Dan Walsh's These Are The Days That Must Happen To You....
 

...is a really good read. A bit pricey to say its a collection of previously written stuff (I believe???) but it is inspirational, oh and descriptive. Anyone else read it? Any other biker books I should read? Oh and happy national motorcycle week to everyone!

I've just bought it and haven't read it yet but I've read his articles.
I like the way Dan writes and find myself laughing out loud sometimes.
He certainly has a knack for describing the seedier side of adventure.

Just finished Lois' second book which is bloody good but didn't quite grab me the way the first one did. I wish I had her balls :-)

Just finished it. I devoured it in 2 sittings. If I'd started earlier in the day it woulda been 1.

Just finished it...

Me too in just a few sittings; best read on that subject since Lois #1 if not ever.
For all his problems the guy can sure write and gets to the bottom of the appeal of AM.

Nineteen quid for a book tho! I hope he's on royalties.
Bring on the paperback...

Ch

is only the hardback available at the mo?
probably £19 cos its new.
give it 6 months and paperback copies should start appearing 2nd hand on amazon etc.

this isnt a comment on the worth of dans writing, (I expect he gets the same if its £19 or £7.99) and im not generally a tightwad but i refuse to pay so much for a bit of paper and im a believer in books being spread about for all to enjoy so if you cant blag a copy from a mate then 2nd hand is the next best thing. think of it as recycling if you like.

and anyway, this is DAN WALSH FFS!! who ever thought a shiny hardback was a good idea? it should be a shagged out, broken backed curly brown paged thing with a coffee ring on the front and stinking of cheap crap tobacco, and when you open it a few dead earwigs and fag butts should drop out.
now thats seedy!

broken backed curly brown paged thing with a coffee ring on the front and stinking of cheap crap tobacco

funny enough davsato, there are coffee ring/spilt liquid graphics adorning almost everypage!

too right about the price tho mate, almost had a coronary at the checkout. thank god for student discount? doesnt work at waterstones! dam!

I got my copy from rbooks.co.uk, Random House's official bookstore.

By entering the promotional code "Walsh", I got it for around £14.

Thank you Ride magazine...! :cool4:

Is it really "a collection of previously written stuff"?

Simon

oh yeah, i forgot about the ride offer, i think its in TWO or MCN aswell. still a lot though, but all books seem to that these days, bit of a rip off but im sure someone will explain about treehugging and bleached paper and copywright costs.
i think i'll put it on my wishlist to give to the mrs at christmas, along with all the other books i want, lois' red tape, and mi moto fidel by chris baker among others.
by then hopefully there will be a P/back version cos i like dan walsh' style, id much rather read about some skanky local amy winehouse who latches onto you cos you can afford a beer than some touristy 'look how blue the pacific is' snot

pretty much simon, covering africa and south america, some cracking pics tho..

Just started reading and I like it very very much! Remembers me dear old Hunter S. but with less drugs (and no HA thank's hell!).

Read Lois Pryce's new one. Liked it better than the first and that is much. She really has balls!

Only problem with these books is that I want to put my bags on the bike and wave off. And August I will be stuck with my daughters. Oh well, that's another kind of trip, but I'll also love it, I know. There will be time soon.

Dan the Manc
 

Dan is back in Manchester (well off to spain for xmas actually). He is also now on Facebook for those into the 21st century.
I have all the books. (Sad I know). Manicoms new one is ready (Torrtillas to Totems), But I am in the middle of Old Man on a Bike by Simon Gandolfi who did a good job selling me this one at the NEC Bike show a few weeks ago, Met Sam Manicom there too. Nice guy.
Uneasy Rider is OK,by Mike Carter, as is Tom Cunliffe USA tour Good Vibrations neither of which as funny as Dan's adventure.
Loved Lois 1 & 2, Ted Simon of course . Best one (read 3 times) is still Sam Manicom under Asian skies. (Up to now). Must go, got last 30 pages of Old Man on a Buike to Finish.
(Swore blind tghat I was not going to watch and more vids, or read any more books on the subject.) Damn.

Dan Walsh best for true grit
Ted Simon's first Book (Jupiters Travels) great great read
I'm part way through Lois' second book and am enjoying it. Its easy reading.

Have read Mondo Enduro. It provides an insight into the hardships of real adventuring. It's written as a series of daily entries so would be hard going for casual readers -get the DVD instead.

For me Chris Scotts handbooks are the real business for overlanders.

Books to Read
 

Anyone looking for a read that'll help over the winter, pick up Riding with Rilke - written by Ted Bishop. Describes his Ducating around western NAm and a bit related to his trip to the Duc 'factory'. Has lots of literary references rather than hard core dust and and stuff but is a real good read. Also suggest Neil Peart's Ghost Rider, Jeremy Kroker's Motorcycle Therapy and Glen Heggstad's One More Day Everywhere.

Only -16c here in Red Deer today.

Stephen

If you have already read These Are The Days That Must Happen To You, and liked it, don't buy Endless Horizon, also by Dan Walsh. It is the same book with a different name.

We've got two copies in our house now having bought each other a copy for Christmas. We met the author in India earlier this year and kept meaning to buy it.
It's time we stopped reading about it and got on the road ourselves!

Dans Books
 

Had this book for 3 years or so and read when the weather is bad or dark, takes me instantly to new horizons every time i have read this book.
Steve

stealing speed by mat oxley is a great biking book:scooter:

thats the american title, because 'these are the days that must happen to you' is a copyrighted quote from a walt whitman poem 'song of the open road'

Superb book. Love it. Inspirational. Funny. The works...

Just hope Mr Walsh writes a sequel

Editted to add - Does anyone have a link for Dans FB page?

Here ya go

Welcome to Facebook

Cheers,

Dicky

DW's "These are etc" is the best book connected to m/cycling I've read for a long time. This guy is as much poet as prose writer, and his writing bears the style of each. The torrent of cultural references is truly wide ranging; and it's intriguing to click with the source. There are the links, as said somewhere, to Gonzo journalism, but DW has made it all his own. Especially the 'troubled ' bits.

He's big on word play/language and when it's all in a m/cycling context, it'll do very nicely, thanks.

I'm not one of those who hero worships writers, perhaps a good idea as far as DW is concerned, but I do appreciate their works. When you think of DWs attitude to bike maintenance (as shown in this book at least), you are reminded of "Zen and the Art" etc, where attitudes to technology are discussed - a main theme, first characterised in the two riders. If you remember at the start of the book Pirzig's companion the BMW rider, and his attitude to technology, it's the same as DWs. That is, a refusal to get involved and an absence of mechanical sympathy, apart from getting someone else to repair/maintain the bike.

I like the book for its writing first and the bike second, but you can't separate the two.

When this book came out some moaned that it was just old Bike mag stuff, and this is true, but 99% of you have thrown out those old mags and it was all lost in a boot sale somewhere. My only criticism of the book is with the publisher, who put in those daft wine glass stains. I can do that myself, thanks.

In Bike
 

Local geezer, Dan de Manc, is in April BIKE magazine being interviewed WITH Charlie Boorman and Nick Sanders. Good stuff.
Along with regular Facebook contacts he continues to be a "Sage of the motorsickle" and the book is one of my faves.
Hoping to have a beer with him before I set off next month.
PS: Road2Manchester launch is at MCN LIve next weekend (Skegness, UK).
See you on the Bennetts Stand.

You need to read this book, pissed or smoking something and it all makes sense, one of the best books I have read and must have read 6 or 7 times

I read Dan's ramblings in Bike magazine many years ago, while he was still travelling. I remember it was compulsive reading, which made me subscribe to the mag at a time when I'd stopped bothering with biking mags. But then he settled down and seemed to get bitter and a bit drunk and I stopped reading.

But I guess you could say those early writings were one of the things that opened my eyes to travel.