Chronic Pedalitis: One Man's Affliction

Good!

This is an amazing book that is a must read for anyone that has health issues.Thomas A Waite is an amazing person who writes from the heart.

The first two chapters are worth the price of the book, but then...So, Tom Waite "divorced" his car, retired (not sure of the order) and basically rides his bike everywhere. He continually makes the valid point directly and indirectly that we are killing the planet with our carbon culture, but there are several problems with the book. First, unless you have a hard science degree plus some advanced math/stat, you may struggle with some of the chapters. The guy is a scientist before a writer and although he is downright funny at times, he chooses method over message for most of the book. Second, is his world he would be considered an N of 1. He cites no wife/partner, no kids, grandkids, close relatives (except his sister-and she lives in India). He lives, when he isn't riding, in a remote cabin in Toronto and frankly comes across as something of a misanthrope. He doesn't seem to like people--after all we are all carbon users. He even dismisses in excruciating detail the culturally accepted "ice breakers" that strangers use to initiate conversation with a traveling cyclist. Don't know how much his battle with Huntington's Disease influences his isolation. So, read the book with an understanding that the author is bright (okay, extremely bright), knowledgable and the holder of a truth most of us ignore. Also understand that he will challenge your mind. But also know that as many standard deviations from the mean as he is in intelligence (plus), he also is in sociability--minus. If he were to read this review he would be looking for typos and failures of logic. Bottom line, glad I read the book, but I didn't come away humming any tunes.

Good read. Starts off good, middle starts to drag with a bunch of boring jargon , ends on a high note. Maybe it was just me but middle was filled with absurd stats and pompous attitude. Still it's worth reading. So enjoy!

He describes a lifestyle that really appeals to me. The book is well written and very informative. I recommend it if you are into riding bicycles more than just around the block.

My wife and I found Tom pedaling north in San Diego county. We chatted him up, learned a little about his lifestyle. My wife said he should write a book. Tom said he had. I bought the Kindle version. Turns out talking to Tom for a few minutes on the road was a lot more fun than reading his book for several hours. Que sera!