Free-riding Books

This is a very personal, spiritual and inspirational book from Sasha (who also happens to be a dear friend of mine). The writing is clearly from the heart and soul of the author. Included are many other stories of women and their rides and what motorcycling has done for them and their lives. There is also a great chapter on the history of women in motorcycle. The many photographs included are an added plus. Every woman who rides or is thinking about riding should pick up this read.

Wow, I now have so much enthusiasm for hitting the road! Very inspiring stories from a wonderful diverse range of woman. Well worth the read.

I've been facinated with motorcycles most of my life. Reading this book just reinforces my "hidden obsession" -- one I hope to make a reality soon :)

The real stories of women and their rides will inspire anyone to get out there and ride -- no matter your background :) From historical women who pioneered the road (before the roads were ANYTHING like we know) to today's high speed racers. Pictures in the book add to the story, they don't detract.

The book is so awesome, my husband reads it :)

If you think women riding their own motorcycles is something new or have wondered why so many women have decided to venture into a predominately male culture, then this book is for you. The author covers all areas pertaining to women involved in motorcycling. It is a history lesson mixed with stories and thoughts of the modern day female rider.

This handbook is a gem. Being a longtime boarder, I decided to make a point to increase my awareness of terrain and route selection in the backcountry and get more familliar with avies. This book is helping me accomplish that goal.

Info is straight forward, has practice examples to test your knowledge on when to ride and when to walk away from certain conditions, lots of pics to help explain terrain features and in depth "how to's" on testing snow strength, as well as detailed instructions on correct probing technique.

Added bonus: Craig Kelly helped contribute to the info in this book, and hence there are many pictures of him throughout. Much love to our fallen hero.

Worth $8.00? Oh heck yeah. Small price to pay to save the life of your friends and your own.

Great book. Excellent infomation and pictures. Not too tech. Good first book to read on the subject or to reinforce current knowledge.

As a prior student of Dr. MacKenzie's I can attest to his knowledge and ability first hand. This is a great book and his methods are tried and true. I have used his method of training on many OTTB's with great success. This book is a must have for anyone wanting to learn the art of free-lungeing.

If you like all the "horse-whisperer" and natural horsemanship trainers, you will love this excellent little book. When I was an undergraduate student, I had the opportunity to see Dr. MacKenzie work with some horses. It was an amazing demonstration of the language of horses. This book is easy to read and understand and NOT full of hype...I recommend it to all my equestrian friends.

After months of wait for the release, my copy finally came. I am very happy with the book. It is an excellent reference for western saddle fit issues for both horse and rider. Covers a wide variety of saddle styles, pros and cons, etc. How to evaluate the soundness of saddle trees on used saddles. Common conformational issues and how they impact fit. Even pads and fittings get are covered. Just a wonderful, all-around go-to source. Will be next to the author's English saddle book in my permanent library.

This is clearly the best book in my entire horse library. Horse's backs are just so important and this book is just full of incredibly useful facts, diagrams, photos, pictures, instructions and explanations. It shows all the parts of a saddle, how to fit a saddle, what can go wrong if it's the wrong fit, what to look for when buying a second hand saddle, both english and western, and the outcomes of poorly fitting saddles. My horse had a lot of trouble with fitting a saddle because of his high wither, but with this book I was able to resolve a lot of his problems and the outcome was just amazing - within a week, he was so much calmer, happier, more comfortable.

This book is not just a book to read, it is a tool to be used and applied. It should be in every horse owner's library. A great sized book, with glossy pages, you will not be disappointed in the slightest.

I've kept a copy of this book in my permanent library. It is an excellent reference for English saddle fit issues for both horse and rider. Covers a wide variety of saddle styles, pros and cons, etc. How to evaluate the soundness of saddle trees on used saddles. Common conformational issues and how they impact fit. Even pads and fittings get are covered. Just a wonderful, all-around go-to source.

I purchased the book because I was looking for a new horse and was concerned about conformation of the wither because the saddle slips forward onto the shoulder of my current horse. Not only did I find the answer to this problem but I learnt much more including the influence of saddle design on the rider's position. Highly recommended for those interested in English-style riding.

This is the best book I have ever looked at about saddles, how they are built, how they work and why badly fitting saddles cause so many problems with horse behaviour. The diagrams and photos are so easy to follow with the captions beside each example. In Australia, this book is the Saddle Fitters Bible and I can see why. I would recommend it to everyone who has a horse.

I have ridden and trained horses for over thirty years and I was very impressed with this book! It breaks up common myths about saddles, saddle fit and horses. What if your horse's bad attitude was from back pain? What if it was a simple saddle repair that put you both back on the road to sound and safe riding? This book takes the saddle literally from the ground up from the styles and construction of the tree to the leather that ultimately goes over the top. It describes: seat styles, stirrup position and how it affects you ability to effectively communicate with your horse, bars and how important they are to a correct fit, Seat size and how to measure they way the saddle maker intended not they way the saddle shops do, how to test and measure your current saddle and horse for a correct fit and some reccomendations for changes to make to enhance that fit for both you and your horse. Really this is one of the best books currently on the market for saddle information. There are some refrences to English saddle and fit for comparison between the western saddle and the english saddle. If you want to break the myths and solve some mysteries about how and why, then I would suggest this book!

I haven't finished this book. But so far I like it.
I have to say, I would be a little freaked out if I
had to go to some strangers house like Sam did. Even
if she was an old lady.
I like it alot, so far, I like them all.

A very wonderful story! This author amazes me every time. This is a sad story, but has a unique and heart-warming finish. Anyone can enjoy this book, and I've read it dozens of times. One of my favorites. If anyone likes young animals, this is for you!

Phantom Stallion is a great book series. Faith a blind filly comes to Mrs. Allens ranch that Samatha Foster (Sam) renvates into a usful system. Mrs. Allen a new charter introduced to the series was mean at first and Sam changed all that. You will find the epic adventure of Faith, Sam, Trudy Allen, and of course the beloved phantom. Its a great book series for any girl into horses. So I hope you like the book and have fun with the adventure of Faith and Sam.

I have read the first thirteen of the Phantom Stallion series, and Free Again is one of my favorites. Like all the Phantom Stallion books, a lot of different story lines are presented throughout the book. You get to know not only the human characters, but also the horses, each of which have their own personality as well. I highly recommend the Phantom Stallion series for any horse lover!

Thirteen-year-old Samantha (Sam) Forster, is absolutely ecstatic when she finds a great home for a group of so-called "unadoptable" mustangs. In fact, she feels like an absolute hero, and is filled with so much strength, she feels like she can do anything. But when she promises to help care for each and every horse, especially the beautiful little blind filly she names Faith, she realizes just how much responsibility she has now. Between school, chores, homework, friends, taking care of her own horses, and helping to take care of the mustangs, Sam feels completely overwhelmed. But when the little blind filly wanders away alone during a horrible snowstorm, Sam blames herself, and knows that it's up to her to save the filly before something terrible happens to her. And maybe, just maybe, her beloved Phantom will help her save the day.

This is my first ever PHANTOM STALLION book, and I am not in anyway disappointed. I found the character of Sam to be full of wonderful spirit, determination, and intelligence. Her outlook on life, and her love for animals (especially horses), is absolutely wonderful, and her courageousness in searching for the blind little filly in the middle of a snowstorm was utterly remarkable. The supporting characters, such as Sam's friends, Jen and Jake, and her guardians, her Father and her Grandmother, make the story so much better, and keep it flowing well, while at the same time capturing the readers' attention. Overall this was a wonderful book that will be cherished for years to come by horse lovers.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Dr Warson is a neurosurgeon and rider - yippee! Someone, who's first reaction is not to blame all your back problems on riding. This book provides an interesting look at your back's anatomy, function and problems (or potential problems). Stretching and strengthening exercises and practical advice on riding as you age (or with back aches).

I purchased this book sight unseen and really did not expect it to be as substantive as it is. The author is extremely knowledgeable about both riding and rider's back problems. I wish that I had been able to read it years ago.

I recommend this book to every rider, not just those with back problems, since it provides a lot of information on the aging rider's back, and none of us can turn back the clock! Prevention is worth a ton of cure.

I bought this book pre-order and it arrived very quickly. The author knows his stuff. I am an x-ray tech by trade, so nearly everything I read was understandable to me. He wrote the book so everytone could understand it- medical terms were explained, and there was an extensive glossary of terms. I got the book because my husband suffers badly from back pain and is an avid rider. I occasionally suffer from back pain- usually from doing too much sitting trot. The author was very complete in his assessment of the rider and even the type of horse they should be riding. Fortunately my husband and his horse are a great match, me and my horse aren't so good, but with some work I think we will be OK. The author also went through a series of stretches and also treatment options from traditional to alternative. I found it a very interesting book with a lot of information for anyone who is interested in riding. I even loaned it to my chiropractor who said he would probably get a copy because he treats riders as well.

Happy reading,
Kathy

I've had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Asmus speak twice at business conventions before purchasing any of his books, and he is one of the most entertaining as well as persuasive proponents of privatization. He is one of the best public speakers I have listened to. This book is not unlike his actual presentation, although he's even funnier in real life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to see how government is NOT the solution to every single problem in life - regardless of what some politician says on TV. A must for anyone who is interested in government, politics and how they impact the economy. A good read!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dr. Asmus' ideas about the way things were, the way they are, and the way they will be. Specifically, he makes very powerful arguments that we should be very cautious when it comes to government control over anything. Why, he ponders, would we want to have the government do anything when the private sector through free markets can do it better and cheaper. Government is by nature a monopoly which can not simply "go out of business" if it isn't efficient. Compare this to a business which is constantly upgrading and improving in order to stay one step ahead of the competition. I read this book in 4 days and couldn't put it down. Since then, I have never looked at the U.S. government the same. Read this book, and you won't either!

Dr. Asmus is with the Center for Policy Analysis, a libertarian think-tank. The book is an excellent blend of philosophy and real data, all of which is geared toward explaining how many of the functions performed by governments today would be better off in the hands of private enterprise. The book has two shortcomings: 1. It was inspired by the election of Clinton in 1992 and the subsequent 1994 "Republican Revolution", and, as such, much of the material is time-sensitive and will soon be outdated, and 2. Dr. Asmus' attempts at poetry. The main strength of the book is its abundance of real data to justify its points -- something often lacking in dissertations of opposing viewpoints. The only premise that the reader is asked to unconditionally accept is the idea that economic growth is good

Mancur Olson got famous for saying roughly the following: If there are many people that contribute to a public good, and the contribution of each has a negligible effect on the final outcome, it is rational for each person not to contribute. This normative claim is the object of attack in Tuck's book.

First, Tuck distinguishes the case that Olson is looking at from two others. One is the infamous Prisoners dilemma. This represents a different, and much easier problem, because in the Prisoner's dilemma each player has a clear effect on the outcome. Thus, mechanisms can be designed to discipline people, and tit for tat strategies in repeated settings may insure compliance. The Olson case is harder, because, argues Tuck, if no-one has a perceptible influence on the outcome, there is no reason to punish anyone!

A second case that is different from Olson is when there is a clear threshold, such as in voting. In voting, the good (a certain candidate elected) is provided if the majority votes for her. In this case it is a mistake, according to Tuck, to say that people are not responsible for the outcome if the difference is more than one vote. In fact, everybody who helped to reach the threshold, and was thus in the critical set of votes may be said to be responsible for the outcome. As long as the probability that you are in that critical set of votes is high enough, it is rational to vote. There are some subtleties here, for example, this definition of rationality cannot rely on a counterfactual view of causality, because if one would not have voted the result of the election would have been the same. But, says Tuck, this does not mean that your vote does not cause the candidate to be elected, and therefore does not imply that it is irrational to vote.

This latter case provides the germ to a solution to the true Olsonian case. Tuck's move is to say that a true Olsonian case can also be perceived as having a threshold. He does so by looking at the history of thought the Sorites paradox (If we keep adding grains to a pile, can we pinpoint the moment when we call it a heap?). From this emerges a thoughtful, but slightly complicated argument that I will not summarize. Tuck concludes that there is no perfectly satisfactory solution to this paradox, but that we nevertheless have a rough and functional idea when something is a heap. Analogously, we roughly know in a public social dilemma how much cooperation is `enough'. Thus, if enough other people contribute, and we are likely to be in the critical set to reach this fuzzy `enough'-threshold, it will be rational to contribute.

The second part of the book discusses the history of thought on social dilemma's and particularly Olson's problem. Tuck shows that it was not until the 1930's that people started to think about the problem of negligible contributions (in the context of perfect competition in economics). The associated idea that cooperation is not rational is therefore rather recent. Philosophers such as Hume and Mill assumed that cooperation was rational, but that shortsightedness prohibited people sometimes from pursuing their self-interest.

Tuck is a specialist on social dilemmas with many interesting insights. The philosophical point about rationality is original, clever and undoubtedly important in some debates. However, I do not find it as interesting as the back-flap quotes that applaud it do. First, strictly speaking (something on which Tuck insists), truly Olsonian situations seem to be rare. Second, Tuck basically points out an ambiguity in the meaning of rationality (is it necessarily based on counterfactual causal reasoning?), and shows that in an expanded meaning it can account for contributions in the Olson case. This is ultimately a matter of definition which does not really further the understanding of compliance.

For example, his argument does not give a convincing account of why people behave differently. Some people walk on the grass, others don't. Is that because they employ different conceptions of what is valid causal reasoning? I believe that people have intrinsic reasons to cooperate, that have to do with their identity (who am I?), with their desire to be part of some groups and not others and yes, with sanctions (which can be very rational if they are aimed at all free-riders at the same time). Stating these motives in terms of preferences can also incorporate contributions in a rational framework. Tuck makes little of such arguments, because he says that they do not really explain the why of contribution. This is true in some sense, but for many purposes such explanations do fine, and at least they can account for heterogeneity in behavior, which Tuck's reductionism can't.

Actually, the part that I liked the most was the summary of the diverse philosophical arguments surrounding social dilemmas. This part is well-researched, and contains instructive quotes. In short, an intelligent book that is worth reading. It furthers philosophical discussions by questioning our standard conception of rationality, but I doubt that it will help us much to understand actual free riding behavior.

I love this book, half way through it and some made me cringe while others made me laugh out loud. Sonny did a good job with the stories he chose. To those that say some of the stories cant possibly be true - well for one thing how would anyone know ? And the other thing, so what ? In Sonny's own words and forward on the book he states clearly that some are fiction or not, and no one knows for sure.

Lighten up and enjoy the reading !!!

If you had any interest in motorcycles, if you are above 45 and if you had lived in States for a while, then you would know Hell's Angels. All the myths about them had been around for a long time. Who can forget Steve McQuin's motorcycle jump in the Great Escape?

It is a nice book for reading the urban motorcycle myths from first hand, I enjoyed reading it very much.

You'll not be able to put this one down! It's serious, it's saddness but most of it is hilarious! Sonny did a great one Here!! If you love the biker lifestyle buy it! It's one damn good read!!

I bought this book for my brother-in-law. So I had to ask him what he thought. He told me how much he enjoyed the book. So buy this book for anybody that is a biker or a biker at heart.

This isn't really a biography, but more of a collection of stories from Sonny Barger. A lot of them are very funny, and some of them are tales from the road that would make anyone want to hop on a motorcycle. The problem with this book is the introduction when Sonny Barger tells you that some of the stories may be true, and some of them may not be true. He leaves it up to you as you read, but either way the stories are fun to read, and some of them will have you laughing for quite awhile. He even goes outside of the Hell's Angels into other clubs he's aware of and other people he knows sharing stores from them, one of them was on the Dragons leader who was about to buy a Honda until his club members knocked on his door and asked him if it was true.