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I have just finished building my first rear wheel using The Bicycle Wheel as a guide. This book will teach you the technical aspects of the bicycle wheel in both structural principles and practical methods. After a couple hundred miles on my new wheel, it is still true as an arrow.

This book debunks myths and gives you the confidence to repair, build, and rebuild wheels. I can honestly say that I no longer fear any wheel repairs. It has given me one less thing to worry about during my upcoming cross-country trip.

The only warning I can give is about Jobst Brandt, not his book. If you run across him in the Newsgroup or in person, you will quickly find out that he is a very opinionated person. Most of his opinions are correct, but don’t ever argue with him. Jobst has to be one of the bigger know-it-all jerks I have seen on the Usenet. I guess everyone has their failings, but his book is first rate.

The Bicycle Wheel ISBN: 0960723668 at Amazon

I’m sorry, you can no longer win $15,000 by reading this book. It was the announcement of the solution to the 10 cipher challenges, located in the back of The Code Book, that made me aware of this book. Money aside, if you are interested in learning of the history of codes and ciphers, this book is for you! Did you know that Mary Queens of Scots was killed by Queen Elizabeth, because her code was not strong enough to foil the code breakers of the time. Have you ever heard of the Navajo Code Talkers that offered the US Marines a method of secure ground communications in World War II? (Probably more so after the Windtalkers movie.) Do you know the full story behind the breaking of the German’s Enigma Code in the same war? Do you know that the first computer was build in England, not the US?

I knew most of the above facts before reading this book. However, as with most people’s understanding of history, my ideas were seriously flawed in the details. This book allows you to start out with the world’s earliest codes and learn how to do a little code breaking of your own. If you are at all interested in either the technical or historical history of code breaking, you will enjoy this book. This is the first technical history book that read like a good piece of fiction. When you realize that the action packed stories are historical fact, the book only shines more.

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography ISBN: 0385495323 at Amazon

As soon as I realized that my recumbent would allow me to complete my dream of riding a bicycle across the country, I started research all over the web. While reading through the many trip reports of coast to coast touring cyclists, two things became clear. First, I would be riding the TransAmerica trail created by Adventure Cycling in 1976 (the year of my birth). Second, I should purchase, read, re-read, and take along Donna’s book.
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Recently I’ve started writing again. In the last few years, all my writing was on screenplay style for short films. Some of these we actually shot and produced, most just sit on my computer in final PDF form. Writing in screenplay format is different than novel, novella, or short story forms. Screenplay is all about dialog and character actions. There is no exposition of character thoughts. I think this experience makes you a stronger dialog writer, when you switch to fiction. I decided to read a few books on the subject of writing fiction before starting up again. Seeing good reviews on Stephen King’s On Writing, I decided to read it. I’m glad I did.

The book is broken into a few sections: C.V., Toolbox, On Writing, On Living: A Postscript, and a final edit example. C.V. or Curriculum Vitae is normally a list of job experience and education for use in an interview. At first, this seemed like a strange title for the section. After I finished reading, it was a logical name. The section is split into 38 mini-chapters or “snapshots” of times in history, as Stephen puts it. Descriptions of points in his life, which influenced his focus and style as a writer, help give perspective on all the rest of the book. King is very open with his battles with drugs and alcohol over the years. He laments about those books written while under the influence, with no lasting memory of the creative process.
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I have not found a way to better describe this book than the first sentence inside the dust cover. “It’s as if Dave Barry and Charles Kuralt squeezed together onto a bicycle to pedal across America and around the world, filing outrageous dispatches along the way.”

Indeed, many times while reading I felt as if I was watching the well done Sunday morning stories where the common man or the small town are shown in all of their glory. Those stories that aren’t as touching will give you a great laugh.

As an aspiring bicycle tourist, this book was hard for me to put down. I can give a book no better compliment than to say that it followed me to lunch and dinner every day for a week. The only problem I had was trying to cope with the fact that I would not be able to start any serious bicycle touring until I left on my Trans-Am tour in May of 2002. This book made me want to be out on the road NOW!
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I really wish I had ran into this book before I purchased my “utility” sewing machine. I got a no frills home machine with a few stitches. It was a floor model, but I would have been better to spend the money on a light weight industrial sewing machine with only a straight stitch. Louise was talking about me when she mentioned those who buy a machine with all of these cool stitches. They play with these stitches for a month and then only sew straight seams. I now wish I had a machine that just sews straight seams like a champ. I’m glad I got my machine pretty cheap, as I’ll most likely upgrade now that I am having fun making stuff. (I’ll eventually be loading on the page describing my bicycle panniers that I sewed using this book.)
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