Mike Carter Audiobooks

One Man and His Bike: travel and the outdoors, read by Mike Carter

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.6/5 average

3 listener ratings

Who is Mike Carter?

Cycling books tend to fall into two camps: the training manual and the journey. One Man and His Bike belongs firmly to the second, shelved with travel and the outdoors, and the title makes its proposition clear before you press play.

Mike Carter reads the recording personally, and for travel writing that choice is close to essential. A journey told in the traveller’s own voice keeps the hesitations and the dry asides a professional reading tends to smooth away, and that is usually the difference between a report and a companion.

At thirteen and a half hours the book takes its time, which is entirely appropriate. The pleasure of this kind of writing is accumulation: weather, roads, strangers, and the slow change in whoever is doing the pedalling.

Mike Carter in audiobooks

The self-narration is the headline feature of the recording. It suits material that depends on tone, and it makes long stretches of road easy company.

Ratings are still few, so treat the score as provisional rather than a verdict. The better guide is the subject itself: if you enjoy travel accounts built on endurance and on landscape taken at bicycle speed, this is comfortably in your territory.

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