You wait for ages for a bus to come along...

timoid.

...and then two come along at once.






About time there was an English language biography of the great man. I've liked Fotheringham's stuff so far, so really looking forward to that one, but will probably end up getting both. I assume its the same Daniel Friebe?

Tom Butcher

Probably get the Fotheringham one at least - Friebe rings a bell but can't place him - remind me what he wrote ?

ddraver

He's the editor of CN, don't think he's written a book before...?

RichN95.

ddraver wrote:

He's the editor of CN, don't think he's written a book before...?

He was the ghost writer of Cav's book, but that doesn't really count.

thomasmc

Think he also co-wrote Mountain High Europe's 50 greatest climbs. Looking forward to reading both books

dave milne

I can vouch for the mountain high book. Good writing and sumptious photography. Only let down by more than a few proof reading errors

Yellow Peril

If Friebe was the ghostwriter of Cav's book then I won't be reading his Mercx book unless it gets a good write up by forumites.

I thought the Cav book was poorly written and was it proof read???

ridgerider

Get the Fotheringham one...I get 10p from each copy sold for use of my sig line.

RichN95.

Yellow Peril wrote:

If Friebe was the ghostwriter of Cav's book then I won't be reading his Mercx book unless it gets a good write up by forumites.

I thought the Cav book was poorly written and was it proof read???

You can't judge a writer on a ghost writing job. That's basically an interviewing and editing job, where it's important to make it sound as authentically from the subject as possible. You could hire Martin Amis to write Cav's book, but if it read like Amis rather than Cav then he wouldn't have done his job.

ddraver

RichN95 wrote:

Yellow Peril wrote:

If Friebe was the ghostwriter of Cav's book then I won't be reading his Mercx book unless it gets a good write up by forumites.

I thought the Cav book was poorly written and was it proof read???

You can't judge a writer on a ghost writing job. That's basically an interviewing and editing job, where it's important to make it sound as authentically from the subject as possible. You could hire Martin Amis to write Cav's book, but if it read like Amis rather than Cav then he wouldn't have done his job.

He does have a habit of using the Present tense/American styles of writing which I confess I don't like much, probably makes me a Luddite fool though...

Yellow Peril

There are some howlers in the Cav book which have nothing to do with ghostwriting style. "breaks" instead of "brakes" for one.

cajun_cyclist

Friebe's a German-type name. Maybe he's from Germany, Netherlands or Belgium. I could not find out exactly where he is from. I don't know if English is his first language.

However, VDB claimed in an interview with ProCycling's Daniel Friebe three weeks before his death to have made a near-complete recovery from the emotional issues that plagued him throughout his career. Vandenbroucke told Friebe, "I simply realise that the last year and a half have been fantastic for me."[3] Nevertheless, he died of a pulmonary embolism in October 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Vand ... cyclist%29

Maybe he interviewed Vandenbroucke in the Flemish language. If Friebe speaks Flemish, maybe it's a positive in writing about Merckx.

rick_chasey

cajun_cyclist wrote:

Friebe's a German-type name. Maybe he's from Germany, Netherlands or Belgium. I could not find out exactly where he is from. I don't know if English is his first language.

However, VDB claimed in an interview with ProCycling's Daniel Friebe three weeks before his death to have made a near-complete recovery from the emotional issues that plagued him throughout his career. Vandenbroucke told Friebe, "I simply realise that the last year and a half have been fantastic for me."[3] Nevertheless, he died of a pulmonary embolism in October 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Vand ... cyclist%29

Maybe he interviewed Vandenbroucke in the Flemish language. If Friebe speaks Flemish, maybe it's a positive in writing about Merckx.

They speak Dutch in Flanders.

In the same way they speak English in Ireland .

Tusher

Daniel Friebe is as English as cricket.

Moomaloid

Saw these before Christmas. Anyone read one yet? Still waiting for the blasted Robbie McEwan book to hit Amazon...

jswba

Friebe writes regularly for Procycling. In my opinion he's the best writer on the staff.

jswba

Just thought I'd bump this as I've just been notified that Fotheringham's tome is heavily discounted at Amazon at the moment. At £7.64 in hardback it looks a bit of a bargain.

ddraver

http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/ - has a review (not top any more)