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The Perfect Vehicle: What It is about Motorcycles | 
 enlarge | Author: Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $2.23
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Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 204417
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 6.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0393318095
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.75
EAN: 9780393318098
ASIN: 0393318095
Publication Date: May 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very nice copy. Cover shows some wear and had small tear on back. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade.
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Amazon.com
"From my mother I learned to write prompt thank-you notes for a variety of occasions," Melissa Holbrook Pierson writes. "From Mrs. King's ballroom dancing school I learned a proper curtsy and, believe it or not, what to do if presented with nine eating utensils at the same place setting.... From motorcycles I learned practically everything else." Pierson, an intellectual New Yorker, is open to her own contradictions--she is bold and fearful, a motorcycle-crazed poet with a Ph.D., and these seeming incompatibilities are what make this book so good. She can write equally well about the visceral pleasures of riding and about the pains of heartbreak or her own displeasure with her fears. This is the motorcycle memoir for those who are sick of memoirs--or motorcycles. It is a book for people who don't know what the big deal is about riding, or why the Guggenheim Museum in New York, in a swirl of controversy, would exhibit motorcycles as works of modern art. "Riding on a motorcycle can make you feel joyous, powerful, peaceful, frightened, vulnerable, and back out to happy again," Pierson writes, "perhaps in the same ten miles. It is life compressed, its own answer to the question, 'Why?'" --Maria Dolan
Book Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 57 more reviews...
 The best August 1, 2008
B. Bates (Santa Fe, NM USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best motorcycle books I have ever read. It puts into words my feelings of riding in a way that I cannot. Not that well known, but definately worth the money. You will enjoy this book if you enjoy riding motorcycles.
The Perfect Bike Book January 7, 2008
Chef Leo (Maryland, USA)
I recently finished The Perfect Vehicle, and I am extremely impressed. Not only is it very well written; the author isn't afraid to talk about things that many people don't mention, such as fear, and the special problems that motorcycling women still face. She is equally lyrical about the joys of riding. I recommend it wholeheartedly, and I've already lent out my copy. After reading this book, I'm looking harder at Moto Guzzis, too (the author's bike).
Women rider? New Rider? Seasoned Rider? This works! December 4, 2007
Mark Webster (Tulsa)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Good book. As a seasoned rider who generally only reads technical moto books, I'm learly of the "this is what I think about the motorcycle" type books. Melissa did not just write about it, she lived it and you can tell by the way she writes about it. She took a personal journey that more and more women are taking these days and I hope they read her to see how she did it. New riders shoudl take a look and you seasonsed riders might get a kick out of seeing her develope into a real rider. I did but it was a long plane ride. The book and the plane ride were over before I knew it. Good job Melissa.
 Starts & ends w/5 Stars, but it's 2-3 stars everywhere else October 11, 2007
D. S. Greene
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The first writing in this book (the Forward) is worth the price of admission. If it stayed at that level, it'd be "off the charts great" ... up there with "Eat, Pray, Love".
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
In the Forward (and the Postscript, for that matter), her writing is concise, poetic, wonderous ... it is art. And it's about the motorcycle - exactly what the title promises it will be. It is simply awesome.
But from there on, she takes more twists and turns than her favorite ride. And they don't really live up to the title or its subtitle. Instead of addressing "the Perfect Vehicle" or "What it is about Motorcycles", it addresses Melissa's own journey.
And in this, I feel like she cheated us. She might have more aptly entitled it "Motorcycles, Men, and Me". And - even with that - it could be a good story. But that tight, crisp, clean writing in the Forward is not present throughout much of the rest of the book. It is more flowery, rambling, unfocused, and off-point from the title. This is where it dips to 2 Stars.
She also tends to spend a lot of time grinding an axe about her experience of being a FEMALE rider in what she perceives to be a Man's realm. But then again, maybe that points out to a dated book (she's relating experiences from the mid 90s). This is maybe 3-star writing.
I've been motorcycling for only 4 years. I got started in Thailand when a woman from German talked me into motorcycling with her through the Golden Triangle area along the Burma-Thai border. Now, when I bike in Idaho, often as not at least 1/3 of the riders I'm with are women. They are on Beemers, Harleys, Yamahas, Suzukis ... and this is IDAHO. Not exactly what you'd call a liberal state.
The history section is relatively interesting. But and that's where it stays at a relatively modest "3 Stars".
Ultimately, I found this book to be a major disappointment - mostly because it started off GREAT. If you want to get the best this book has to offer, simply read the Forward and the Postscript.
Great Read - even if you aren't a motorcycle rider July 4, 2007
L. Atha (Rocket City, USA)
I really enjoyed this book. I'm not a motorcyle rider and I read it all in a couple of days -- I just couldn't put it down. I like Ms. Pierson's memoir of her personal journey in motorcycling. This is an absolute must for anyone contemplating a motorcycle or knows someone who loves them. Its a great story of personal struggle, and passion for living and riding. I recommend it highly.
If you like this, you may also like "Rebuilding the Indian" by Fred Haefele.
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