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The man who loved bicycles: The memoirs of an autophobe
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 30, 2019
I am only 1/3 of the way through this work but want to say a few things about it.
When I first started reading Daniel Behrman's "The Man Who Loved Bicycles" I thought the entire work would be one long jeremiad against the automobile and its many negative effects. The first chapter is, essentially, just exactly this.
Don't get me wrong. I am no friend of the motor vehicle and have been known to go on at length ranting against them. I usually stop myself after a bit (once I can hear myself again) and, somewhat sheepishly, apologize for scaring the horses, as it were.
Now that I am reading the rest of the book at pace I can see the humor, the very nicely constructed sentences that create mental images of places, people, and things.
Even though the author is American he writes mostly of Paris and France. He seems to have moved there in the 1950s and, twenty years later (more or less), he writes of the city and how a bicyclist experiences the city differently than a motorist.
I have to say, I wish David Byrne had written more in this style in his "Bicycle Diaries," in which the bicycle hardly appears. Behrman places the bicycle squarely in the forefront so that the reader cannot forget it is the bicycle that so enriches life.
More as I move forward.
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Well, that was fun! There isn't much to add to the above. Berhman maintained a consistent voice throughout his work. It is a fine balance between finely pointed commentary on the dangers of car culture and the joys of riding a bicycle.
That joy isn't so much in the physical act of powering a two-wheeled conveyance but in the pleasure experienced while powering it. A rider is much more engaged with the environment, much more able to see, smell, taste the world as they pass through it. Berhman does a terrific job describing those experienced.
If you enjoy bicycling, environmental awareness, or works of travel and description I would highly recommend this book.
When I first started reading Daniel Behrman's "The Man Who Loved Bicycles" I thought the entire work would be one long jeremiad against the automobile and its many negative effects. The first chapter is, essentially, just exactly this.
Don't get me wrong. I am no friend of the motor vehicle and have been known to go on at length ranting against them. I usually stop myself after a bit (once I can hear myself again) and, somewhat sheepishly, apologize for scaring the horses, as it were.
Now that I am reading the rest of the book at pace I can see the humor, the very nicely constructed sentences that create mental images of places, people, and things.
Even though the author is American he writes mostly of Paris and France. He seems to have moved there in the 1950s and, twenty years later (more or less), he writes of the city and how a bicyclist experiences the city differently than a motorist.
I have to say, I wish David Byrne had written more in this style in his "Bicycle Diaries," in which the bicycle hardly appears. Behrman places the bicycle squarely in the forefront so that the reader cannot forget it is the bicycle that so enriches life.
More as I move forward.
-------
Well, that was fun! There isn't much to add to the above. Berhman maintained a consistent voice throughout his work. It is a fine balance between finely pointed commentary on the dangers of car culture and the joys of riding a bicycle.
That joy isn't so much in the physical act of powering a two-wheeled conveyance but in the pleasure experienced while powering it. A rider is much more engaged with the environment, much more able to see, smell, taste the world as they pass through it. Berhman does a terrific job describing those experienced.
If you enjoy bicycling, environmental awareness, or works of travel and description I would highly recommend this book.
March 3, 2017
Some vintage '73 "small is beautiful" hippie stuff, and some good bike travel writing, mostly in France.
August 16, 2023
I don’t know how I came upon this book, but I’ve finally gotten around to reading it. It very much dates itself - Paris is much changed since the early 70s, and people tend to avoid using “he” or “him” when referring to a generic person these days. Also the future of automobiles is less about Steam engines and More about electric these days.
I think it’s really interesting to get this glimpse into a bike person in the early 70s: even before the bikecentennial! Sadly, Behrman died In 1990 so we don’t know what he would have thought about SUVs, but I have a guess.
Some of the streams of consciousness are still so applicable today: we do need to value children’s lives over trucks and we don’t.
Most of the book is about his galavanting about in France, though he is American.
Some of this could be a Twitter thread or tiktok today and it would still be relevant.
I think it’s really interesting to get this glimpse into a bike person in the early 70s: even before the bikecentennial! Sadly, Behrman died In 1990 so we don’t know what he would have thought about SUVs, but I have a guess.
Some of the streams of consciousness are still so applicable today: we do need to value children’s lives over trucks and we don’t.
Most of the book is about his galavanting about in France, though he is American.
Some of this could be a Twitter thread or tiktok today and it would still be relevant.
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November 30, 2012He understood the end of oil and the obesity epidemic in 1973.
September 29, 2020
Brilliance! If Jack Kerouac had a bicycle, On the Road would almost be as good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews