Jody Rosen is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. His writing on culture, politics, transportation, and music has appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, New York, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications.
When I fell in love with riding a bike in New York City last year,
what I found myself craving was a history-of the bicycle... that
whoever wrote this history would find a way to make it personal and
ruminative... Lo and behold: Jody Rosen has written that very book.
My wish has come true and a door's been blown open. I got more than
I knew I wanted
*New York TImes*
Two Wheels Good is full of interesting moments...and is often
written with real verve... his [Rosen's] enthusiasm for what is
sometimes described as mankind's "noblest invention" is
infectious
*Times Literary Supplement*
The engaging tone of Rosen's memoir-travelogue-history is the grim
cheerfulness of the urban cyclist. He gives a vivid sense of the
cinematic pleasures of cycling through a city.
*Spectator*
A jovial historical narrative ... Rosen rightly get us to expand
our narrow Western image of the bicycle to a global perspective
[and] is skilled yet selective in navigating the complex and rich
history of the bicycle, taking us across continents and through
centuries ... a thoroughly enjoyable, and sometimes surprising
read
*Cycle*
The bicycle has been loved and loathed... Rosen's vibrant history
explores it all
*BBC History Magazine*
Comprehensive . . . [Two Wheels Good] often feels like a leisurely
ride, full of spontaneous detours into unexpected delight. But what
makes the book essential is its rigorous reporting
*The Atlantic*
The best thing I've ever read on a single subject... With
curiosity, conscientiousness, and an exquisitely light touch,
[Joden] makes a convincing case that the story of the bike is the
story of modern life
*Lauren Collins, author of When in French*
Wide-ranging and inquisitive, Two Wheels Good is like an entire
library of books on the bicycle
*Lucy Sante, author of Low Life*
Takes us on a ride-across the centuries and around the globe,
through startling history and vivid first-person reporting-offering
not just a wry, rich, deeply researched meditation on the bicycle
and our relationship to it, but the headlong rush of cruising on
two wheels into the unknown
*Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain and Say
Nothing*
The stores are filled with books on little things that changed
everything, but Jody Rosen's new book offers us a real little
thing-the simple bicycle-that really did change everything, from
the shape of our streets to the inner life of our imaginations...
this is social history as it ought to be written: funny, precise,
surprising, anti-dogmatic and unafraid of following a story, brakes
off, to wherever the tale might want to glide
*Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon*
Love for two-wheeled transport runs through every sentence in the
book... anyone who goes about mostly on two wheels, in defiance of
the ever larger, ever more numerous powered vehicles on the road,
will enjoy this entertaining ride.
*Economist*
[A] complex cultural history. . . . The strength of Two Wheels Good
is the journalist's eye [Rosen] brings to a basic technology that
has had radically disparate identities at different times and in
different parts of the world
*Curbed*
A lively biography of a tool central to the greening of urban
spaces. It's also a fascinating, sweeping everyday explainer,
moving from the bike's 19th-century origins to its importance
globally
*Chicago Tribune*
Full of delightful anecdotes and interviews, and fascinating
historical tales, Two Wheels Good will expand your understanding of
what a bicycle is and what it can do
*Mail on Sunday*
An enthralling overview of a quiet transport revolution
*History Today*
A terrific book... Rosen covers all the aspects of cycling you
could imagine
*Reader's Digest*
Excellent
*Cycling Weekly*
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