trips around the world in the history of exploration! Emilio's personality is such that strangers offer help when most of us would be out of luck. He is either the luckiest person alive or has an overworked guardian angel. His description of crossing the railroad bridge ahead of all out war in El Salvador is just one example.

The second half of the book reads like his editor reminded him of a deadline that was rapidly approaching. It is very terse and reads like a chamber of commerce brochure. The "you are there" feeling is gone - replaced by "I went here, then did that, and then there..." This cost my review 1 star.

A big disappointment was the author's choice to include a rather graphic depiction of his first carnal experience with his then girlfriend in the introduction. It is something more appropriate to a back rack porno magazine. I have an extensive collection of motorcycle and adventure literature that my young nephews love to read - this one is definitely not "age appropriate." What a shame too, because it added nothing to the experience of his story - this cost the review a second star.

This is the best book on motorcycle adventure travel I have read so far. It's about this crazy Argentinian who sets out to ride around the world on an 1100 GoldWing (!), with hardly any riding skills, and even less mechanical skills. He starts out carrying "everything" (up to and including full scuba gear!), but gets robbed of it all after a few days. The rest of us would have gone back home, but Scotto continues his journey with $53 or so in his pocket, no gear, but an impressive ability to charm his way to free meals, beds (with and without company) and gas money.

Scotto is a great story-teller, and I easily forgive him the spices I am sure he must have sprinkled over his stories. Some of you may remember a "teaser" in the 2005 edition of Cycle World Adventures magazine, where he more or less carried the GoldWing through the jungle in Guinea, West Africa.

By the end of the "Introduction" I was hooked. I expected the intro to aquaint me with the author and define the beginning of his trip and the reasons for it. I could not have been more in error. By the time I completed these beginning pages I was convinced he'd never make it. Even if you have never even seen a motorcycle, you will be enthralled by this story. Amazing courage, a guardian angel, and uncommon good luck are a part of each paragraph. Don't miss this great story.

This book started off really well with lots of interesting narrative and great pictures. Although it was obviously written in spanish and translated to English, the strange wordings add to the fun of the book.

But as time goes on, he writes less and less and relies on pictures to tell the story - whole countries pass with barely more than "then I went to...". By the time he gets married, there is almost no narrative at all, so it seems that he lost interest in the book and had a publisher's deadline to meet.

The first half of the book is 5 star, the last half 1-2 star, so I give it a 3 star rating overall.

Like other reviewers I was engaged in the story telling for the first half of the book.

You can but only admire the sheer tenacity and will the guy obviously posesses to achieve what he has over this time period in terms of the distance travelled.
The writing varies from poor to passable for a guy who is obviously not a writer.

The second half of the book as quite a few reviews have stated is a disjointed, poorly written account
of his last 5 years comprising mainly photographs and narrative he seems to have googled to fit the photo.
Nothing to reflect on about life or in fact anything much to do with his travels through China, Australia,
New Zealand just to name a few of the many countries he seems to have gone through and glossed over.

Some reviewers suggest perhaps a loss of interest or an editors deadline. Given the book was published over ten years after his adventure ended
I don't really see why he would have rushed to get the book out at the expense of leaving it the completely unsatisfying work it became.

It appears his adventures pretty much came to an abrupt end the moment the love of his life joined him on the trip.
Not one exciting story to tell about her or the both of them in the final 5 years? The cynic in me suggests having a witness to verify accounts
may have restrained the colorfull writing evidenced in the first half of the book.

Or the other very possible option is that he did not even write a word of the second half of the book. Finished of by his publisher writing some captions to his photos?

I came away feeling a bit cheated, having invested myself in his adventure only to see he could not be bothered with completing the task of writing
the book. I wouldn't bother buying it. Maybe check it out at the library

This book started out well, and then it seemed, near the end, that he ran out of time to write about the second trip. He just started putting in photographs, which, while interesting, I would have rather he continue the written story. Still, it was interesting.

Words can not give this book justice. I bought it to read about a ride and I was given an in-depth geography and political lesson. This is a fun book but with tremendous insight and humor. One of the few books about motorcycle travel I could not put down. It is real and revealing not only about the man but the peoples and human nature of the world. If you can't take a trip like this, this is one book you can read and almost experience the ride yourself. I plan to buy two more, one for friends to read and one for my college Library. This book will always be on my personal bookshelf, Thank you Emilio Scotto.

Once you get to know the author in person, you realize he is incapable of his accounts. In my opinion he is full of himself and his vivid imagination shows on the pages. While others might want to believe it, a little research and verification on his dates and distances tells me this is more science fiction than a true adventure. At times the book reads like a copy / paste of travel guides, and just as boring, as if the author had not been actually there.

While not wanting to belittle the achievements of someone away for such long period of time .This is a poorly written book of this genre,lacking perspective of time . The first part quite detailed then the last five years just captions under photographs .Good photos though but not enough to recommend it.

This book is an absolute must read for any serious motorcycle adventure rider. It is a testament to one man's courage and determination to follow your dream whatever it may be.