Book Review: BIKE SNOB

A friend of mine loaned me this book:

"BIKE SNOB Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling

BikeSnobNYC—cycling's most prolific, well-known, hilarious, blogger—brings a fresh and humorous perspective to the most important vehicle to hit personal transportation since the horse. Bike Snob treats readers to a laugh-out-loud rant and rave about the world of bikes and their riders, and offers a unique look at the ins and outs of cycling, from its history and hallmarks to its wide range of bizarre practitioners. Throughout, the author lampoons the missteps, pretensions, and absurdities of bike culture while maintaining a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself. Bike Snob is an essential volume for anyone who knows, is, or wants to become a cyclist."

As a regular reader of the Bike Snob NYC blog, I was excited to see what kind of stuff he would decide to include in the book. Well, after having read most of his blog posts over the past few years, there wasn't very much new or unexpected material in the book that wasn't already found on the blog. Instead the book was almost a summary, or reorganization of all the hilarity contained in the blog, saving you from having to read through all the "archives".

In the book, the Bike Snob examines what it is that defines someone as a cyclist, why people ride bikes, and then breaks cyclists down into a number of categories (roadies, MTB, cross, recumbent riders etc). The book will be exceptionally entertaining for anyone who isn't a regular reader of the blog, or who is new to cycling. After reading the book, a new cyclist will begin to identify different "types" of cyclists and will begin pointing out to people that the labels on their tires aren't properly aligned with their valve stems, and reminding them that their sun glasses should go OVER their helmet straps. Even as a regular reader of the blog, and a relatively experienced cyclist, I found the book very entertaining and read it from cover to cover in just a few days.

The best part about the book is that, despite poking fun at just about anyone on a bike, he maintains "a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself", encouraging everyone to keep riding.

The worst part is that although the Bike Snob's identity had been carefully hidden since the creation of his blog, the release of this book forced him to reveal himself. Finding out who the Bike Snob was, was like when they make a movie out of a great book and cast weird actors as all the characters and they're nothing like what you'd imagined while reading. Or like when you see an ad for a radio station on the side of a bus and it shows the DJ, and he/she looks nothing like what you thought. Sometimes I think it's just better not to know what the author looks like: