#NeilSpalding

If you had to restrict yourself to one word to describe Neil Spalding’s epic MotoGP opus, that word could be “dense.” The level of technological detail is over the top, charting all the changes of every points-scoring motorcycle since the prototype four-strokes first appeared in 2002. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the partition inside MotoGP, this is about as close as you’ll get, as Neil’s been an insider in top-level racing since well before MotoGP began.

Before that, he and Alan Cathcart persuaded the World Superbike people to run the European Supermono series in the early ’90s, where they campaigned a Ducati Supermono or two (get a sample of Neil’s excellent writing style here) in an effort to carry on the finest Cook Neilson Racer Road tradition that inspired him. Before that, Neil even ran a Yamaha SRX-6. After that, he ran a British Supersport team and now supports himself manufacturing Sigma racing clutches. Basically the man’s spent his entire life involved in motorcycle racing.

Is print dead? I consume current events almost exclusively online lately, reaching for my beloved old leatherbound tomes usually only in the last half-hour before toddling off to Dreamland with a warm glass of milk. Some magazines are hanging in there, but many are slowly sliding off to oblivion. There’s just no way for a thing printed on dead trees to match the speed of the internet. But maybe that’s a good thing for really good books worth reading? Just in time for the holidays, we’ve rounded up the Best Books for Motorcyclists. (Having said all that, most of these are also available electronically.)