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Catalog

FATHER'S DAY

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

Roger Crowley

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PROVENCE & THE COTE D'AZUR

A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France

Georgeanne Brennan

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OUR FAVORITES

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

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PENGUIN CLASSICS

The Log from the Sea of Cortez

John Steinbeck

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Top 10 Cycling Books

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Longitude's pick of the best cycling books, a mix of new & noteworthy and classic guides, travel accounts and reference.

Just Ride, A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike

Just Ride, A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike

by Grant Petersen

  • SPORT
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 212 PAGES

Bicycle commuter, reformed racer and proprietor of Rivendell Bicycle Works in Walnut Creek California, Grant Petersen covers equipment, health, safety and attitude in 87 short and illustrated, often provocative essays: number 30: Control Your Quick Release (a major cause of serious incidents); number 47: Bags, "When I see a bicycle without a bag (or basket) on it, I see a bike that can't do much beyond moving you down the road, and that's not enough." Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, gets to the point: "Grant Petersen Strips Away the BS." (BCY22, $13.95)

Cyclopedia, It's All About the Bike

Cyclopedia, It's All About the Bike

by William Fotheringham

  • SPORT
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 432 PAGES

The distinguished journalist and cycling fan William Fotheringham brings humor and substance to this irresistible compendium, organized A-to-Z. With maps and illustrations. (BCY27, $25.00)

It's All About the Bike, The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels

It's All About the Bike, The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels

by Robert Penn

  • SPORT
  • 2012
  • PAPER

A paean to craftsmanship and tradition. En route to building his dream bike (oh, what a brilliant quest!), Robert Penn explores the culture, science and history of the bicycle. (BCY25, $14.00)

The Essential Touring Cyclist, A Complete Course for the Bicycle Traveler

The Essential Touring Cyclist, A Complete Course for the Bicycle Traveler

by Richard A. Lovett

  • REFERENCE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Whether you're heading out for five hours or five months, this vividly illustrated and resource-rich guide to bicycle touring delivers. With hints for planning your tour, safe riding techniques and advice on traveling with your bike. (BCY01, $16.95)

The Noblest Invention, An Illustrated History of the Bicycle

The Noblest Invention, An Illustrated History of the Bicycle

by Bicycling Magazine | Lance Armstrong

  • SPORT
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Celebrating the bicycle from the models from childhood to favorites high-tech mountain machines, beautifully illustrated in color photos. (BCY15, $27.95)

The Rider

The Rider

by Tim Krabbe

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 148 PAGES

Originally published in Holland in 1978, The Rider became an instant cult classic, selling over 100,000 copies. Brilliantly conceived and written at a breakneck pace, it is a loving, imaginative and, above all, passionate tribute to the art of bicycle road racing, tracing in vivid, realistic detail a 150-km race across Europe. (BCY32, $14.99)

French Revolutions, Cycling the Tour De France

French Revolutions, Cycling the Tour De France

by Tim Moore

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 277 PAGES

British humorist, travel writer -- and woefully inexperienced cyclist -- Moore attempts to tackle the Tour de France, all 2,256 miles of it, in this hilarious, irreverent travelogue. (FRN387, $15.99)

It's Not about the Bike, My Journey Back to Life

It's Not about the Bike, My Journey Back to Life

by Sally Jenkins | Lance Armstrong

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

Not just an inspirational account of Armstrong's battle with cancer, this memoir reveals the athlete's scrappy youth, coming-of-age, marriage, fatherhood -- and a great deal about the elite world of championship cycling. (GEN258, $16.00)

Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel

Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel

by Jerome Jerome | Jeremy Lewis

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 361 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Written in 1889, "Three Men in a Boat" (to say nothing of the dog!) is a laugh-out-loud account of a man-powered voyage along the River Thames, full of detail on life and lore. A Longitude favorite. (GBR28, $12.00)

The Epiplectic Bicycle

The Epiplectic Bicycle

by Edward Gorey

  • LITERATURE
  • 1998
  • HARD COVER
  • 64 PAGES

Edward Gorey brings his usual wit to this epic tale of a madcap voyage around the world by bicyle. (BCY29, $10.00)

 
Complete Bike Maintenance

Complete Bike Maintenance


by Fred Milson

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

This bestselling step-by-step guide, featuring clear visuals, is back in a revised edition. (BCY24, $21.99)

The Cyclist's Training Bible

The Cyclist's Training Bible


by Joe Friel

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

Technical, yet comprehensive, this terrific guide, designed for the serious cyclist, has all the tools to help stay healthy and get in shape. (BCY10, $24.95)

The Enlightened Cyclist

The Enlightened Cyclist


by Eben Weiss

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 240 PAGES

From the deadly sins of biking to tactics for dealing with cars, pedestrians, and other cyclists bike advocate Eben Weiss (AKA BikeSnobNYC) lays out the whys and wherefores of getting around by bike. (BCY23, $16.95)

A Dog in a Hat

A Dog in a Hat


by Joe Parkin

  • SPORT
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

Although he celebrates the beauty and glory of professional bicycling at its best, the American racer also drags us through the mud in this gritty account. Setting his tale in the epicenter of the sport in Belgium., Parkin unabashedly explores the drugs, doctors, money, betrayal by teammates -- and sheer physical agony. (BCY33, $21.95)

Le Tour

Le Tour


by Geoffrey Wheatcroft

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER

Wheatcroft brings a historian's flair for incident and telling detail to this rich tale of the race from its humble beginnings to its current fame. (BCY28, $17.95)

Pedaling Revolution, How Cyclists are Changing American Cities

Pedaling Revolution, How Cyclists are Changing American Cities


by Jeff Mapes

  • SPORT
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

An up-to-the minute chronicle of the burgeoning urban bicycling movement. Mapes explores the bike culture and the rapidly changing use of bicycles in cities as varied as Amsterdam (the model), San Francisco, New York and Portland, Oregon. The book is steeped in fact, covering studies on safety and children's biking, and even includes a history of the bicycle as a transportation alternative. (BCY13, $19.95)

The Discovery of France

The Discovery of France


by Graham Robb

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

Winner of the 2008 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, Robb's erudite portrait, the result of time both in the library and on his bicycle, marvelously illuminates the rural byways, history and charting of France. (FRN770, $17.95)

The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles

The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles


by Jan Heine

  • SPORT
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 167 PAGES

Early 20th-century models, mid-century machines where war and postwar economy challenged craft and utility and modern bicycles are all included in this gorgeous, pictorial celebration of 50 classics. (BCY35, $50.00)

We Might as Well Win

We Might as Well Win


by Lance Armstrong | Johan Bruyneel

  • SPORT
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Whether mounting a difficult climb, managing a team of 30 riders and 40 support staff from a miniature car hurtling along narrow European roads or looking a future legend in the eye and willing him to believe, Bruyneel's coaching acumen works: eight Tour de France victories. (BCY12, $14.95)

Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance


by Lennard Zinn

  • SPORT
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 436 PAGES

In this comprehensive, best-selling guide, former racer, frame builder and bike designer Lennard Zinn draws on a half century of bike history to demonstrate all there is to know about bicycle maintenance. (BCY34, $24.95)

Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Diaries


by David Byrne

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

As he makes it clear in this exhilarating chronicle of encounters around the world, David Byrne is hooked on bicycles -- not just to get around New York, but as the preferred form of transportation in places like Buenos Aires, Istanbul, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Manila, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. (BCY14, $16.00)

Catfish and Mandala, A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam

Catfish and Mandala, A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam


by Andrew X. Pham

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 344 PAGES

Much more than the story of a road trip, this book combines the author's family history with his many and often-gritty adventures by bicycle through foreign lands including Mexico, Japan and, notably, Vietnam. (VNM50, $16.00)

Che Guevara and the Mountain of Silver, By Bicycle and Train Through South America


by Anne Mustoe

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 266 PAGES

In this absorbing account, the intrepid British headmistress travels in the tracks of Che Guevara to the famous silver mines of Potosi. (SAM173, $18.95)

Cycling Home from Siberia

Cycling Home from Siberia


by Rob Lilwall

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 399 PAGES

In this tale of endurance and transformation, Lilwall recounts his epic three-and-a-half-year, 30,000-mile journey back to England through the jungles of Papua New Guinea, an Australian cyclone and Afghanistan's Hindu Kush. (BCY30, $14.99)

The Wheels of Chance, a Bicycling Idyll

The Wheels of Chance, a Bicycling Idyll


by H. G. Wells

  • LITERATURE
  • 2001
  • HARD COVER
  • 176 PAGES

Written at the turn of the 20th-century, when bicycling was gaining popularity, Wells sets this humorous account of a young man's cycling holiday in the south of England. (BCY31, $19.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.