Ten Speed Turns 35

Ten Speed Press is 35 years old! (But everyone says we still look 29)

To celebrate, we have a brand new website. New features include reader reviews (so customers can talk back about their favorite books), author pages (to get up close and personal with favorite authors), and special rooms for those interested in food, spirituality, health, careers, kids books, and more.

One of the last, fiercely independent major publishers (Ggrr!) in the United States, Ten Speed Press was founded by Philip Wood in Berkeley, California. In 1971, Phil launched the company with one title—“Anybody’s Bike Book”—which inspired the company’s name and went on to sell more than a million copies. TRUE STORY: Phil originally stored the books in his apartment bathtub, thus giving rise to the popular nursery rhyme, “Rub-a-dub-dub, three Anybody’s Bike Books in a tub.”

From the bathtub to the bestseller list, Ten Speed has built its reputation on career books like Richard Nelson Bolles’ “What Color Is Your Parachute?” (the bestselling job-hunting book in the world), acclaimed cookbooks from Charlie Trotter and Mollie Katzen, James Beard award-winning food books like “Hungry Planet” and “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice,” and quintessentially Ten Speed titles like “Why Cats Paint” and White Trash Cooking.” Over the years, the Ten Speed family has grown with the acquisition of Celestial Arts and Crossing Press, and the founding of Tricycle Press, our children’s book division.

So now that we’re thirty-five, we feel it’s time to pop the question:
Will you marry us? We’ve been good to you all these years. We’ve looked after you through career changes and soul-searching. We make good money and have a sweet pad in Berkeley, California (plus some nice digs up in Toronto!). Besides, we look good in a dust jacket.

So what do you say? Give us your hand, and together we shall show the world what true love and an awesome website can accomplish. Let’s pedal off into the sunset, and leave those other bikes behind.

Here’s to another 35 years of us!