Kinetic Sculpture Racing is the best-kept secret in extreme sports. In photos and first-hand accounts, Kinetic Kompendium tells the history of the race, from its auspicious birth 50 years ago when Hobart Brown and his neighbors raced crazy contraptions on a lark, through years of toil and victory, success and failure, to the present when people make the claim that the race saves their lives.

Now held every Memorial Day weekend, racers come to Arcata, California, to test themselves and their giant cartoon-like human-powered sculptures over a grueling 3-day, all-terrain course. Between the noon whistle on Saturday and Monday afternoon in Ferndale, they must traverse the sand, pavement, water, and dirt carrying all they will need for the duration of the over 50 mile race. This "Triathlon of the Art World" takes place in Humboldt County, bringing together hundreds of racers, artists, support crews, volunteers, bike enthusiasts, spectators and the media. It is the biggest single event in Humboldt County and brings in an estimated 140,000 people annually.

With hundreds of full color pictures and lively interviews and first-person accounts, Kinetic Kompendium brings you inside this world of radical self-expression and interdependence. Including new research on the race's origins as well as racer profiles, this is the definitive resource for tracing back the roots of a culture that has spawned events such as Burning Man and the Maker Movement.