Two Wheels Good
The History and Mystery of the Bicycle (Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023)
By Jody Rosen | Publisher: Vintage Publishing
About the book
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023**
A panoramic revisionist portrait of the nineteenth-century invention that is transforming the twenty-first-century world.
'The real feat of this book is that it takes us on a ride-across the centuries and around the globe, through startling history and vivid first-person reporting.' - Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain
The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly out of pace with our age of smartphones and ridesharing apps and driverless cars. Yet across the world, more people travel by bicycle than by any other form of transportation. Almost anyone can learn to ride a bike - and nearly everyone does.
In Two Wheels Good, writer and critic Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous machine, an ever-present force in humanity's life and dreamlife, and a flashpoint in culture wars for more for than two hundred years. Combining history, reportage, travelogue, and memoir, Rosen unfolds the bicycle's saga from its invention in 1817 to its present-day renaissance as a 'green machine' in a world afflicted by pandemic and climate change.
Readers meet unforgettable characters: feminist rebels who steered bikes to the barricades in the 1890s, a Bhutanese king who races mountain bikes in the Himalayas, astronauts who ride a floating bicycle in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station.
Two Wheels Good examines the bicycle's past and peers into its future, challenging myths and clichés, while uncovering cycling's connection to colonial conquest and the gentrification of cities. But the book is also a love letter: a reflection on the sensual and spiritual pleasures of bike riding and an ode to an engineering marvel - a wondrous vehicle whose passenger is also its engine.
'Love for two-wheeled transport runs through every sentence in the book' - Economist
'The best thing I've ever read on a single subject' - Lauren Collins, author of When in French
'This is social history as it ought to be written: funny, precise, surprising, anti-dogmatic and unafraid of following a story' - Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon
Editions of Two Wheels Good
- Hardcover
- ISBN 9781847923073
Read an Excerpt
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023**
A panoramic revisionist portrait of the nineteenth-century invention that is transforming the twenty-first-century world.
'The real feat of this book is that it takes us on a ride-across the centuries and around the globe, through startling history and vivid first-person reporting.' - Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain
The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly out of pace with our age of smartphones and ridesharing apps and driverless cars. Yet across the world, more people travel by bicycle than by any other form of transportation. Almost anyone can learn to ride a bike - and nearly everyone does.
In Two Wheels Good, writer and critic Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous machine, an ever-present force in humanity's life and dreamlife, and a flashpoint in culture wars for more for than two hundred years. Combining history, reportage, travelogue, and memoir, Rosen unfolds the bicycle's saga from its invention in 1817 to its present-day renaissance as a 'green machine' in a world afflicted by pandemic and climate change.
Readers meet unforgettable characters: feminist rebels who steered bikes to the barricades in the 1890s, a Bhutanese king who races mountain bikes in the Himalayas, astronauts who ride a floating bicycle in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station.
Two Wheels Good examines the bicycle's past and peers into its future, challenging myths and clichés, while uncovering cycling's connection to colonial conquest and the gentrification of cities. But the book is also a love letter: a reflection on the sensual and spiritual pleasures of bike riding and an ode to an engineering marvel - a wondrous vehicle whose passenger is also its engine.
'Love for two-wheeled transport runs through every sentence in the book' - Economist
'The best thing I've ever read on a single subject' - Lauren Collins, author of When in French
'This is social history as it ought to be written: funny, precise, surprising, anti-dogmatic and unafraid of following a story' - Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Two Wheels Good about?
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023**
A panoramic revisionist portrait of the nineteenth-century invention that is transforming the twenty-first-century world.
'The real feat of this book is that it takes us on a ride-across the centuries and around the globe, through startling history and vivid first-person reporting.' - Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain
The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly out of pace with our age of smartphones and ridesharing apps and driverless cars. Yet across the world, more people travel by bicycle than by any other form of transportation. Almost anyone can learn to ride a bike - and nearly everyone does.
In Two Wheels Good, writer and critic Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous machine, an ever-present force in humanity's life and dreamlife, and a flashpoint in culture wars for more for than two hundred years. Combining history, reportage, travelogue, and memoir, Rosen unfolds the bicycle's saga from its invention in 1817 to its present-day renaissance as a 'green machine' in a world afflicted by pandemic and climate change.
Readers meet unforgettable characters: feminist rebels who steered bikes to the barricades in the 1890s, a Bhutanese king who races mountain bikes in the Himalayas, astronauts who ride a floating bicycle in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station.
Two Wheels Good examines the bicycle's past and peers into its future, challenging myths and clichés, while uncovering cycling's connection to colonial conquest and the gentrification of cities. But the book is also a love letter: a reflection on the sensual and spiritual pleasures of bike riding and an ode to an engineering marvel - a wondrous vehicle whose passenger is also its engine.
'Love for two-wheeled transport runs through every sentence in the book' - Economist
'The best thing I've ever read on a single subject' - Lauren Collins, author of When in French
'This is social history as it ought to be written: funny, precise, surprising, anti-dogmatic and unafraid of following a story' - Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon
What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Two Wheels Good?
History and Archaeology > History > History: specific events and topics > Social and cultural history
Where can I read a sample of Two Wheels Good?
You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9781847923073
Who is/are the Author/s of the book Two Wheels Good?
Jody Rosen
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Two Wheels Good is available as hardcover(ISBN 9781847923073)
Where can I buy Two Wheels Good online or support local independent bookshops?
You can buy Two Wheels Good from below
Where can I buy Two Wheels Good?