Harley-Davidson Century Book

I've actually read quite a few Idiot's Guide type things in my day, but I'm always way too embarrassed to post them on here. I'll admit that I read this, though, because it's been really helpful. If you really know fuck all about motorcycles but are planning to start riding one, this is a pretty decent basic introductory guide. I referred to information in here when I was in the market for a bike and again when I started riding, and it's been helpful. The writing's personable and clear and the book's pretty balanced and, unlike motorcycle experts in the real world, not aggressively biased towards or against certain kinds of bikes and not spouting a bunch of macho bullshit or technical jargon and complicated explanations that don't make sense to the uninitiated. The appeal of the Idiot Guide series is that they really assume you don't know a single thing about the topic in question, which was great for me in this situation because I pretty much did not. This book is a good starting point for the abjectly ignorant, and will make you more confident about riding and also about seeking out higher-level sources of advice.