Rating: 
Summary: Very Insightful and Enjoyable
Review: As a motorcycle newbie, I've been reading a number of technique-oriented books in order to become a better rider. But I wanted to find something about the actual experience with a more autobiographical slant. I spotted "The Perfect Vehicle" on Amazon.com, and it immediately caught my interest. The reader reviews were quite interesting, ranging from exuberant identification to scathing dismissal. Any book that generates feedback of such jarring disparity must have something to say, so I went ahead and took a chance on it. Ms. Pierson has pretty much bared her soul in this book, and my attention never wandered from start to finish. She's a strong, yet vulnerable woman who embarked on a quest to reconcile her desire to find a man worthy of her love with a need for independence and adventure. Motorcycling was the medium that allowed her to explore both of these (apparently) conflicting dictates of the heart. After much relational and highway mileage, Ms. Pierson seems to have made peace with herself, and this book is a well-written chronicle of that journey. "The Perfect Vehicle" does contain some interesting facts about motorcycle history, rallies, and so on. However, it's Ms. Pierson's relationships and riding experiences combined with the resulting insights that really make this book shine. Some reviewers have slammed her for being a man-hater, too introspective, or a Moto Guzzi snob, but I disagree (well, the Moto Guzzi bias might have some merit, but I have a similar affection for Harleys, so I won't cast stones). If I grow half as much as she did via motorcycling, I'll consider the money invested into my H-D Fat Boy well spent. "The Perfect Vehicle" is a great addition to the motorcyclist's library, and anyone who has a passion for adventure and self-discovery will enjoy it as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoughtful
Review: Besides a few obligatory negative remarks regarding white males and negative overtones about Harleys, this book is a good read. RIght off the bat we get the resume of this writer telling us she has the educational requirements to write this book. The writer is very good at putting to words what a lot of us must feel on the bike. I do feel sorry for her though, she just never seems to get that biking is just about feeling for a lot of us. THis writer seems to have it in for white, male harley riders. So, if you the reader do not care about a women riders' point of view by pass this book. However, if you are, as I am, not educated with words but interested read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful
Review: Besides a few obligatory negative remarks regarding white males and negative overtones about Harleys, this book is a good read. RIght off the bat we get the resume of this writer telling us she has the educational requirements to write this book. The writer is very good at putting to words what a lot of us must feel on the bike. I do feel sorry for her though, she just never seems to get that biking is just about feeling for a lot of us. THis writer seems to have it in for white, male harley riders. So, if you the reader do not care about a women riders' point of view by pass this book. However, if you are, as I am, not educated with words but interested read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Do you sing on your motorcyle?
Review: I do occassionally, but would not consider attempting this anywhere else, including the shower. Melissa Holbrook Pierson mentions this small item in her book, along with a deep understanding of what you experience as a result of riding a motorcycle and being a motorcyclist. Her book certainly connects with readers who are motorcyclists, and will intrigue those who are not. Pierson uses actual trips and personal life experiences as a context for describing the "motorcycle experience", and she writes in a comfortable manner that flows from page to page. An easy and enjoyable read. Also, this book somewhat confirmed my suspicions that Moto Guzzi's are fast, exotic, albeit a bit troublesome when it comes to the mechanics.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favourite autobiographies
Review: I read this book a couple years ago and I could NOT put it down. Sure there was the common theme of motorcycling, the part of the conversation I could relate too. But really, that was the setting around which she wove a great personal tale. Overcoming -- not fear -- but deep anxiety. I see reviews written that this is anti man or other strange interpretations. I think if you read closely she lays out her own issues early in the book. The book is her journey to overcome those. She learns about herself -- the good and the bad -- and about people.
I think it is a fun, interesting adventure. I recommend it often and buy copies for my friends.
Rating: 
Summary: good, but needed editing
Review: I was eager to read this book, having read several enthusiastic reviews in motorcycle magazines. And there *is* a lot of good stuff in it -- it explains a lot of the stuff I've always wanted to be able to explain to non-riders about why we ride. But there's far too much irrelevant personal stuff. Pierson's love life is of no interest to me -- a decent editor would have made her cut that part out. And she really doesn't have enough riding experience -- the bio says about 35,000 miles -- to be able to write with authority about motorcycling. It shows in comments like one at the very end, to the effect that "the most dangerous thing you can do is to ride in the rain." This is patently false; as long as you have good tires, riding in the rain is no problem. She also overemphasizes the fear and danger of motorcycling. I've been on a racetrack (OK, I was the slowest guy out there) and have ridden under all kinds of conditions -- yet I've never felt fear on a motorcycle. As I say, there *is* a lot of great stuff in this book -- but I was disappointed nonetheless. Pierson fails to "strengthen our case" in the eyes of non-riders, the way I hoped she would. It also doesn't help that she doesn't work on her own bike -- that's one of the essentials of being a motorcyclist. She goes into helpless-girl mode when things go wrong on the road. And she gets whiny at times. All in all, the book is rather spotty -- I can't recommend it to non-riders, as I'd hoped I'd be able to.
Rating:
Summary: Infectious account of Motorcycle passion.
Review: My wife and I became interested in Motorcycle riding, and I looked for a book from an Author that shared this interest. Melissa Pierson shares the intimacy she has uncovered for Riding in this book. Along the way, we experience her first motorcycle purchase, personal relationship problems, and ride with her to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Canada, and a difficult riding trip through Germany. She shares with us how the outsider may view the female motorcycle rider. She also gives various accounts of past female riding in history and the motivations behind it. Her enthusiasm for motorcycles is infectious but she is quick to point out the dangers of riding and gives multiple accident stories to dramatize this effectively.
My only negative view on the book is that the latter half of the book involved her seemingly high view of the Moto Guzzi Motorcycle. I don't know personally if these motorcycles are reliable, but she shares breakdown after breakdown story with these cycles, that I began skipping pages that delt with this and I could not help wondering why she would have not picked a more reliable cycle like a Yamaha or a Honda. Other than that, the book is good and would only strenthen interests in freedom riding, and motorcycles in general. (Minus Mrs. Pierson's bias shared for Motor Guzzi's)
David Carlin
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a trainwreck...
Review: or, rather, a motorcycle wreck. The author can't decide if she wants to write a serious book about the history of motorcycles, or go into rather boring detail about her own relationships. The transition from one to another is jarring, her writing is overly verbose and her style is just plain boring. Her editor really dropped the ball on this one...there are whole sections that are completely irrelevant. Perhaps one needs to be a total gearhead to appreciate this muddled, wordy snooze.
Rating:
Summary: Magical
Review: Pierson is wonderful at explaining the magic of motorcycling in a way that could only be called eloquent. For so many motorcyclists, the two wheeled vehicles consume our lives. Pierson dynamically describes the path of her life as it coincides and included motorcycles while she informes the reader of some of the best motorcycle specific data. I simply could not put the book down and have returned to it many times. If you are passionate about motorcycles, do not miss the chance to read this work.
Rating:
Summary: Near-perfect book
Review: Reviewer: Frank from Los Altos
I can see how some are upset with the title of this book: "The Perfect Vehicle: What it is about Motorcycles" sounds more like a collection of motorcycle stories and essays than the memoir that this is.
Pierson is an excellent writer and poet, repeatedly reducing to written form the mystical experience of riding. "It is simple: the power to go, the power to stop, are as reduced as a metaphor and made to fit in one small hand."
To Pierson, and most riders, a motorcycle is more than a means of transportation. When you ride a bike, on the one hand you acquire friends and a lifestyle, and on the other hand much of society will exclude you.
She writes about the feeling among some riders, who have reacted negatively to articles she's written, that "nothing depressing, upsetting, or unfavorable ever be uttered about" riding.
Although each rider belongs to the community of all riders, there are many divisions within the riding life. The brand and style of bike you choose to ride is expected to define your character. While you're in the riding community, you're loyal to your brand -- Pierson rides a Guzzi and writes at length about the "worldwide brotherhood of Moto Guzzi riders.... Guzzis appeal to the middle-class rider who is not too racy, but plenty individualistic.... They attract tinkerers, people for whom good is never good enough, for whom the rituals of necessary maintenance are secret joys.... Never for them a full fairing...."
I would have liked more analysis about the "brand loyalty" aspect of motorcycling. Perhaps the brand you ride is like the Sorting Hat at Hogwarts -- a window into your true self? Why is this so? This brand/personality correlation isn't limited to motorcycles -- just look at the Ford vs. Chevy truck rivalry, or how the type of car you drive reveals your personality. (If I told you I drive a sports car, you'd probably think differently of me than if I told you I drive a minivan.)
Pierson writes about the prejudice and even disbelief that riders and non-riders have toward women riders. When she sits down at a restaurant table with her helmet and orders a meal, the waitress brings two meals -- the second meal for the man who, surely, must belong to the helmet. When she arrives at a toll booth, the toll taker asks, "Did you ride that motorcycle here all by yourself?" She's tempted to answer, "No, I carried it on my head."
Woven throughout the book are her thoughts and experiences on the psychology of riding and its many aspects -- friendships, relationships, touring, racing, and rallies. She identifies Harley riders as comprising most of those who are "perennial children" and debase their women. I don't see this as "male bashing," but as an honest and direct appraisal of the behavior of one group of riders -- but she should have been clearer that many Harley riders are not in that group.
The further divisions in the motorcycle hierarchy can be seen in the prior reviews here. You're not "really" a rider if you've "only" ridden 35,000 miles, or if you think riding in the rain is more dangerous, or if you've ever been scared on a bike, or if you can't rebuild your own bike from the ground up.
A book about the romance of riding would be much less if it were not personal. This is a valuable book for everyone who rides, and anyone who is interested in reading about the attractions of the riding life.
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