Book Review: The Art of Cycling

I finished reading Art of Cycling today. It's a good quick read book, and in my opinion a must read for beginning cyclists. The book isn't filled with detailed advice, it's really just filled with lots of scary information about how you can wreck, how you can get hit by cars, etc.

And while most of the information is fairly obvious most readers should find something they didn't realize. For me it was railroad tracks.

The book also takes up difficult topics like helmets: While the conclusion is wear one, because it's easy and better than nothing, the book does an excellent job of explaining how little the devices do for adult cyclists.

And there's some brief and wasted space on parts.

Mostly though this book is defensive driving for cyclists. As I read it I kept thinking back to drivers education classes (because much of it was the same advice): Always assume drivers will error and have an out planned. It highlights some of the most likely errors for a driver to make, especially the ones which are most likely to put you in an emergency room.

I must warn you though. While the author is a talented writer the book is not a pleasant read: It's downright disturbing. However, it's intended to be.