At the last PY coffee meet-up I borrowed David Byrne's book "Bicycle Diaries" from @Laidback. "I don't know", said Laidback, "maybe you could even write a review or something." Here goes.
David Byrne is a busy man - he makes music, films, books, photography and art exhibits, and in fact seems to spend his time rushing round the world in a dizzying whirl of creative activity. And wherever he is, he gets out his folding bike and sets off along the street. He just loves cycling, he says: it's exhilerating, easy, quick, incredibly convenient. He even cycles to nightclubs - much easier than having to hail a cab at night.
But cycling's more than that to him - it gives him space to think, it puts him into the state of mind where creative ideas seem to spontaneously bubble up from his unconscious mind. He has interesting things to say about the nature of creativity. Also, while cycling he looks at the city he's pottering through, and muses on what it's like and how it got that way.
The book is selected from his diaries. Each chapter is from a different city - Berlin, Istanbul, New York, London, Manila for instance - and as he cycles along, he describes what he sees, and thinks about it, and wonders how it got that way. Cities are a physical manifestation of our deepest beliefs as a society, he reckons. If you ride around them and keep your eyes open you can read the city's collective mind. The parts of the book which analyse a city and trace how it got that way (and what can be done to fix it) are utterly compelling reading. The book isn't entirely a city travelogue though - there are plenty of entries about the creative endeavour that brought him to that city, the music, the books, the photography exhibition, whatever it happens to be - and about people he meets, the times they've lived through and what they have to say. He's gregarious and fun-loving and seems to get along very well with a wide variety of people.
He finishes up with a chapter about cycling - how to improve cities for cycling, how cycling can improve cities - how, basically, to make places worth living in again.
David Byrne is an engaging writer. He writes simply, clearly and freshly, whatever he's writing about. This was the first book of his that I'd read. I shall be seeking out more of them.
I borrowed @Laidback's copy of the book (thank you!) but the library has half a dozen copies, or you can buy one for a recommended £8.99, so it's easy to get hold of. I think I shall buy one for myself.
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