I recieved this ARC of Greasy Rider, by Greg Melville as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. Thank you Library Thing!

Here’s my review:

Two guys decide to make a cross-country trip in a converted Mercedes that runs on used vegetable oil…basically french fry grease. Written as a travel narrative of sorts, we get to go along for the ride as they cruise across the country.

We learn early on that Greg Melville is not a “car” man. He knows how to drive ’em, but doesn’t know too much about fixing them. Well aware of his shortcomings, he decides to bring along a friend from college, Iggy. Iggy is very practical and can take a look at something and usually figure it out. This comes in handy quite a bit as they make their trek across the country.

As you can imagine. There are a lot of funny pit stops along the way. For one, they need to find grease. Good, clean, grease. Not all grease is created equal. Some restaurants have grease that contains large food particles and water. Water is not good for an engine so there are some funny moments as they attempt to get good, quality grease.

In addition to their constant quest for grease, they also make several side trips, “errands” as they call them to places like Al Gore’s home, Google headquarters, etc. The Google trip was fascinating. If I worked there, I would never leave!

Interspersed throughout are facts about carbon offsets and wind technology and how turbines work. I didn’t know anything about carbon offsets prior to reading this and I found these sections to be quite informative. Did you know that you can buy carbon offsets to lower your own carbon footprint? I didn’t know that.

Overall, this was a really fun book riddled with interesting facts about the environment. I enjoyed the travel narrative format as well. It allowed for a quick read. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between Greg and Iggy. Two guys cannot be in the same car for that length of time and not have stuff to say about it. I will say though that I am a bit more aware now on the impact that I have on the environment. With that said…would you like to be more aware too??

Now for the GIVEAWAY. In honor of BBAW, I am giving away my ARC copy of Greasy Rider to one lucky reader! Here’s what you need to do:

• EMAIL me the answer to this question: Are you doing anything right now to go green? If so, what? Please put Greasy Rider Giveaway in the subject line.
• This giveaway is open to all US residents.
• Giveaway will close by 9/21, 7pm PST and the winner will be announced on this blog on Monday, 9/22. I will contact the winner for their mailing address.

Good luck!