The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles

by Melissa Holbrook Pierson

Overview

"This book, a polished, winding meditation on the theory and fractiousness of motorcycles, celebrates both their eccentric history and the wary pleasures of touring."—The New Yorker

In a book that is "a must for anyone who has loved a motorcycle" (Oliver Sacks), Melissa Pierson captures in vivid, writerly prose the mysterious attractions of motorcycling. She sifts through myth and hyperbole: misrepresentations about danger, about the type of people who ride and why they do so. The Perfect Vehicle is not a mere recitation of facts, nor is it a polemic or apologia. Its vivid historical accounts-the beginnings of the machine, the often hidden tradition of women who ride, the tale of the defiant ones who taunt death on the racetrack-are intertwined with Pierson's own story, which, in itself, shows that although you may think you know what kind of person rides a motorcycle, you probably don't.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393318098
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	05/17/1998
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Melissa Holbrook Pierson is the author of The Perfect Vehicle, The Place You Love Is Gone, Dark Horses and Black Beauties, and The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing and The Secret History of Kindness. She lives in Shokan, New York.

What People are Saying About This

Robert Pirsig

This is an exceptionally sensitive and intelligent book.

Editorial Reviews

"As Pierson tells us why she loves riding, many who share her passion will often feel themselves nodding, saying, 'Yeah, she caught it.'"

Chicago Tribune - Andy Solomon

"This is an exceptionally sensitive and intelligent book."

Robert M. Pirsig

"The Perfect Vehicle uses motorcycles as a lens for examining risk, freedom, and most surprisingly, relationships between men and women. . . . Pierson comes through brilliantly, crafting her sentences with precision and a sure ear."

Village Voice - Ann Marlowe

The Perfect Vehicle uses motorcycles as a lens for examining risk, freedom, and most surprisingly, relationships between men and women. . . . Pierson comes through brilliantly, crafting her sentences with precision and a sure ear.--Ann Marlowe "Village Voice"

As Pierson tells us why she loves riding, many who share her passion will often feel themselves nodding, saying, 'Yeah, she caught it.'--Andy Solomon "Chicago Tribune"

This is an exceptionally sensitive and intelligent book.--Robert Pirsig

From the Publisher

People who ride motorcycles live in another world, where the line between life and death often is as blurred as the center line whizzing by beneath the foot pegs. "On a bike," Pierson writes in her first book, "I am hurtling toward what I imagine is a fearful future, but I am using a fearless means to do so. It's odd as hell." Odd, too, is this book. But that's what makes it a precious piece of literature, an ode to a way of life dismissed by most worthwhile writers. Pierson's cultured yet personable and honest style will hook both enthusiasts and readers who've never even sat on a motorcyclelet alone know the difference between a Honda CBR and a Honda CRX. Pierson, a longtime Moto Guzzi rider, weaves autobiography, travelogue, motorcycling history and social commentary with delicious descriptions of the pre-ride ritual, cruising in the rain, the camaraderie of female riders (her husband, the writer Luc Sante, does not ride) and the significance of a wrong turn that leads to a cemetery at the end of a deserted cul-de-sac. The author has stared death in the face more than once, and she understands why medical professionals call her preferred means of transportation a "donorcycle." Butlike so many of America's seven million or so riders she just can't seem to permanently park that mystical machine. After reading this book, you'll know why. Photos. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly