I eventually began reading Bodies in Motion in earnest, beginning with the gem of a Forward by publisher and Aerostich founder Andy Goldfine. I found Thompson's book engaging, if a little unfocused and arythmic at times. The discussion also seems largely applicable only to Western, adult, male, road riders. His observations and theories, laced with a mix of science and humanity, are nothing if not interesting, however -- great fodder for either quiet contemplation, alcohol-aided campfire philosophizing, or plain ol' shouting matches. Ultimately, I'm not convinced by Thompson's arguments, which I find heavy on correlation, light on causation. It's also tough to get around the fingernails-on-chalkboard reaction I had regarding Thompson's heavy reliance on "Pop Evolutionary Psychology" (the notion that adaptation is to be found among the psychological mechanisms controlling behavior rather than among the behaviors themselves), a field that lacks support in the mainstream science. While the notion that modern people harbor a "Stone Age" mind and that much of what we do today is due to adaptive problems encountered by our hunter-gathering ancestors, is attractive on some level, it's based on the deeply flawed assumption that we can somehow know the psychology of our Stone Age ancestors.