Riding Rockets – Mike Mullane

$6.00 in paperback from Amazon.com

Buy it if: The terms MMU, EVA, JSC, MECO and CAPCOM mean anything to you…

Don’t Buy if if: Space, shcmace, earth has enough problems, why go looking for more?

I’m going to make a broad generalization: To those in their late 20s or early 30s, the Space Shuttle is a fascinating, complex machine defined by two things: The Challenger explosion that seared itself into our early childhood memories and its ubiquity in our everyday lives. For those older, it very well may have paled in comparison to the grainy images transmitted from the first lunar lander in the summer of Woodstock. To those younger, orbital space may already be just another route that Virgin America airlines are waiting to book.

As with most things, perspective makes all the difference. For the first class of shuttle astronauts (the group’s nickname, “Thirty Five New Guys”, showed about as much nomenclative ingenuity as the “Mercury Seven”) who grew up - literally - in the shadow of Sputnik, the American space program moved fluidly between miraculous and humdrum. Mike Mullane’s memoir, Riding Rockets, captures life as an astronaut during his tenure at NASA with unprecedented candor, verve and honesty. Plainspoken to the point of reader fascination, Mullane’s book on his life and the lives of his fellow astronauts and NASA ground staff is easily one of the most captivating books on the space program I’ve ever held in my hands.

Riding Rockets contains one of the most interesting collisions of the mundane and fantastic in the non-fiction world. By his own account, Mullane was no Neil Armstrong. He wasn’t the first to pilot the shuttle, nor the first to fly post-Challenger. His one claim to fame might be as the first Air Force ‘backseater’ (non-pilot combat flyer) to make it to space, but even the author himself is dubious of this distinction’s historical cache. But he IS an astronaut, and there’s something fascinating about what entails an ordinary day for someone who’s prime professional goal is strapping a rocket to their ass and hurling themselves beyond earth’s atmosphere at 18,000 MPH.

And unlike other such bios, Mullane doesn’t pull the punches. Not on on himself or anyone else. The level of candor he brings to the ‘hero biography’ is simply astonishing. Not to mention refreshing. From the office politics of shuttle flight assignments, to the sheer terror of engine start, to the incredible sadness that defines a final evening with a spouse before liftoff, the memoir is all the more compelling for a look at the good and bad of space travel. “The Right Stuff” style braggadocio is still very much a part of the astronaut corps, but Mullane is surprisingly adept in laying plain the truth beyond the stern façade. He’s seen close friends die before his eyes doing what they love and has an incredible take on how an astronaut’s ambition can easily skew their own perspective on risk.

Even with such straightforward emotion, the author includes a very good-humored look at space travel, the book’s greatest draw by far. From mid-flight pranks with an experimental skull to methods used to prevent urine splashback in zero gravity, Mullane imparts a perfect amount of levity into nearly every anecdote, often with himself as the butt of the joke. It’s a wonderful reminder that the even those men and women who push the envelope of aerospace performance daily are nothing more than extraordinarily capable human beings.

All told, Riding Rockets is a deft look at the space program from the inside, during a period of time when shuttle astronauts were every bit the brave heroes that the Apollo men were, with only a fraction of the of the recognition the latter received. Even poorly written, this would have made a fascinating tale. With the addition of engaging writing and a unique voice, it’s taking all the strength of a solid rocket booster to keep me dropping the worst joke in the history of these reviews and telling you this book is ‘out of this world!’ Don’t worry. I wouldn’t do that to you…

Packing for Mars – Mary Roach

$9.23 in paperback from amazon.com

Buy it if: You’re a trivia buff. Words that turn you on include “quirky,” “random,” and “idiosyncratic.”

Don’t buy it if: You’re a hardcore space nerd interested in debating launch trajectories and the political governance of the ISS. This book talks about pooping in space.

God knows there have been more than enough articles, books and columns entitled “Everything you ever wanted to know about (blank), but were afraid to ask.” From STDs to Scientology, the world has no shortage of forbidden topics. And, let’s be honest, even those subjects are still going to have more than a few items that make them off-limits for the Barnes & Noble “Features” table. But perennial foot-noter Mary Roach turns this notion on its head. Forget the questions you’re afraid to ask, she’s focused on the ones you didn’t even know you existed.

As such, Packing for Mars is really just the next step down the line for the author of Bonk, Stiff and Spook. * The woman who once questioned what became of medical cadavers after their ‘service’ was complete has moved on to equally fascinating questions like: How do you poop in space?** There’s a good deal more to her writing than sophomoric Q&A with the world’s space explorers, but icky stuff will keep you entertained no matter how little you care for the little bit of science thrown your way as well.

Stylistically, Roach can be a tough nut to crack if you prefer your science writing to be presented with an orderly, methodical approach. At first glance, the writing will feel stream-of-conscience,*** but I’m now convinced that the book’s organization is more of a calculated chaos than it feels. That’s a good thing. Rarely do the chapters lose their luster. If they do, it’s usually only a few pages more before you’re on to something new. (Though always with a very pithy segue!)

If you’re already Roach fan, you’ll be pleased to know that Packing for Mars is closest to Stiff in both style and substance. Its balance of humor with fact is spot on. You’ll giggle to yourself while reading, but still have enough pieces of knowledge to chime in ceaselessly should cocktail conversation ever turn to the subject of NASA, the moon or Tang. If you’re not a regular reader, but are up for a quirky take on the great beyond that reads a bit like Monty Python meets a Tom Hanks miniseries in literary form, you may want to make ‘space’ on your bookshelf.

*Brava, Mary, on you first multi-syllabic title!

**Until now, I never really thought about just how many simple parts of our lives really are governed by gravity. Roach provides us with examples that would make Newton blush.

***This is not helped by the author’s rampant footnoting. Ironically, the footnotes are at least as interesting as the main narrative. Unfortunately, there are times a reader may find themselves wishing that the bottom of the pages were less crowded. The overlong asides can prove to be quite a distraction from the main text. Like this one.

I’m Here to Win – Chris McCormack

Still in hardcover only from Amazon.com - $17.06

Buy it if: You want to pick up where Scott Tinley left off. And you actually know who Scott Tinley is.

Don’t buy it if: To you triathlon is three times as stupid for having three times the ways to exhaust oneself.

Triathletes are a dime a dozen, trust me. Throw a rock in any corporate setting and you’re likely to hit at least two or three on your first go. By its very nature the sport caters to the Type-A personality, the type of person that thrives on extra complication. But that’s triathlon for mortals. At the pointy, Olympic end, are a few very gifted, very focused outliers doing things with three sports that most people wouldn’t dream of doing with one. Chris McCormack is the one of these athletes, a man so at the edge of the triathlon bell curve it’s doubtful you could slide a toothpick in past him.

McCormack is also one of the sport’s most divisive figures, cutting a wide swath of opinion through competitors of all abilities. As such, it’s no surprise that his upset win at the 2010 Ironman World Championships was all the impetus the cagey athlete would need to put his story (up to this point) down on paper for the endurance junkies of the world to snap up from their local bookseller. If his book is to be believed, he’s a man who always prefers to bet on himself. The publication of I’m Here to Win maintains this leitmotif.

Interestingly, for all of its marketing as a guide for improving a reader’s own mental gamesmanship, it’s real strength is actually the ‘simpler’ portion: the autobiography itself. McCormack has had a fascinating athletic life and his own take on accomplishments and disappointments is incredibly honest. From his start, racing the continental and World Cup sprint series, to his most recent wins on the long course circuit, the man has included a collection of sports and personal stories that would rival any self-penned athletic tome in your collection. With a career that spans a good portion of his sport’s entire history, I’m Here to Win is also a fascinating look inside the very sparsely populated world of pro triathletes.

Refreshingly, for a book purporting to be an athletic guide to avoiding psychological pitfalls, the author takes quite a few very hard looks at his own performances and history before delivering advice that his younger self may have found difficult to take. That being said, there’s not going to be a lot advice here that can’t be gleaned from the myriad of coaching/training/racing manuals already available: Train your weaknesses. Analyze and correct you tactical mistakes. Rest properly. Learn to interpret your body’s signals.

None of it is groundbreaking. The unique slant offered here is McCormack’s own insistence that simplicity and common sense are the keys. If the messenger has succeeded, it’s certainly a lot easier to trust the message.

All in all, if you’re a fan of the sport or the athlete, the racer’s writing will be welcome on your shelf. Apart from a few stylistic missteps (repeating a sentence in bold and with break lines around it does NOT constitute a bullet point) it’s a decent read. If you’re looking for a training guide, your money should be spent baking your endurance cake elsewhere. I’m Here to Win is only the icing.

Tour de Lance – Bill Strickland

$10.82 in paperback from Amazon.com

Buy it if: You subscribe to VeloNews, use chamois cream or get extra psyched when EuroSport shows the entire Fleche Wallone race

Don’t Buy it if: So, there are more races than the Tour de France? But doesn’t Lance Armstrong win all of them?

Tour de Lance (already a winner in the ‘Most Obvious, yet Surprisingly Unused Title’ category) is an inside track version of Lance’s most recent ‘unretirement,’ dubbed ‘Comeback 2.0’ by those with a vested corporate interest in him. And, being written as it was by Bicycling Magazine’s Editor-at-Large, I wouldn’t have been shocked to find a book that focused on the positive aspects of cycling and skimmed over the darker side. Fortunately, author Bill Strickland has obviously embraced the most crucial aspects of journalistic integrity and Tour de Lance offers one of the most captivating looks at a cycling icon, and the sport in general, that has been available for a long time.

When Lance Armstrong stated his intention to come out of retirement in search of an 8^th Tour de France title, it was met with a few different reactions, all of them passionate. The cynics believed it was a return to the old guard of doped up cyclists, the believers held faith that he could win again, as unblemished as ever, and the general race fans were thrilled at the prospect of excitement after the relatively lackluster 2008 edition. But no athletic story is ever so simple as the headlines allow. To really understand the details of a sport as complex as professional cycling requires not only a massive amount of knowledge, but also near unprecedented access to the one of the most guarded athletes in a sport that has long used the word ‘omerta’ (Mafioso for ‘silence’) to describe its policies.

Yet Strickland, co-author of Armstrong confidant/team director Johan Bruyneel’s autobiography, found himself at exactly this journalistic crossroads in late 2008. With a deep well of knowledge and the trust of those around the cyclist, he set off on a year-long journey following Lance’s attempt at a cycling rebirth. In addition to the drama already inherent to the well-known Armstrong legacy, 2009 added the twist of sharing a team with the most recent Tour champion, his first ever major injury, a newly accessible personality that was on display via Twitter, and his first visit to the professional ranks since a host of new doping accusations had surfaced following his last retirement. In short, the cycling world was reaching its dramatic zenith and Strickland was fly-on-the-wall close.

Of course, anyone with a passing interest in cycling need only do a quick Google search to learn that ‘Comeback 2.0’ resulted in a 3^rd place finish at Le Tour. But that’s not the story, not here. Instead, this may be the most ‘inside’ book on Lance ever written with his authorization. (Though he may have thought twice about his cooperation given Strickland’s most recent Bicycling editorial stating his belief that Armstrong did, indeed, dope) The book will find its most avid fans amongst those whom are already cycling aficionados. If you’re not, the pages will still certainly hold your interest. But if you are, it’s amazing at how much of the whole story is held within. Allusions to truths and whispered confessions line this book with depths of realism that pierce much of the ‘omerta.’ The author is quite honest about holding back some of what he knows, yet offers far more than I would have ever hoped.

Overall, this is a fascinating piece that far exceeded my expectations and proved that in-depth journalism is still alive and breathing in the sports world. I do believe that the whole story is here, even if some of it exists between the lines. Tour de Lance might be the most substantiated true story you’ll read about Lance Armstrong for some time…

A Very Private Gentleman – Martin Booth

$13.97 from Amazon.com

Buy it if: You prefer that your international thrillers be understated, like a subtle French wine. Depth and breadth trump speed and action for you.

Don’t buy it if: You’re the Bacardi-shooter, flaming drink, bullets, sex and acrobatics type of reader. Daniel Craig is your favorite Bond, not Timothy Dalton.

The ‘International Man of Mystery’ novel is hardly an unplumbed depth. In fact, from Jason Bourne to James Bond, there is a multitude of sub-genres that have been written nearly to death. The Gun for Hire, Rogue Agent, Avenging Lover, Patriotic Spy…the list goes on, with only subtle shades between characters and virtually identical traits of physical and intellectual supremacy. This is why Martin Booth’s A Very Private Gentleman stands apart and succeeds.

The premise is not too far removed from the above. We still find a single man, living secretly abroad with a sordid past and a skill set uniquely suited to his profession. But the similarities between Booth and Ian Fleming end there. ‘Mr. Butterfly’ is both less and more than the sum of his professional ability. And with a narrative written in the first person, by a man nearing the end of his career, its approach is one of introspection and consideration weaved into a simple and pragmatic description of life off the grid, a craftsman of death.

‘Craftsman’ is really the best description that can be offered for Butterfly. Though the book takes its time in revealing the exact nature of his profession, it repeatedly alludes to the ‘murder-for-hire’ nature of his work while skillfully avoiding the tired, stock, hitman character. Butterfly has never pulled a trigger for money. In fact, his involvement in the endeavors of The Reaper are far more unique, with the story all the better for it.

Additionally, the story is as much to do with his lifestyle as his profession. From the sleepy bars that line village piazzas to the quiet and gentlemanly brothel he frequents, the book displays a subtly accurate description of rural Italian living. The things noticed by Butterfly are the things we all notice in our lives of waking, eating, loving and generally existing. This will not appeal to those who are seeking a pure action novel, but as a character, the man is utterly fascinating. He works and earns a living, just as we all do. The nature of that work is what gives the narrative its irresistible slant.

As a story, Booth’s book is paced very much like the Italian lives described within: Steady and deliberate, each word is chosen and placed with the care. The emphasis is on detail and subtlety, eschewing fast paced action for action for a tone mirroring the warm, rich Mediterranean lifestyle of the narrator. It’s an unusual take, but very effective. Like a full, complex glass of red wine, the story has to be savored over time to be fully appreciated, but can still be enjoyed by a more casual audience. If you want a rapid fire spy movie poured out across cheap pulp, you should look elsewhere. But for a fulfilling read with depth that demands patience, a compelling twist on an old genre, A Very Private Gentleman is among the best works of fiction I’ve ever enjoyed.

Hell on Two Wheels – Amy Snyder

Available in hardcover from Amazon for $15.27

Buy it if: You’re a cycling nut, an endurance nut, a human interest nut or just someone who thinks the Iditarod is a bit passé…

Don’t buy it if: You think all those nuts are…well, nuts. Why trash your legs riding across America when a Delta airlines coach seat will do the same thing in a lot less time?

What’s the most demanding endurance event a human can undertake? 24 hours of LeMans? Please, you have a CAR. Badwater Ultramarathon? Even the slowest finishers run the 135 mile course in a little over 48 hours. Swim the English channel? Sure, it’s cold and wet, but usually only for one night. The Race Across America? 2,900 miles from west to east coast on a bicycle? Virtually non-stop? 8+ days of pedaling through all weather, all hours? Now we’re talking.

For most of us, Ironmans, marathons, open-water swims and the occasional cycling stage race are about all that pop onto the radar when we think of endurance sports. For those who would enter RAAM (The Race Across America) these things are mere warm-ups for the main event. Starting in Oceanside, CA, the race is on from the gun and doesn’t stop until it hits Annapolis, MD. Unlike those wimpy Tour de France stages, there’s no official stop to the action. Sleep, eat and rest all you want, but there’s no pause. The result: perhaps the most brutal race to which anyone would willingly subject themselves.

Amy Snyder’s Hell on Two Wheels is a deep look at the 2009 edition of the race. Following common technique, she uses detailed narratives about a few of the most interesting and competitive racers to tell the story of the event as a whole. With a course that stretches the width of a continent and finishing times that range from 8 to 12 days (yes, DAYS), a complete report simply isn’t possible. Nor would it capture and hold the reader’s interest like this one does. Instead, the tight perspectives interspersed with ‘wide shots’ of the race’s history, rules and legends makes for compelling reading that is difficult to put down.

Hell on Two Wheels will be especially enthralling to those with no prior knowledge of the race, or even competitive cycling in general. If you’re already a RAAM fan, much of the controversy and minutiae included herein will probably be on the familiar side to you. But going in blind makes for a gripping account, no easy feat when competitors are spaced 50 to 60 miles apart and racing at a mere 17 or 18 mph. Yet, that’s exactly what Snyder pulls off handily, helped in large part by one of the tightest contests for first that RAAM has ever experienced and a diverse group of athletes that are literally redefining what constitutes extreme endurance. (There’s an actual name - Shermer’s Neck - for the sudden and total loss of the neck’s ability to support a rider’s head, so often does it happen in this race!)

Clocking in at just over 200 pages, the book goes by a bit faster than the race itself, yet tells a remarkably complete tale through an arc that’s probably not terribly different from the one racers experience. At first, you might actually find yourself inspired by the race to point of looking up the qualification standards. Near the middle, you’ll probably be reassessing how realistic it would be to actually complete this race. By the end, the vivid accounts of swollen limbs, useless necks and life-threatening complications will make you question the sanity of anyone who would even contemplate entering, let alone competing in it.

With a natural drama inherent to this race that’s very ‘Seabiscuit-like’, Hell on Two Wheels needed only a decent journalistic storyteller to polish the very real narrative to a fascinating shine. Fortunately for the reader, Amy Snyder was more than up to the task and delivers a depth of detail and pacing that allows the book a broader appeal than you might suspect. You may never turn your pedals in anger (you may never even turn pedals in pleasure) but there’s still a good chance will be a welcome edition to your library. Get started now before your summer gets distracted by those little sprints around France in July…

Fall of the Phantom Lord - Andrew Todhunter

Out of print, but usually available used from Amazon.com

Buy it if: You wore out copies of Rock & Ice in the mid-90s or have at any point owned fluorescent climbing gear.

Don’t buy it if: You’re looking for a complete recounting of Dan Osman’s life and surreal death. This book does not include much of what you’d expect.

Climbing, even at its most centric, has always maintained fringe status. But during the MTV/X-Games/Cliffhanger commercial zenith of the sport, a few figures did manage to consistently turn up as good copy for climbing and mainstream media alike. Dan Osman was one of the few climbers who managed to maintain a distant and enigmatic mystique, even when it seemed the vertical sports world would finally going to cross over into the public consciousness full time.

Fall of the Phantom Lord is the result of the author’s multi-year stint spent occasionally shadowing Osman, a very good (though perhaps not truly great) rock and ice climber primarily known for taking ever longer falls on dynamic climbing rope. ‘Controlled free falling’ as a sport. Sadly, his bold routes and devotion to site access will forever be overshadowed by his accidental death, but these are the terms negotiated by his chosen activity. While it may be unfortunate, it can hardly be considered unexpected. What is unexpected is this part of the story’s absence. No mention is made of his death, despite the book’s having been published after his untimely demise.

Part of me wants to consider this an artistic and moral position. After all, Osman often commented that he did not possess a death wish but instead a ‘live wish.’ In this respect, a focus on the living trumps the despair of death. But to completely ignore that his life ended while he pursued a sport of his own invention seems misleading at best, irresponsible at worst. A simple epilogue would provide the casual reader with some context and conclusions, but the book is sorely lacking in this regard.

Unfortunately, it also lacks meat where it needs it most. Interspersed with Osman’s story are vignettes from the author’s own outdoor life. While they do provide context and perhaps allow for a more intimate first-person view of some extreme activities, ultimately they only serve to disguise that there was not quite enough time spent with Osman and his compatriots to form a full narrative. Obviously, the bio of an extreme sport’s shaman/outsider doesn’t bring the type of cash return that might allow for a more thorough exploration of a subject, but anyone who picks up a copy of this one should go into it being aware that it’s not for those who would seek a full telling, but rather a freelance author’s attempt to offer an observational slice of the climber's life. It’s admirable, but incomplete.

Ultimately, Osman’s spirit flits in and out of the pages, but I suspect most readers will end up replacing old questions with new ones and wondering if their fallen hero can be any better understood for having read this book. While a new perspective should be always welcome by those who seek understanding, this is the equivalent of walking down the beach for a new look at the horizon. The view may shift slightly, but the distance to be covered remains just as great.

Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock by Sammy Hagar

Available at Amazon.com for $14.00 in hardcover

Buy it if: Your ideal night is listening to 5150 with a glass of Cabo Wabo after speeding home in a red Corvette.

Don’t buy it if: You’re expecting 250 pages of revelations along the lines of the Rolling Stone excerpt. The good stuff is already out there.

One of the greatest guilty pleasures in literature has to be the ‘tell-all.’ Any vicarious look at the inherent craziness, hedonism or outright wackiness of someone else’s life is a fairly easy sell to most readers. Whether it’s Howard Stern’s Private Parts, a Kitty Kelley political bombshell or even an altruistic whistleblower’s take on corporate misdoings, we love to read about what goes on behind closed doors. Just about everyone likes when as secret comes out, provided it’s not their own.

Sammy Hagar’s recent effort, Red (of course….), unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to the hype that surrounded it’s ungrounded billing as the Van Halen tell-all everyone’s been wanting (“I want some, too!”) since David Lee Roth scissor-kicked his way out of the band in the mid-eighties. That’s not to say that it’s a failure as a book, but if you’re expecting a binding filled with lewd tales of drugs, groupies and oddities, you’d be better off re-reading your well worn copy of Hammer of the Gods and picking up the recent issue of Rolling Stone that excerpted the most dazzling pieces of the Van Hagar drug, alcohol and oddity drama. Just like a movie trailer, if you’re buying the book based on that, you’ve already seen the good parts.

BUT, if you approach the book on its own merits and ignore the effective – if misleading - PR push to premiere Red as a ‘Sammy finally speaks out’ piece, the Hagar/Halen/Montrose/tequila fans among you may find it a worthwhile read. I think the key to appreciating the Hagar narrative can be found in the reader’s own desire. If you’ve been a follower of the man, the book will offer an entertaining and approachable perspective on his life and career. The plainspoken text belies only a light touch from the co-author, which gives the read a genuine feel. It would have been easy to give the words a quick polish, but leaving the shine off gives it a voice akin to sitting with Red Rocker himself, listening to him tell war stories while kicked back on the beach, toes in the sand, tequila in hand.

For an autobiography, this relaxed telling is effective for the objectivity it imposes. Sammy doesn’t deny his mistakes, and by his account, he’s made quite a few. His failings as a father, husband, artist and businessman are embraced as the human errors that plague us all. He’s less apologetic than introspective, a surprisingly endearing trait for an author. Though it’s easy to find yourself sitting in judgment, Hagar’s own perspective makes it tough to cast a stone from your own glass house.

As far as rock bios go, this one is straight down the middle… Not a terrible effort dashed off for a quick buck, but also not fascinating in its own right. This one is crafted for fans and it’s unlikely to capture the interest of someone without a few of Sammy’s records already on their shelves. Recommended, but only if you’re type who just can’t drive 55…

Off Ramp – Hank Steuver

$11.53 in paperback at Amazon.com

Buy it if: When it comes to non-fiction, you find perspective equally compelling as information…and your car’s CD holder could be a random sampling culled from the shelves of Amoeba Music.

Don’t buy it if: You don’t mix snark and sincere. If you expect a common tone when delving into a collection, you’re going to be disappointed half the time.

The essay collection it hardly a new medium. In fact, I’d be willing to lay a wager that the first bound pages were probably so devoted. (Well, maybe the very first were simply a means of determining how many ears of corn ancient Egyptian farmers owed their ancient Egyptian plumbers for coming out after nine on weekend. Literature almost always plays to second fiddle to economics…) The short form of an essay lends itself, pragmatically, to collection. After all, it’s tough to justify printing books with only 10 pages, and one episode of ‘Hoaders’ should be all it takes to convince you that the archiving of original periodical sources can easily spiral out of control. But a collection of essays held neatly together in book form can deliver a huge bang for your reading buck. Long enough to provide joy of equal amount to something long form, yet organized into discrete sections that can be experienced individually, often without succumbing to the tyranny of chronology.

Hank Steuver’s Off Ramp isn’t the most eclectic mix, but it’s up there. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows him as a regular in the Washington Post’s Style section, a grouping of newsprint that’s as diversified as the city it’s written to serve. But if you’re glancing through the book at your local shop (provided you still have one) and get a twinge of joy at the Star Wars piece, you might find yourself ho-humming during the Latino wedding saga that precedes it. If you’re moved by the familial sadness juxtaposed with the Oklahoma City bombing, it’s quite possible you’ll find the piece on ‘Adult Night’ at a mid-western roller rink a bit irreverent and out of place.

However, if at least three out of the four of the above stories made you stop and think Hmm, THAT one sounds kind of interesting… then it’s very likely you reside in Steuver’s prime intellectual real estate. (I’m just guessing, but you probably also like NPR and read the sports section last.) This collection is squarely aimed at the wandering mind with whimsical tendencies, the literary equivalent to Greenwich Village.

Fortunately, the price of inclusion in this journey is significantly lower than a trendy, downtown loft.

Surprisingly, each piece doesn’t force the reader into a large emotional commitment. Despite the sentiment-laden subject matter, the style is ever-so-slightly detached. It’s as if the words are constantly looking over their shoulder, cognizant of observation. You may find this ideal. If you think your own emotional baggage is more than adequate, it will be a relief that Steuver isn’t burdening you with any extra. But if you’re the type that wants to feel, that has a desire for empathy, some of the tragedy-tinged episodes will lack the resonance you seek. You’ll enjoy the quirky characters of Partyland, but wish you knew them better. You’ll picture the New Mexico wedding celebration, but not feel the internal confusion of a young and newly bonded couple. Off Ramp is truly observational, but I suspect that a lot of Steuver’s core demographic flock to collections like this for more than reportage. They’re coming to be involved.

At first glance, I assumed Off Ramp would make for great airplane reading. Lots of small, satisfying chunks of writing that can be consumed and satisfyingly digested on their own... My assumption was wrong. Steuver’s collection is more like an incredibly in-depth game of solo Scruples. The situations give enough context to beg questions of a reader’s own personality, but provide no real answers outside of a very specific situation. It's difficult to ignore enough of yourself in the reported characters and avoid the question What if… Light reading? Maybe not. But a uniquely disguised road towards introspection? Oddly, yes.

Bike Snob by BikeSnobNYC (aka Eben Weiss)

$9.75 in hardcover (Worth it.) from Amazon.com

Buy it if: You’ve been on two wheels long enough to differentiate between marketing and reality, fashion and function, Shimano and Campy…

Don’t buy it if: You think cyclists belong on sidewalks, lycra is lame and only Lance matters. (Then again, this also makes you the ideal reader…)

Don’t be put off by the title. Or the author’s name for that matter. (Until recently, BikeSnobNYC was the ‘nome de plume’ associated with this book and the site (bikesnobNYC.blogspot.com) that spawned it. Clever nomenclature aside, the Snob is anything but. Instead, this small tome reads as a distilled guide to the core of cycling. Gram counting racers and weekend joyriders alike will find a kindred spirit among these pages. Brakeless hipsters and joyless spin-classers...not so much.

Amazingly, in only 222 jersey-pocket-sized pages, the Bike Snob manages to break it all down. Really. History of the bike? It’s there. Why do messengers ride single speed fixies? It’s answered. I want to ride, what do I really need to buy? Covered. (And the truth is far simpler than the Bicycling Magazine Buyer’s Guide would have you believe. Turns out you only need a bike!) Forget anything on the bookshelf that starts with “Guide to…” and give this to any potential enthusiast. Bike Snob will do more to kickstart their obsession than any generic ‘How To’ book.

But it’s not just informative. Indeed, if you’re at all serious about riding there are far more copious and dense sources of information. Instead, the real strength of the book is its ‘forest for the trees’ gestalt. On a bike? The Snob says you're a cyclist. The book is fantastic reminder that common sense is the most useful thing to have along in your saddlebag. From locks (Heavy and strong is better) to helmets (They protect you, but not nearly as well as skillful riding) to style-detracting brakes and fenders (Here’s a hint, function trumps cool) the Snob is the great equalizer. He brings the Cat 3 weekend warrior and style-obsessed city dweller back to earth, all while being a willing participant in both scenes.

You want to ride? Ride. As long as it’s got two wheels, some pedals (and preferably a brake or two) the Snob might just be the thing you need to get out the door and moving. Forget being worried about your cheesy USPS jersey. Don’t stress about your outdated Shimano 8-speed groupo. It’s a new day to be alive and seeing the world on a bike. According to the author, as long as you are, you’re better off than the rest of the world. That’s the only actual snobbish perspective in the whole book…and I agree.