Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future

by Greg Melville

Book Overview

Is it possible to drive coast-to-coast without stopping at a single gas pump? Journalist Greg Melville is determined to try. With his college buddy Iggy riding shotgun, this green-thinking guy--who's in love with the idea of free fuel--sets out on an enlightening road trip. The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Will they make it from Vermont to California in a beat-up 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon powered...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565125959
• ISBN13: 9781565125957
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

Melville has delivered again. Great book! I even gave this to my father in law for the holidays, and he has called twice over the last week to tell me how much he is enjoying it.

Oh--so it's NOT about motorcycles...hmm.

I enjoyed this book very much, finding it to be entertaining, informative, and inspiring all at once. I especially enjoyed the way factoids were interspersed with amusing anecdotes. Greasy Rider was the subject of much discussion amongst my family over the Thanksgiving holiday--we wonder if the car would run on the fat that comes out of the infamous Butterball turkey? I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a light, easy read, but wouldn't mind learning something along the way.

Iggy for President, 2012.

Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future While I thought the premise was hysterical, and had the "Odd Couple" theme song playing in my head for most of chapter 1, the real hero in this book has to be Iggy. Where does a 35-year old (plus) journalist/dad/environmentalist find a buddy who has the technical skills to make a Deisel engine on alternative fuels work AND install a high-tech sound system? The Kenyon Alumni directory, of course! I loved this book for the real way the author breaks complex concepts in biology, physics, agriculture and economics down to terms a fellow English major can grasp. I love the way our beautiful country must look when you are myopically focused on signs for burrito joints. I love Greg's wife, and praise her for her restraint when blunt objects were around, as the idea was presented in the kitchen. I felt like I was in the room, and a little bit uncomfortable about it. In an odd way, though, this is as much a book about buddies as it is a "man(kind) vs. nature" piece. Perhaps because in this one, we want nature to win. It is Nature's turn. Greg shows us how, without killing your television. If you can't move to Vermont, buy the book.

Great selection for my book club

We selected this book for my book club. We all agreed that the book was a great selection for our group. We are a bunch of moms with young children and do not have as much time to devote to reading as we would like. This book was able to keep our interest by being light and humorous while informing us about alternative energy at the same time. This was such a hit with our group, I would definitely recommend it for all book groups out there!

The most fun I think I could ever have reading about alternative fuel

GREASY RIDER by Greg Melville Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill ISBN: 978-1-56512-595-7 Take two men, a 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon, a grease car conversion kit, and the first cross country automobile trip made by H. Nelson Jackson as inspiration, mix it all together and you have a funny, informative, and thought provoking look at the future energy independence of our nation. One of the things I liked most about this book is that it did not preach any one environmental doctrine. There is never one answer to a problem as complex as the one facing our environment today. This book takes a good hard look at our attitudes and how they work to move us forward or hold as back in the "fossil fuel age". Not only does it give us a very humorous look at two men on a cross country trip and what it takes for them to make it without relying on anything but used fry oil. It also gives us a beautiful snapshot of out vast country and the way one answer in one region most likely is not the answer in another. It looks at different philosophies from a place of inquiry. Finding the merits of each idea and trying to find a common ground and complete understanding of what a particular environmental philosophy is trying to really say. The book switches back and forth from the actual road trip memoir to specific tasks designed to learn more about different ways to become more energy efficient. I liked this on the level that everything in the book was very interesting to read. On another level however I sometimes found this distracting and seemed to slow down my reading progress. Overall the information throughout was great. At the end of the book a comprehensive list of sources is offered to learn more about what was discussed in the book. I would suggest this book to anyone, period. We must make changes in the way we live. We can no longer live with the illusion that life can continue as it presently does at the rate that we are consuming our natural resources. The best thing about this book is that it puts many ideas into perspective and how all of the little pieces fit together. I hope readers will embrace this book for everything that it offers. The more we as citizens of the earth explore what is going on around us the better the outcome for all of us.