Tom Swift & His Motor Cycle (Tom Swift) (Hardback) - Common

Tom Swift Sr. #1

by Victor Appleton

Eighteen year old inventor and mechanical genius, Tom Swift longs to have a motor cycle. Suddenly, one nearly lands in his lap and the distraught owner sells it to Tom. While it runs well. Tom knows that he can make improvements to it to make it run smoother and. more importantly, faster. He has problems with his teenage rival, Andy Foger, who is forever trying to outdo Tom. But now, a mysterious gang of thieves have come to Shopton and Tom hopes to leave Andy in the dust as he tries to unravel the mystery behind the thieves, and a strange hobo who appears just when it is the most inconvenient for our hero. Tom is attacked and waylaid by the gang when they discover that he is on their trail.

Genres: Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction, Classics, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Childrens

206 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book in the original Tom Swift series that was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for young readers. It was written by Howard Garis from an outline by Edward Stratemeyer himself and was published in 1910 by Grosset & Dunlap. Tom Swift is one of the best-remembered series of juvenile fiction that Stratemeyer produced, surpassed only by Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. Tom is a young man who lives in the town of Shopton, on the shore of Lake Carlopa, with his elderly scientist/inventor father Barton and their housekeeper, Mrs. Baggert. In this first book we're introduced to many characters who will return for most of the rest of the books in the series (which lasted until 1941), including his pal Ned Newton, his love interest Mary Nestor, his good friend Wakefield Damon (who has the endearing habit of blessing random items and ideas and situations), and many others, including Andy Foger (rival and town bully), and Eradicate Sampson, an unfortunately stereotyped racist caricature who owns a pet mule named Boomerang. In this initial outing, Tom buys Mr. Damon's motor-cycle after he is unable to control it and ends up in a tree. Tom has many adventures on it after he improves its design, involving a group of nefarious crooks who are attempting to steal the elder Mr. Swift's design for a new motor. The ending is a bit abrupt, but we're invited to volume two for a continuation. I revisited the book via a Librivox offering, which was a little uneven due to it being a reading from several different performers with very different styles, voices, and accents.

[Brok3n · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best left behind in the mists of history

I picked up Victor Appleton's Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle, or, Fun and Adventures on the Road because the Tom Swift series was spoken of fondly by the heroine of an excellent historical novel I recently read, Alix E. Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

Tom Swift lives in upstate New York with his widowed father, successful inventor Barton Swift. Barton Swift wants to patent his new turbine motor, when both his model and his paperwork are stolen. Tom sets out on his new motorcycle to catch the miscreants and retrieve the stolen stuff.

It's not good. It's poorly written. The characters are thin to the point of transparency. It has one of those deplorable plots that is driven by supposedly smart people doing very stupid things. And, alas, we have the inevitable Comic Relief Darky, who is not even slightly funny.

Now you might try to argue that in its time, the Tom Swift series compared favorably to other children's books. Perhaps that is so for the later books in the series, but for this one, it won't wash. I did a quick search for children's books published between 1900 and 1920 (Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle was published in 1910), and WOW! Jackpot, man. For instance see this list on Goodreads. We have Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), The Secret Garden (1911), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Peter Pan (1911), The Wind in the Willows (1908), and the first three Anne of Green Gables novels. The list goes on from there.

Now, granted, Tom Swift was a long book series for boys, and those were thin on the ground at the beginning of the twentieth century. So I will grant it some historical significance. But there is not, in my opinion, any reason why a reader seeking amusement or enlightenment in 2025 should waste time on Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle.

Blog review.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've seen this book's title as both Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle and Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle; in fact, it's written both ways in the copy I read, the 1992 Applewood Books facsimile edition. The author tends toward the latter version, so I'll do the same. The world was introduced to quite a hero when Tom Swift debuted in this novel from 1910. A technology savant like his father, Barton, Tom is scarcely out of high school and already has a few patents to his name. Barton is the established inventor, though, and his recent design for a turbine motor is attracting attention from intellectual property thieves. A group of men want to steal his prototype before he can send it to Albany to be approved for a patent. Barton prefers not to involve the authorities, which could lead to a drawn-out civil suit or criminal prosecution, but staying ahead of Anson Morse and the other thieves becomes more difficult by the day.

When a man named Wakefield Damon decides to sell the motor-cycle he purchased for relaxing drives in the country, Tom jumps at the chance to buy it. He'd love to restore the battered motor-cycle and learn to ride; surely it would be an upgrade over his bicycle. The young inventor carefully fixes the gasolene-powered machine and soon is zooming all around the countryside. Barton hesitates to send the patent information for his turbine motor through the mail, fearful that Morse or his cronies might steal it, but Tom volunteers to drive his motor-cycle to Albany and deliver it in person. Father and son assume the thieves won't suspect a teenager on a motor-cycle, but when Barton's patent information falls into the wrong hands, Tom must put on his detective hat and get to the bottom of the mystery. Can Tom best his unscrupulous rivals with the help of a few friends he's made along the way?

The "wow" factor of this book's technology is not what it was in 1910. Motorcycles are no longer the realm of gadget wizards like Tom Swift. I think the key to appreciating this aspect of the story is to view the technology with the fresh eyes of a boy living in the era between horse-and-buggy and automobiles, a boy with the skills to soup up a high-tech motor vehicle and, within days, master riding it. Tom Swift can achieve almost anything where science or technology is involved, making him a different sort of hero than the Hardy boys, and though his potential isn't fully realized in Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle, future volumes in the series do develop it. This book is slow-paced and its reliance on coincidence heavily burdens the plot, but I'd rate it one and a half stars. I love the Tom Swift franchise, and will always be back for more.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting story about a young inventor and his motorcycle.

[Graeme Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced, and action packed. A little too much reliance on coincidence for my liking, but for an early 1900’s teen adventure novel, plenty of fun. Had to take it from a 4 to a 3 for its overt racism.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the book that launched a series as popular as the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in its day. It also spawned generational sequels that continue in prose and graphic novels still today.

Young Tom is an inventor that takes after his Dad and lives in upstate New York. Although specific on his age, it appears he is sixteen at least and can drive various vehicles when the need is there. He also has a few patents of his own (like his Dad) which generates a bit of income that allows him to go adventuring when the urge or need strikes. He is also home-schooled by his multi-talented father as well.

The plot is a simple one, but well executed; a group of unscrupulous businessmen and lawyers have stolen one of Dad's new turbine engines to alleviate their failed investment in another type of motor. Tom works on his own and with other characters to find the crooks and retrieve it so that his father can properly patent it.

There are a number of comments about women and minorities that are certainly offensive today, but even including them in a novel back in 1910 was considered progressive back then. Please remember to read this novel with that in mind.

Find it. Buy it. Read it!

[Tara Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Wikipedia.com

The Tom Swift books have been credited with "[laying:] a foundation for the success of American SF. The series firmly established the edisonade as a basic cultural myth."[43:] Tom Swift's adventures have been popular since the character’s inception in 1910: by 1914, 150,000 copies a year were sold[41:] and in "a 1929 study [the series:] was found to be second in popularity for boys in their early teens only to the Bible."[44:] To date, Tom Swift books have sold over 20[42:] to 30 million copies worldwide.[2:] The series' writing style, which was sometimes adverb-heavy, gave rise in the 1960s to "Tom Swifties", a type of adverbial pun. Some examples are: "I lost my crutches," said Tom lamely; "I'll take the prisoner downstairs," said Tom condescendingly.[1:]


Cover of Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (1961), from the Tom Swift, Jr. Adventure SeriesTom Swift's fictional inventions have directly inspired several actual inventions, among them Lee Felsenstein's "Tom Swift Terminal," which "drove the creation of an early personal computer known as the Sol,"[45:] and the taser. The name "taser" was originally "TSER," for "Tom Swift Electric Rifle." The invention was named after the central device in Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle (1911); according to inventor Jack Cover, "an 'A' was added because we got tired of answering the phone 'TSER.'"[46:]

A number of scientists, inventors, and science fiction writers have also credited Tom Swift with inspiring them, including Ray Kurzweil,[47:] Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov.[48:] The Tom Swift, Jr. adventures were Steve Wozniak's favorite reading as a boy[49:] and inspired him to become a scientist.[50:] According to Wozniak, reading the Tom Swift books made him feel "that engineers can save the world from all sorts of conflict and evil."[51:]

The series has been criticized for its view of science and nature. Robert Von der Osten argues that the books' view of invention is focused on the importance of novelty and money-making, rather than using technology for the social good:

Tom Swift's Ultrasonic Cycloplane is developed to break the sound barrier and fly by a different principle from traditional aircraft; his jetmarine is developed to go deeper and faster and use an unusual type of propulsion. The novelty of the invention is the focus; while the invention may in the end accomplish some good, that social end is usually far from the inventor's mind.... [Tom's:] inventions seem to be either for the military, especially during World War I (giant cannon, aerial warship, war tank, and air scout) or for the wealthy, who buy the Swift Pigeon Special as a private plane, all contributing to the bottom line for Swift Enterprises.... invention is an avocation, a diversion, made possible by wealth and the already existing advanced technology.[52:]

Von der Osten argues further that most Swift series view nature as a source of plunder. In Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, the hero uses his invention to kill elephants for their ivory, and in Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster Tom plans to drill to the center of the earth for iron over the protests of people around the world. Inevitably, Von der Osten argues, Tom's drive to invent and harvest resources is proven right and any suggestion that he refrain from such activities portrayed as un-American.[53:] The fourth series is an exception: only in this series "do Tom's friends become concerned about the dangers of his experiments and finally find themselves confronted by harmful consequences. By the 1990s we have lost our naivete about technological development. But here, too, despite the last Tom's abysmal safety record, his inventive fervor proceeds unchecked and without oversight."[54:]

The character has also been criticized for anti-intellectualism. Though an indefatigable inventor, Tom is "made handy with his fists" in order to "make absolutely sure no intellectual taint clings" to him.[55:] Tom "enjoys the titillating attractions of thought without seriously risking its arduousness. Here lies the key to his easy popularity suggesting at the same time the kind of inventor the public is prepared to embrace without reservation."[56:]

Some contend that, with the advent of computers, Tom Swift is no longer a relevant figure. A boy genius might be able to tinker with a motorcycle, but he is "not likely to be running a biotech or nanotech lab in his garage. Meanwhile, the great engine of entrepreneurial activity these days is in software and website development, an occupation that (no offense meant to its practitioners) doesn't make for terribly lively fiction. Tom Swift and the Blue Screen of Death?"[57:] Marah Gubar, director of the children's literature program at the University of Pittsburgh, suggests that the Tom Swift character can no longer be relevant because children today do not work, as they did in the past.[57:]

Others disagree, finding in Tom Swift a sense of the power of intellectual achievement: "the moral of these tales was simple: the right idea had the power to overcome a seemingly overwhelming challenge."[58:]

^ Von der Osten (2004), 268.
^ Turner (2006), 115.
^ Sun Wire Services (2009).
^ Pilkington (2009), 32.
^ Bleiler and Bleiler (1990), 15.
^ Kendall (2000), 4.
^ Linzmayer (2004), 1.
^ Comment published on the blurb to Nitrozac (2003).
^ Von der Osten (2004), 273-274.
^ Von der Osten (2004), 275-276.
^ Von der Osten (2004), 277.
^ Gurko (1953), 56.
^ Gurko (1953), 57.
^ a b Virgin (2007), E1.
^ Kurzweil (2005), 2.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone familiar with Victor Appleton (pen name for a group of authors) books. This one is very good. I am sure there are many people who would not understand this one today. This one came out in 1910, not even 50 years after the Civil War. So some of the language in it would be considered “racist” today. If you look at how the characters interact with one another, there is a lot to learn from that.

[Jon E · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the big club struck Tom's back, that's the part I liked. Oh and, where, like, the the man with the motorcar tried to run up the tree with his motorcar and the man was too slow to push the off switch. Okay, done.

[John Yelverton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the Tom Swift Jr. books, and figured that this would be equally as good. It was not. The story is week, Tom Swift is a hapless buffoon who just happens into solutions, entire chapters are devoted to racist caricatures of black people, and worst of all, the book ends on a "To Be Continued" note without any real resolution. If you can't tell, I was severely disappointed.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadfully boring and out-of-date.

The Tom Swift books DO NOT stand the test of time and are not classics. No wonder I hadn't heard of them. Not worth reading.

[Wyntrnoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first in the series. Not really very good. If I had read this one first, I might not have wanted to read any of the others.

[Penrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

My father used to talk about the Tom Swift novels and I have long meant to try one. They are of course not written by anyone named Victor Appleton. Appleton was a nom de plume for a consortium of writers. The books seem to be rather like Hardy Boy mysteries of a later generation.

I read the first one, this one named above, and I must say it is not very good, even for a YA book meant for boys of the last century. I did read some Hardy Boys in my childhood, but have not read one in many, many years. Still this Tom Swift does not seem even as good as my memory of the Hardy Boys. As one of the earlier reviewers said, this is not a classic.

Spoilers follow.

Tom starts off on a bicycle but soon graduates to a motorcycle, which he is perpetually tinkering with and improving. He lives with his widowed father and a nice woman like Aunt Bee, who keeps the house running and prepares the meals. He runs into some men who are interested in his father’s inventions, particularly in a new turbine engine, which it turns out they want to steal. They are comically inept. Their ineptness is only surpassed by Tom and dad’s cluelessness. Tom eventually tracks the men—who have succeeded in stealing a working model of the machine AND the only copy of the plans for it—to an abandoned house on the edge of lake. Even when the men realize that they are being watched by someone, they don’t take flight. They stay agreeably in place so that Tom can go find some adults to surround the house, capture the men, and and recover the invention. Nevertheless, the criminals DO get away. But Tom is okay with that since he gets back the model and the plans. His father is real happy and says he doesn’t want to press charges.

One of the most painful parts of the book deals with Tom’s encounter with a black working class character who speaks in dialect. His name is Eradicate Andrew Jackson Abraham Lincoln Sampson and he has a donkey name Boomerang. Eradicate’s (Rad for short) various adventures trying to get work for himself and Boomerang are supposed to be hilarious but are not. Eradicate has no part in the main mystery or adventure—he doesn’t help Tom do anything and he provides no insight. He is present solely as a source of unfunny comedy. Still he is slightly interesting as an illustration of racial attitudes in 1910. The book is set in 1910 in upstate New York, but it could as easily have been set in the south.

I do not recommend this book for anyone. I give it two stars because it has some anthropological and historical interest…

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

After spending lots of time reading boy books written in the mid to late 1800s, I've finally continued my time travel experience to the early 1900s. The Tom Swift series is one of the earliest books in the Stratemeyer Syndicate (think The Bobbsey Twins Series, Hardy Boys Complete Series Set Books 1-66, and Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew. I grew up reading Nancy Drew and I knew that the books I read were re-written in the 1970s. At one point, I read some of the original Nancy Drew books. I knew about the Stratemeyer Syndicate but had never heard of the Tom Swift books until recently. Unlike the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Tom Swift is not a detective. He is a teen inventor. He's the son of Barton Swift, who is also an inventor.

In this first one of the series, Tom rescues a man who can't handle his new motorcycle. Tom acquires it and uses his inventing skills to make it better and faster. The man, Mr. Damon, will become a secondary character in all future Tom Swift Books. Mr. Damon is a real character - every sentence is laced with "Bless my... shoelaces, kidney, etc."

Some reader will have trouble reading about supporting character Eradicate Samson, the "colored" helper, so named (by himself) because he eradicates dirt. All I can say is times were different. What we recognize as racist today was just the way writers wrote African American characters.

Tom was likely modeled off Horatio Alger Jr.'s boy characters. Tom is honest, loyal, and courageous. He gets into frequent spats with the town bully, Andy Foger. Andy is mean and treacherous and lies and steals. Tom never starts a battle but is always very quick to defend himself and always comes out the victor.

T

[Jim Razinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a small collection of the original series, 13 of 40 (and a few more of the Jr.), including six of the first eight, and one rare ... but not this one. Fortunately, Project Gutenberg had a scanned copy of this, the first. I'm underwater with three, yes three, review copies that I'm working through in order to give decent reviews (one is full of woo and is taking three times as much side reading just to verify and/or refute most of what he is saying), but I have to take time outs for books like this to clear the head a bit.

So...being the first, and focused on a motor-cycle rather than exotic inventions, it is rather sedate by comparison. Probably still good adventure for 1914. There is sexism

"Did you tell Mrs. Baggert?" [housekeeper]
"Yes, and she's all excited."
"Well, she can't help it, being a woman, I suppose. But we'll manage. Do you know the man?"

And racism...Tom meets Eradicate Andrew Jackson Abraham Lincoln Sampson, a negro, who "eradicates de dirt", yo' see, and hauls a "load ob fence posts". And Eradicate refers to himself with the "n" word and later "coon".

There is a "syndicate of wealthy men" trying to steal plans, but something novel to these books...thermodynamics! Tom's father, Barton: "But it will take more gasolene to run the motor; don't forget that. You know the great principle of mechanics -- that you can't get out of a machine more than you put into it, nor quite as much, as matter of fact, for considerable is lost through friction."

Yes, that is the way gasoline was spelled, and when Tom found a clue, he actually found a "clew". Some obsolete spellings, and terms...bicycle and "wheel" were interchangeable ... have a charm that makes up a little for the cultural exposures..

So Tom has an adventure, and the formula was almost ...formulated. The next in the series involves a motorboat that Tom lusts after in this book, so I expect more adventure and less fantasy as well. Now, back to Gingrich, biocentrism, and Wagner...

...making time for other side trips, of course.

[Ensiform · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1910, this is the first of many books to come about a teen inventor and mechanical savant (and the source of the Tom Swifty, the use of a punning speech verb, mocking the stilted tone of the books). The son of an inventor, Tom is similarly gifted. He acquires a motor-cycle cheaply from a rather doddering old fellow who can’t control it, and soon after he learns that a gang of unscrupulous men have stolen the design for his father's new and as yet unpatented turbine motor. Without the original documents, Tom's father can't prove his ownership of the design. Luckily, with his motor-cycle, Tom can scour the countryside looking for clues to their whereabouts. With the help of a (unfortunately) somewhat dim-witted African-American laborer and the aforementioned eccentric former owner of the wonderous motor-cycle, Tom closes in on the gang, which include a man who not only dresses like a tramp to get close to the turbine plans, but apparently continues to wear the disguise for weeks afterwards, because that’s his thing, I guess. In 1910, Tom Swift’s ability to modify his "machine," as the book often calls it, and ride it well, probably made him seem like the Batman of his day; nowadays it’s not as interesting, but apparently the following books get more fantastic in terms of the technology.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, despite its outdated writing style. Appleton is a pseudonym for a series of writers at the publishing house; the writing is stilted and wooden, but the plot is fun enough. Some readers will be put off by the overt racism, which is not of the sadistic, nasty variety but rather the unthinking, stereotypical depictions of working black men, meant, presumably, to be humorous. Somewhat irritatingly, the authorial voice breaks through near the end to make sure the kids stick around for the next book, which is sure to be a real corker!

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Tom Swift book ever published and fans of the original and subsequent series’ will recognize the evolution of the character over time. In this book featuring the original Tom Swift, he is portrayed as a top-notch mechanic rather than a genius inventor.
The characters of Eradicate Sampson, Wakefield Damon and housekeeper Mrs. Baggert are introduced as well as some other characters that will appear again in later books. Wakefield Damon enters the story when he is riding a motorcycle, which was a significant machine in 1910, the date of publication. Unable to control the machine, Damon sells it to Tom for a small amount and Tom then tweaks it and begins to ride it all over, as it is much faster than his bicycle.
Tom’s father, Barton Swift, is portrayed as the genius inventor and Tom helps him in the marketing and patenting, but very little in the development of his latest invention. There is a gang of criminals determined to steal the invention and they attack Tom in order to obtain it. For these reasons, this is more a YA adventure story rather than science fiction.
Reading this book also requires the reader to suspend a bit of outrage over language and the portrayal of black people. While Eradicate is depicted as an ambitious and enterprising man, some of the language used in the book will offend many people. It is best to put it down to the improvements in literature over time.

[Steve Patton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've explained before why I read a lot of the old boys adventure books and won't go into that detail there - check out the review for Over the Ocean to Paris if you really need to know.

I had hopes for this one...I really did. I liked it. I wanted to like it. It was believable.

Tom who is college age (?) rides a bicycle every where he goes. By chance, he comes into possession of a motorcycle that he makes his own. Both he and his dad are prolific inventors and his dad in this book has an invention some other men want. For the most part, Tom is left to be the protectorate of the intellectual part of the invention, and that is when and where things start to go awry. I enjoyed the book until the end, and that's where everything went sour.

Spoiler alert if you read below...just sayin..

OK, for those who want to know why it went sour for me. In the end, you have four able body good guys, all armed, surround the mostly unarmed bad guys...and they all get away, not one is captured. That ruined the book for me. I realize it's a series, but at least one bad guy needed to get captured.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read a Tom Swift story and got a deal for 23 stories on Kindle for a couple bucks and well I can't pass that up. Now I have a ton of goofy kids books from the early 1900s that I am not sure I'll ever read. Each one seems to be focused on some piece of technology somewhat new from the time period.

This first Tom Swift book introduces us to the upright and daring but brilliant Tom Swift and his father, who is an inventor. Tom is clever and great with gadgets and mechanics, not particularly wise or mature in the ways of the world, and very lucky. He tends to get into trouble, but equally tends to find out things and get just what he needs whenever he needs it.

Some of the language is dated to the point of being somewhat shocking to modern eyes, but is overall good natured and positive toward everyone except the villains of the piece. Its a fun enough read for what would now be called Young Adult, and you can't really go wrong with this or having your kids read it.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in 1910 and the story was intended for an audience of youths. Even so, it is a decent enough book. For me the most interesting part was the depiction of what life was like and what was considered normal in 1910. Motorcycles are new and people are mystified by them. Tom gets his motorcycle from a man who just bought it and can't figure out how to ride it without crashing, so he just plans to abandon it. Tom convinces him to take $50 for it. The same man buys a car and can barely work that either. This was an era of new inventions and new opportunities. The author even goes to great lengths to explain what a motorcycle is and how Tom makes it go because he can't assume the reader would know.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting curio, typical of the boys' adventure yarns of the time, but with added mechanical engineering. The aim, clearly, was to get boys interested in science and technology by making cogs and turbines and engines and wires thrilling, and it sort of works. It's almost science fiction, but instead of futuristic or imaginary science, it uses contemporary technology, almost like an early techno-thriller.

It's a little uncomfortable today because of the depiction of colored people (and, to a lesser extent, women). It's also very shallow, with a wafer-thin plot and cliched characters, more like a comic book than a novel. And the language is hilarious: "Bless my batteries!" "Bless my hat-band!" "Bless my shoe-leather!"

I'm sure I would have adored it if I were born 70 years earlier.

[Stephanie R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book from back when motorcycles were basically bicycles with a lawn mower engine bolted on. I adored the fact that the eponymous Tom Swift starts the book on a bicycle and becomes interested in motorcycles after an altercation with a car. That's exactly why I started riding!

I took off one star because the book is not exactly about the motorcycle, it's about Tom trying to catch a bunch of men who stole his dad's invention. The motorcycle isn't really instrumental to the crime solving. Also, there is a black person in the book and let's just say the author uses a lot of words that we don't use anymore. But probably every book from that time was like that.

[Rachel Hyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

So cute. It’s all about the earnest Tom, teen son of a brilliant inventor whose latest innovation is stolen by nefarious industrial espionage types, and who enlists the help of sundry country folk in order to foil their dastardly schemes. The book is full of an inordinate number of crashes, of bicycles and cars — autos — and motor cycles, and young Tom is a bit of a prig, really. But as a piece of history, as a Boy’s Own Adventure from out of the past, this is like reading a time capsule. And it’s a gas.

[Dkolacinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered Tom Swift (ABSOLUTELY NOT TOM SWIFT JR) when I was 10, 65 years ago. I became addicted to genre writing, and still am. I've earned a graduate degree in English, been exposed to the greats of fiction, even in translation, was in my day a talented literary critic opening up literature, rather than closing it, and, that said, I owe a large part of it to Tom Swift. Great writing? No. Good writing, sometimes but rarely, but I still love Tome Swift's adventures in the science of his days.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rough start to what would become a classic boys series. Here Tom rides around and gets in accidents on his motorcycle as he tries to run an errand for his dad. The solo hero talking to himself never much helps and no interesting inventions make for limited appeal in a boy inventor series as well. Added to this is a rough reading dialect with a 'colored man' that even non-PC readers will find tough to stomach.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

#1 in the Tom Swift series. This 1910 entry in the series by pseudonymous author Victor Appleton is a quick pleasant read. The racist and sexist attitudes of over 100 years ago were still common in movies 30 years later (and can still be found in Congress). Certainly dated but interesting as a YA novel and a historical piece.

subtitled " or, Fun and Adventure on the Road".

[Polynerdery · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Tom Swift Jr. series, and have always wanted to read the older series. Honestly, it was what I hoped for and expected... except, perhaps, for a certain perspective on people of color that is almost certainly the reason it is not in print any longer.

[Captain Packrat · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is alright, but bless my shoe leather, there's a ton of casual racism. "This character is black, and we are going to remind you of this fact every couple sentences using language that was perfectly acceptable at the turn of the 20th century." Definitely cringe worthy.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is okay. Very clearly young adult. Very simple storytelling and a headstrong protagonist who insists on doing everything on his own and who is reluctant to take his wise dad’s advice.

Also very interesting to see how life differed 100+ years ago.

[Geoffrey Greeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic book (1910) from my grandfathers era, but entertaining nonetheless. This is what children, mostly boys read before TV and the internet. There are at least 25 books in this series, and then it carries on with Tom Swift Jr. I think I will read a few more just for fun.