Product Details
The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa
By Neil Peart

List Price: CDN$ 22.95
Price: CDN$ 16.57 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $39. Details

Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca

26 new or used available from CDN$ 8.57

Average customer review:
(15 )

Product Description

Dysentery, drunken soldiers, and corrupt officials provide the background for Neil Peart's physical and spiritual cycling journey through West Africa. The prolific drummer for the rock band Rush travels through African villages, both large and small, and relates his story through photographs, journal entries, and tales of adventure, while simultaneously addressing issues such as differences in culture, psychology, and labels. Literary and artistic sidekicks such as Aristotle, Dante, and Van Gogh join Peart and his cycling companions, reminding the reader that this is not just another travel book—it is a story of both external and introspective discovery and adventure.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #73088 in Books
  • Published on: 2004-09-01
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .74" h x 6.00" w x 8.96" l, 1.11 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 260 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com
Neil Peart cycles his way through West Africa and brings us along with him, dysentery and all. The Masked Rider details his physical and spiritual journey, through photographs, journal entries, and tales of adventure. Peart's "masks" are the masks that we wear--culture, psychology, labels, expectations--and his book reveals how traveling in a very foreign land allows us to peer behind them.

From the Back Cover
"Cycling is a good way to travel anywhere, but especially in Africa. You are independent and mobile, and yet travel at people speed--fast enough to travel on to another town in the cooler morning hours, but slow enough to meet people: the old farmer at the roadside who raises his hand and says, 'You are welcome,' the tireless women who offer a smile to a passing cyclist, the children whose laughter transcends the humblest home."

So begins the text of Neil Peart's extraordinary journal about riding a bicycle on the roads and off the beaten track in West Africa. The Masked Rider is about the bike trek and the people who travel along with the author, including literary sidekicks Aristotle and Vincent Van Gogh. Sometimes it's a story of a tour of hell--Dante on a bicycle--as he suffered the pains of dysentery and stares down the muzzle of a drunk soldier's machine gun. Other times it's a journey of exalted discovery and African adventure of the highest calibre.

Neil Peart is the drummer and lyricist of the rock band Rush.

About the Author

Neil Peart is the drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush and the author of Ghost Rider. He lives in Santa Monica, California.