Ben Irvine

Einstein & The Art of Mindful Cycling: Achieving Balance in the Modern World by Ben Irvine is a side by side look at the father of Relativity and the simplest machine used for travel. Irvine is a writer, publisher, campaigner, and recovered philosopher. He blogs for The School of Life, teaches philosophy to undergraduates at Cambridge University and is an Honorary Associate in the Philosophy department at Durham University.

As a reader of science who had a dose of philosophy in college and grad school and as a former bicycle racer and current bicycle mechanic, I pick this book up with great interest. The Einstien biography is interesting and the parallel bicycling history and philosophy run together smoothly. Einstien "A socialist who championed freedom, a loner who cared deeply for humanity, a non-believer who saw the universe as God’s handiwork – Einstein was Time magazine’s ‘person of the century.’" He was also a bike rider. He first imagined traveling alongside a beam of light while riding his bike. There is something peaceful and relaxing about riding. Much like Nietzsche and Thoreau who earlier found their mindfulness in walking, cycling slows one down and allows one to see the area and detail around them. There is a peacefulness in rolling along at 15 mph on quiet streets that isn't there driving at highway speeds or fighting through gridlock. Bicycling relieves stress. Driving causes stress. A human on a bike is more efficient than any other animal or machine. The calories per mile equate to 3,000 miles per gallon of gasoline.

More on the science and philosophy. The bicycle is a very simple machine four sets of bearings, a chain and cog system, a frame that will last a lifetime. Irvine states that cyclists are not image conscious individuals. I disagree. Having worked in the industry cyclists are the people willing to spend hundreds of dollars to lose 5 grams of rotational mass. They will also spend hundreds on training computers that document every moment on the bike. I have also seen $14,000 bicycles roll out of the shop. I do appreciate the non-image conscience riders. The industry, however, revolves around the newest, lightest, fastest seekers. I have been riding my single speed, steel framed bike for over a decade and have no reason to "upgrade." Like, Einstien, and some riders, I am not image conscious.

I think Irvine also knows his philosophy on the bicycle is from the ideal point of view, much like most philosophy and it does lose something in putting it to practical use. He does admit that the default argument against cycling is that it is too dangerous; cars on the street being the biggest threat. In the North Dallas area cars routinely make no stop right turns on red, ignore crosswalks, and have no problem with running cyclists off the road. It is dangerous. Of course, there are parks and bike paths, but one still needs to get to these safely. Having to drive your bike in a car to go ride your bike seems a bit ridiculous. Perhaps, too, it is a bit quieter in Irvine's neighborhood. Commuting unless very early in the morning is more stressful than mindful. But, yes, in theory, cycling away from the routine dangers is enjoyable and mindful. The rider becomes one with the environment rather than sealed away from it. "Cycling is a living meditation: it allows us to achieve mindfulness not in a hidden retreat but in the full flow of life, while still deriving the same lasting benefits." An enjoyable, imaginative, and informative read.

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Physically this is a handsome little book. The endpapers reproduce the cover image, reduced and repeated. There are several sidebars interspersed through the text, which are printed over a light grey version of the same image. I find deciphering writing over images to be annoying, but it seems rather the style of our times. Was it Wired magazine that popularized this? But in Wired I could only sometimes make out the writing at all. Here I could read the sidebars - it just took a bit of effort. Anyway, all that complaining is directed at the sidebars - the rest of the text is nicely laid out with attractive legible fonts etc.

This is a short book with a bit of a fairy tale quality. Irvine proposes four aspects to our thinking, two dualisms: local vs global, practical vs imaginative. He suggests that Einstein balanced these, or exemplified the way that these can actually reinforce each other mutually. He proposes that we also can cultivate this balance or mutuality through mindfulness, cycling, and especially mindful cycling. Further, he suggests that Einstein himself cultivated this mutuality through his own cycling.

I am a fan of Einstein, of meditation, and of cycling. This book addresses some of my more core interests and concerns. Irvine does a reasonably good job of arguing his case. Probably the weak point that annoyed me the most was his assertion that cyclists tend not to be narcissistic. I am a regular reader of the hilarious Bike Snob NYC blog, and this past summer rode for my first time in Manhattan, particularly down the West Side Greenway Path. Irvine does admit that not all cycling is mindful. I don't recall him admitting that a narcissistic sort of cycling exists. It does, it does!

Can a text be profound but shallow? I would call this book profound because really the kind of balance and mutuality that Irvine proposes indeed seems extremely valuable. The idea that it is what we do, how we live, how we go about our daily activities, such as commuting, that this visceral living is inseparable from our thinking and perceiving, this idea is also crucially important. This book is profound because it addresses profound issues.

What makes the book shallow is that it doesn't dig into the material in any real depth. It doesn't examine and test evidence, weigh alternatives, etc. This book is a basic introduction. It is a pleasant enough starting point, a gentle presentation of the topic. Since I have lived with these ideas for decades, a basic introduction doesn't give me much satisfaction. But probably I am not the typical reader!

I think I did read at least a good bit of the biography of Einstein by Abraham Pais. I don't recall him discussing bike tours of Einstein. I do remember from somewhere that Arthur Eddington was an enthusiastic cyclist! Anyway, it was great to learn about Einstein's cycling!… (mehr)