Book Log 2009 #15: Greasy Rider by Greg Melville

The cross-country drive that forms the basis of this book comes with an environmental twist, as Melville and an old college friend try to drive a Mercedes retrofitted to run on used cooking oil from Vermont to an alt-fuel friendly filling station in Berkeley without burning a single drop of fossil fuels (or, if I remember correctly, paying for any fuel at all). Along the way, Melville get a series of tasks from his friend that he must complete after the trip is over, which include visiting a wind farm and checking to see just how sustainable a lifestyle Al Gore leads.

It's an entertaining though occasionally uneven mix of road trip and eco-primer, and one that shows the possibilities that are already out there to lead a more green-friendly lifestyle. My only quibble is that there were times I wished that the interaction between the author and his friend were less peculiar, though I suppose that can't be helped. Or at least not without theraputic and/or pharmaceutical intervention.