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Need for the Bike
- Narrated by: Tom Johnson
- Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins
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Summary
A book like no other, Paul Fournel’s Need for the Bike conducts listeners into a very personal world of communication and connection whose center is the bicycle and where all people and things pass by way of the bike. In compact and suggestive prose, Fournel conveys the experience of cycling - from the initial charm of early outings to the dramas of the devoted cyclist.
An extended meditation on cycling as a practice of life, the book recalls a country doctor who will not anesthetize the young Fournel after he impales himself on a downtube shifter, speculates about the difference between animals that would like to ride bikes (dogs, for instance) and those that would prefer to watch (cows, marmots), and reflects on the fundamental absurdity of turning over the pedals mile after excruciating mile.
At the same time, Fournel captures the sound, smell, feel, and language of the reality and history of cycling in the mountains or in the city and escaping the city, in groups, alone, suffering, exhausted, exhilarated. In his attention to the pleasures of cycling to the specific “grain” of different cycling experiences and to the inscription of these experiences in the body’s cycling memory, Fournel portrays cycling as a descriptive universe - colorful, lyrical, inclusive, exclusive, and complete.
The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
What listeners say about Need for the Bike
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- Nichiless
- 11-04-23
A true classic of both cycling and prose.
A prose poem beautifully touching all the senes and following the author’s lifelong love affair with the bicycle.
This is a series of vignettes about those oh-so-special-moments only a bicycle can bring. Written with a rare skill that makes me wish that I had a better grasp of French so I could read this in its mother tongue; where I’m sure new layers would emerge.
The book begins with that viscerally recognisable joy of the child riding alone for the first time and the emergence of the inner racer - with the inevitable crash. The perception of freedom that this memory evokes will be felt by all. This awakening of long dormant memories is the heartbeat of this book. We have, all of us, been young Paul and shared his many experiences in our own way. Thus the theme is set. There are so many shared experiences that I often found myself drifting wistfully. Even the adventures and chance meetings that I haven’t experienced were often dreamt of and bright a smile to my face.
He is, more often than not, describing our experiences - only immersed in wonderful culture of France.
Read on and be transported through the pen of an artist to a distant world where so much is shared.
This will be read many times over.
Thank you Paul.
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- EdPeters
- 25-03-21
terrible listen
hard to think of a single redeeming feature of this audio book, the narrator made all the worse
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