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Bike Boom by Carlton Reid

(23 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by Rosie
  • Latest reply from threefromleith

  1. Rosie
    Member

    Carlton Reid's Roads Were Not Built for Cars was excellent.

    Guardian review:-

    http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/23/roads-were-not-built-for-cars-carlton-reid-review

    "This book is a closely argued, meticulously researched retort to all those Mr Toads who not only think that they own the roads, but also that they’ve always done so and that everyone else uses them on sufferance."

    Roads Were Not Built needed a lot of research and Carlton ran a kickstarter fund to finance it.
    He's now working on a new book, Bike Boom:-
    "Use of bicycles in America and Britain fell off a cliff in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to the rapid rise in car ownership. Urban planners and politicians predicted that cycling would soon wither to nothing, and they did their level best to bring about this extinction by catering only for motorists. And then something strange happened – bicycling bounced back, first in America and then in Britain. Today's global bicycling boom – even the one in the Netherlands – has its roots in the early 1970s.

    And this is what I'd like to explore in Bike Boom, a book that will use history to shine a spotlight on the present, and demonstrate how bicycling in the future has the potential to grow even further, if the right measures are put in place by the politicians and planners of today and tomorrow."

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/carltonreid/bike-boom-the-book

    He's looking for kickstarting funds for that.

    I really loved Roads Were Not Built. I have in a nice, colourful softback so I'll be coughing up.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. panyagua
    Member

    Worth pointing out there's a new edition of RWNBFC available for pre-order on Amazon (due for release in April). Buy now before they all go!
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roads-Were-Not-Built-Cars/dp/1610916875/

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. Kim
    Member

    Carlton will probably being coming to the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling to talk about Bike Boom and sign copies of Roads Were Not Built for Cars (come to think of it, how do you sign an e-book?).

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. threefromleith
    Member

    Excellent - really enjoyed his talk last year, and paid up on Kickstarter last night to help fund Bike Boom.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. wee folding bike
    Member

    There are paper versions too.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    "

    The Kickstarter campaign for Bike Boom has now reached £10,000, and that's the second "stretch goal", a doubling of the colour-plate section. If I reach the £12,500 stretch goal those with the posted rewards will also get a large poster.
    Contrary to an earlier email, it's the £15,000 stretch goal which unlocks the "freebie books to VIPs chosen by backers" level.
    To reach – and breach – these higher levels requires extending out of my existing circles, and that happens by sharing of the project on social media. If you were able to mention the project on Twitter, Facebook or other channels, that would be lovely.
    Thanks for all your support to date.
    Carlton

    "

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    "

    "

    #5

    Stretch goal achieved: free poster

    Posted by Carlton Reid

    Thanks to a pledge for a Euro presentation (I don't know where I'm going yet although I suspect it's Germany) all of those on the posted pledges level will now get a free Bike Boom poster!

    The Kickstarter campaign ends on Tuesday at lunchtime-ish, GMT. That's less than 36 hours away. Please feel free to share the campaign on social media and similar. The next stretch goal is to enable the printing of 20 extra copies of the book. These will be sent to planners, politicians and other powers-that-be. And if I reach that goal it'll be you who decides who I'll be sending the books to.

    Thanks for your support.

    Carlton

    "

    (I've booked the hardback version.)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Autokind Vs. Mankind
    Posted by Carlton Reid

    For backers only

    What am I spending your money on? The design and production of the book, of course. But that's for later; for now I'm in the research phase and I'm either checking out books from libraries or buying them online. 1970s bicycle advocate Robert Silverman of Montreal suggested I take a look at Autokind Vs. Mankind by Kenneth R. Schneider.
    This was published in 1971 and is sub-titled An Analysis of Tyranny, a Proposal for Rebellion, a Plan for Reconstruction. It's a hard-hitting polemic that predicted "autocracy" would have either eaten itself by 1994, or would have flattened so many cities and killed so many people motoring would have evolved into a religious cult.

    "

    http://pedalmag.com/montreals-bicycle-bob-silverman-of-le-monde-a-bicyclette-celebrate-80th-this-weekend/

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. Kim
    Member

    Can anyone suggest a free venue where the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling could host a talk By Carlton about his books?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. chdot
    Admin

    Depends how many people you expect to get.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. Rosie
    Member

    I saw him last year and he was very interesting.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. Kim
    Member

    @chdor Ideally at least a 40 seat venue

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    What date? I'd quite like to meet Carlton.

    EDIT: scratch that, just checked dates of the festival and I'm on holiday for all but the last day....

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. i
    Member

    Perhaps someone at the EUCC can look into getting a university venue? I'm sure the students would also be interested in what Carlton has to say.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. Stickman
    Member

    "@edfoc: We have a new event on the calendar An Evening with @carltonreid http://t.co/nS0u4Fuah2 #EdFoC2015"

    16th June at Edinburgh Bike Co-Op, £5.

    Online booking soon - hope I'm able to get in quick enough! Will also be selling copies of Roads Were Not Built For Cars, which I've been trying to get hold of....

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. Stickman
    Member

    Booking now available- I've got a ticket.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  17. Kim
    Member

    The first ticket was sold within three minutes of the event going live. This event, An evening with Carlton Reid, is very likely to sell out, get your ticket now... ;-)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  18. SRD
    Moderator

    drat. I can't make it. last year's was good.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  19. Kim
    Member

    Update: An evening with Carlton Reid is now a FREE event, although you will still need to get a ticket to ensure entry.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  20. chdot
    Admin

    "

    This is how the chapters are shaping up, content-wise. I've still to give them titles and sub-heads.
    I use Scrivener as my word-processor and collation tool – it’s really easy to move things around so nothing is set in stone yet.
    1. INTRO – setting out my stall.
    2. Bike booms – 1900 to date. (Most, apart from those in the Netherlands and the one in the US/UK in the early 1970s, have been false calls but it’s still interesting to track the phrase “bike boom” through the ages).
    3. Decade by decade – a run-down of the the major happenings, from 1910 to today. Tons of surprising historical detail.
    4. Benefits of cycling (and the disbenefits, too, along with “car culture” and the challenges that poses for cycle uptake in auto-centric nations).
    5. How did the Dutch get their bike paths? (Hint: it has a longer history than just 1970s onwards).
    6 The 1970s Bike Boom – the emergence of eco-awareness, the founding of Trek/Cannondale/Specialized and others, and why the Netherlands went one way and most of the rest of the world went another.
    6. Cycle infrastructure 101 – can other countries “Go Dutch”?
    7. City profiles – London; Davis, California; Montreal; Stevenage; Amsterdam; New York; Copenhagen.
    8. Advocacy 101 – what are campaign groups asking for? Will they get it?
    9. Culture shock – the differing cycle cultures and sub-cultures around the world.
    10. The future for cycling – driverless cars are the future? Phoney!

    "

    Posted 8 years ago #

  21. paddyirish
    Member

    #59
    Posted by Carlton Reid (Creator)

    That's it. All done. Finally.
    The book design is now finished. A big fat PDF has now been sent to the indexer, and once indexing has been completed (which takes two weeks, probably) it'll be time for printing.

    Proofs I've seen look good- looking forward to getting my hands on a copy

    Posted 7 years ago #

  22. Rosie
    Member

    Great! Looking forward to reading it.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  23. threefromleith
    Member

    Me too!

    I admit to squinting for longer than I should have at the pics where the backers' names were listed in the book, just to check I was on there... ;-)

    Posted 7 years ago #

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