Zero to Sixty - The Motorcycle Journey of a Lifetime

Nearing sixty, diagnosed with heart disease and feeling his mortality, Gary Paulsen buys his first Harley-Davidson and rides from his home in New Mexico to Alaska-and from the present into his past, through the landmarks of a singular life. Paulsen's journey is peopled with familiar faces, from the tough cop who saved him from juvenile delinquency to the prostitute whose career advice stopped him from quitting the army. And the work he does while on his bike-the work of mapping his life to find meaning-is of a piece with the pure sweat and muscle of youthful days spent on farms in Minnesota, or at the bottom of septic tank pits in Colorado, or wrangling dogsleds through the Alaskan wilderness. Amid the silence and beauty of running the road on his Harley, Paulsen celebrates the comforts of hard work, the thrill of challenge met bravely, and the peculiar joys of life lived to its fullest.

About the author

GARY PAULSEN (1939 - 2021) wrote nearly two hundred books for young people, including the Newbery Honor Books Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. 

Summary

Nearing sixty, diagnosed with heart disease and feeling his mortality, Gary Paulsen buys his first Harley-Davidson and rides from his home in New Mexico to Alaska-and from the present into his past, through the landmarks of a singular life. Paulsen's journey is peopled with familiar faces, from the tough cop who saved him from juvenile delinquency to the prostitute whose career advice stopped him from quitting the army. And the work he does while on his bike-the work of mapping his life to find meaning-is of a piece with the pure sweat and muscle of youthful days spent on farms in Minnesota, or at the bottom of septic tank pits in Colorado, or wrangling dogsleds through the Alaskan wilderness. Amid the silence and beauty of running the road on his Harley, Paulsen celebrates the comforts of hard work, the thrill of challenge met bravely, and the peculiar joys of life lived to its fullest.

Product details

• Authors: Gary Paulsen
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.06.1999
• EAN: 9780156007047
• ISBN: 978-0-15-600704-7
• No. of pages: 224
• Weight: 211 g
• Series: Harvest Book; Harvest Book
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Travel > Travelogues, traveller's tales > World, Arctic, Antarctic; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Personal Memoirs, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Literary Figures, SPORTS & RECREATION: History, TRAVEL: Essays & Travelogues, LITERARY CRITICISM: Shakespeare, LITERARY CRITICISM: Short Stories, LITERARY COLLECTIONS: Diaries & Journals, SPORTS & RECREATION: Motor Sports / General, TRANSPORTATION: Motorcycles / General, TRANSPORTATION: Motorcycles / History