Friday, May 21, 2010

Review - Cyclist BikeList by Laura Robinson (4/5 stars)

I got this book through Librarything's Early Reviewer program.  I really wanted to read it because I have been cycling a lot in the last few years and thought this book might be helpful.  Overall it is a good book with lots of good information.  It is really targeting kids though, so adults might find the detail lacking some.

There is a lot of really good general information in this book.  The beginning of the book focuses on the history of the bicycles, then it goes into different types of bikes, how to choose a bike, bike safety, bike gear, bike maintenance, and some info on professional biking.

As a frequent, but not avid biker (someone who does maybe 30-40 miles a week on my bike) I found that I knew most of this information already.  In fact if you go to your local bike shop they should tell you about the different types of bikes, how to choose a bike, and how to maintenance your bike.  There were a couple good things in here that I didn't know about for instance information on taking day trips and racing. 

This book is definitely aimed at kids, specifically somewhat older kids.  So if you have a 6 or older kid they might be interested in this book.  If your kid really wants to learn more about biking this would be a wonderful book for them.  There are some neat, fun facts in here and the pictures are well done (kind of cartoonish and bright). 

I wouldn't recommend this book to someone already familiar with cycling.  I was hoping it would go into more detail on maintenance and more technical details on the bikes.  Basically this is just an overview of all of those things. As I said an excellent resource for kids.  The only adults who would benefit from this book are those who know absolutely nothing about cycling.  Also a lot of this information can be obtained at your local mom and pop bike shop, as long as you have one of those near you to go to.

Overall a great overview for kids.

This book goes towards the following reading challenge:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
Cyclist BikeList: The Book for Every Rider 

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