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Carlton Reid's book hits Number 1 spot on Kindle Store - in Automotive category

Roads Were Not Built For Cars takes top spot ahead of Clarkson and May

Top Gear may have returned for a new series the week before last, and Formula 1 testing got underway this weekend – but the book currently sitting on top of the charts Amazon.co.uk’s Kindle Store’s automotive category is one with cycling roots, Carlton Reid’s Roads Were Not Built For Cars.

Published last year following a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, Reid’s book narrates the role of cyclists and cycling organisations in the history of road construction and indeed the automotive industry – indeed, many historic car marques were established as bicycle businesses.

On the subject of hitting the number 1 spot in the automotive category, Reid, executive editor of trade website BikeBiz, told us: “Perhaps ironically, the probable reason for the surge is because the book has just been plugged on the website of the venerable American green hippy magazine Mother Earth News.”

While the book is followed in the charts by The Official DVSA Guide to Driving – The Essential Skills and Roadcraft – The Police Driver’s Handbook, elsewhere in the top 20 there are no fewer than six books by the Top Gear pairing of Jeremy Clarkson and James May, the highest at number 7.

Reid, who was active in mountain biking long before the boom years of the discipline, would also no doubt approve of the book at number 13 – Complete Mountain Bike Maintenance by Mike Davis and Guy Andrews.

You can find a wealth of information about the book and topics explored in it on this dedicated website, which also has links to buy Kindle and iBook versions; a reprint of the physical version, which has already sold out its run of 100 hardback and 1,000 softback copies, will be  on sale this spring.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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peekay76 | 9 years ago
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Carlton - thank you for the effort you are putting in on behalf of the rest of us. I hope you get the personal rewards you deserve as well as making the difference you are hoping for by publishing this book.

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Carlton Reid | 9 years ago
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Thanks to Simon and road.cc for the story, and to the kind commenters above.

Not that it rankles or anything but perhaps the book's star rating on here should be bumped up by half a star?

http://road.cc/content/review/134705-roads-were-not-built-cars-carlton-reid said "However, I fear that in practice it is only going to be bought by those who are pre-disposed to agree with the views expressed inside ... sadly will probably not achieve the audience it deserves."

I always said I wanted the book read by petrolheads, too. And now that's happening. When the next print edition becomes available I – and the new publisher, Island Press of Washington, D.C. – shall be making a concerted push on getting reviews of the book in (a) the mainstream press and (b) the motoring press.

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Johnny25 | 9 years ago
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Lucky enough to get a first edition of the book. Great read. Well done!

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jasecd | 9 years ago
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Good to see people are reading this and hopefully getting a smart, well informed history that counteracts the usual car centric dogma.

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Oolon Colluphid | 9 years ago
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Went to a presentation/talk that Carlton did in Oxford in September. It was great - he has clearly put a phenomenal amount of work into the project and the book is fascinating. Great to see that he is reaping some well deserved rewards  1

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ianrobo | 9 years ago
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great news

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bikecellar | 9 years ago
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