A bicycle for learning

Guides from the best books in a field

Bicycle Guide is a library of sourced guides for people who need to understand a book or subject and choose a practical next step.

Browsing is free. Guide pages show available reading, prices, and any options to request new content.

Read an example

MisconceptionEvaluation is the last step — you build the thing, then check if it's good.

RealityEvaluation-driven development means you write the evaluation criteria and metrics first, then build toward them. The criteria shape the build; defining them afterward just rationalizes whatever you happened to ship.

from the “Evaluation, Monitoring, and Observability” section of Build AI Applications — grounded in AI Engineering: Building Applications with Foundation Models, AI Agents and Applications (with LangChain, LangGraph, and MCP), Designing Machine Learning Systems, Data Analysis with LLMs

Compare different approaches

Efficiency as Means or Rival Outcome

One side

Efficiency is a mediator toward precision — fewer items can still hit target precision, so shortening the test is simply smart routing, not a compromise

The other

Efficiency is a co-equal outcome traded off against precision, and item-level CAT vs module-level MST are competing architectures for making that trade

How to choose. Books split on whether efficiency is a mediator toward precision (fewer items still precise) or a co-equal outcome traded off against precision; item-level (CAT) vs module-level (MST) architectures are treated as competing paradigms.

from Ask Less, Learn More — Adaptive Measurement, CAT, And Item Response Theory In Practice

Find the subject you need

Start & Grow a Company

19 guides

First customer conversation to a venture that scales.

Lead Teams & Organizations

951 guides

The craft of leading people — and leading a team in any function.

Lead in Your Field

23 guides

Running the work where the work actually happens.

Core Professional Skills

14 guides

What every professional needs, whether or not you manage anyone.

Sell & Win Customers

4 guides

Winning the customer — the craft of selling, and the number that follows it.

People, HR & Talent

10 guides

Hiring, developing and leading people.

Compensation & Rewards

18 guides

Design pay that aligns effort with outcomes.

People Analytics & Measurement

64 guides

Study people and organizations with rigor.

Data, AI & Engineering

20 guides

Build the systems everything else stands on.

Science & Research

1 guide

Leading discovery — labs, R&D teams, and bringing a researched product through to the world.

Strategy & Decisions

20 guides

Choose well under uncertainty.

Careers & Professions

97 guides

What a profession actually takes.

Creative & Craft

7 guides

Do genuinely great work.

Writing & Publishing

26 guides

Write it, publish it, get it read.

Family & Life

25 guides

Evidence-based guides for the big moments.

Wellbeing & Character

6 guides

Flourishing, character strengths, and the practice of a good life.

Relationships & Intimacy

2 guides

Partnership, communication at home, and an honest account of bodies and intimacy.

Money & Independence

12 guides

Investing, knowing what enough is, and buying back your own time.

Games & Play

2 guides

Games people get seriously good at — designing them, and playing them properly.

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Each guide shows what it covers, which books it uses, and the reading or purchase options. Reading is free. Take-away guides cost $5 to $49 depending on depth, at the same price on every site that sells them.