Automotive Books

This is a finely detailed work on the historical achievements of Andrei Tupolev and the firm that bears his name. Every aviation library should have a copy as well as any aviation buff.

Co-Authors: Amazon should recognize the late Mr. Paul Duffy as well as Mr. Kandalov as authors of this work. With all respect to Mr. Kandalov, Paul Duffy was very close to the Tupolev family and without him this book would not have been written.

Andrej N Tupolev is the greatest aeronautical mind of all times. Like clockwork for 50 years of his unmatched career, every aircraft this genius designed had scored several world records! Tupolev's TU-144, the world's first giant supersonic transporter and the true marvel of aeronautical engineering still remains unsurpassed today, some 30 years after its maiden flight.
However, the book's courageous attempts to illustrate the unique and exceptional talent of Tupolev falls short of its mark. Although well-structured points are made regarding the revolutionary milestones achieved by Tupolev, such as the variable geometry canard winglets and nose-cone or the delta wing design, which ushered in the 3+ Mach epoch, they are lost on the average reader.
Tupolev's work isn't even fully understood by the West aeronautical community today let alone by a biography reader. It helps to know some facts on the TU-144 victory before reading.
The Brito-French monopoly Airbus, although painstakingly retracing Tupolev's steps with a network of spies, only managed to trudge haplessly behind the master producing no more than a pathetic feat with an equally befitting humdrum name, the Concorde. Concorde, following years of development snags, eventually turned out to be nothing more than a miniature copy of the TU-144. Its carrying limits made it an economic disaster and the wrong power plant and nacelle mounting was its undoing making the only West effort crash and burn in an inferno outside of Paris.
The book gives good examples of Tupolev's superiority throughout but spares the West, namely the USA, the 30 years of its greatest aeronautical embarrassments save for the JFK moon landing sham.
While Tupolev connected the far reaches of Asia and Europe with a regular supersonic service, especially Americans stood confounded. The German-birthed Boeing managed only a few pencil drafts - nothing more. Unable to come close in 30 years, to obtain the Tupolev's marvel, the US government bought the TU-144 in 1996.
This book is a well-written proof of the ongoing Russian superiority over the West and USA. It will reveal facts like that while Tupolev was breaking one world record after another, Americans managed only to repaint their flag on the Russian fuselage.
The book is an absolute necessity for every schoolboy, it will stun rigid all airplane buffs, and it will floor even those who understand nothing about aeronautics.
WELL RECOMMENDED!!!

If ever there was an excellent book on Soviet aircraft to emerge from the post cold war era, this is the one. Not only do the authors have a lot of knowledge on these impressive aircraft, but also a collection of photos never before published of many little-known aircraft. Some of these aircraft are truly impressive such as massive bombers from the pre-war period to the Strategic Bombers fielded by the former Soviet Union. Tupolev is also the constructor of most of Russia's commercial jets and the book is therefore useful for anyone interested in civil aviation. there are also tables giving the production levels of most Tupolev aircraft and also others indicating the registration numbers of Tupolev airliners. But most of all it describes the personality and contributions to aerospace of Andrei N.Tupolev, one of the world's greatest aircraft designers, who dominated his country's aircraft industry for much of this century.

This book may well be the ultimate bmw book. It details everything down to the tee. If you have an avid interest in BMW, this book is a "MUST HAVE NOW" title.

I bought this book at amazon.com's great price when I knew the original edition was difficult (and expensive) to locate. The book, with its great commentary and numerous photos, really shows the essence of the motorsport successes (and failures) of one of the world's great auto makers. If you are interested in racing (and BMWs in particular), I very much recommend this book.

Taking into account the difficult task of giving fair representation to BMW's extensive motor racing history, this text serves as the definitive tome on BMW's racing exploits. For the most part it covers BMW's sedan racing from the 60's to 80's, with a smattering of formula car history thrown in, too. The text describes the overall racing history and details quite extensively the technical aspects of the various cars. This is augmented by a fantastic collection of photos of racecars, homologated streetcars, and technical drawings. While it isn't cheap (even on Amazon) it's well worth it.

Electronics has taken over control of the modern automobile, so much so that it is difficult to tinker with the car as we used to do in the old days, since all of the electronics is contained in embedded systems and diagnostics are usually performed by a PC. All the key functions are, or can be, controlled with electronics which has greatly benefited the driver.

There are 11 chapters and over 450 pages illustrated with diagrams, circuits and performance graphs, but very few photographs of the electronics. The chapters step the reader through fundamentals of combustion, controls, engine and motion control and diagnostics. After each chapter there is a multiple choice quiz relating to the chapter. You will have to read the text in detail to answer the questions, not speed-read. It's an interesting textbook and ideal for education in the topic. I found it to be easy to read and informative. The book shows how the electronics works to improve the safety and performance of the automobile. There is little coverage on the type of componentry, wiring or reliability of different forms of assembly, so the book is only of interest to manufacturing engineers if they want to understand the reasons behind the circuits built into automobiles. Instead there are quite a few block diagrams, equations, snippets of assembly language code, and even explanations of more elementary electronic devices and systems that will probably be most interesting to the electrical engineer who is interested in how electronics controls the modern automobile.

The book title, Understanding Automotive Electronics, is an understatement. This book, in chapters 5, 6, and 7, gives one of the best explanations of modern engine control systems I have ever read. Every major concept of OBD-II vehicles is discussed in clear precise language. These chapters alone are worth the price of the book.

My favorite feature of the book is the end of chapter questions which can be used to test your understanding of the material. And in the back of the book, you can check your answers.

Be careful when buying automotive books. Many are written by good in-shop mechanics who have poor writing skills. This book is different. Mr. Ribbens not only knows his stuff but can communicate it to others as well.

You won't be disappointed, from air/fuel/spark to control systems, this is a very well written and informative book.

I have quite a decent library of supercar books, but this is my golden Book. It's simply the best althought I personaly would like to see in there the specs in metric units and in Km/h. But that no reason for not giving it a Five stras review! Just a reminder dont forget to put a Koenigsegg in the next edition...

John Lamm's experience and tenure at "Road & Track" magazine puts him in the perfect position to provide the details and history of the exotic supercars which make up the collection of this book. The photographs are superb, and with each car givin its own subchapter, the book is a perfect book to grace anyone's coffeetable. Definitely not a book to live on a shelf.

I got this book as a gift for Christmas. I imediately looked at the beautiful photography for hours, but only recently got around to reading the text. What a great story! The author knows this subject inside and out, and worked with many of the famous designers who created these spectacular cars. The sidebars by Jay Leno were hilarious! I had never been a Leno fan until I read this book and realized he was as smart and knowledgeable as he is funny. I now watch him regularly.

I have a Stella scooter, which is basically the same as a Vespa LX 150, and I can tell you, this manual is a "must have" for the home mechanic!
There is no scooter shop on Memphis, as far as I know, so I do my own work. I've used this manual many, many times and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone.

As member of a vespa endurance racing team, this book is our bible for repairs and upgrades. A must. This is not a vespa history book, but a serious mecanical manual.

If you own a old P125X, P200E, or a newer PX150 you should own this service manual even if you don't plan on working on your scooter. It helps with routine maintence, trouble shooting, and just basic knowledge of your machine. Take care of you scooter and it will take care of you.

Of all manuals ever written, here is the pinnacle. Pay the price and buy the best. When in the trenches, its best to have the best.

If you have a swingaxle Beetle then this book is where you get to learn all the factory methods of maintenance. Every step has pictures and clear instructions for you to follow. Very expensive. Buy this only if you are totally obsessed with VW maintenance. A lot of the special factory tools are almost impossible to find and this dissapointed me quite a bit. As it does not cover later engines, transmissions, etc. it would be helpful to have other manuals and books to help you with your VW restoration. Books I would recommend are the later VW model service manuals by Bentley and Haynes and the How To Rebuild book by Tom Wilson. If you want to tune your VW there is Bill Fishers How to Hotrod book which is ancient (1971) but still very relevant to tuning aircooled VWs. If in doubt you can participate in online VW forums and ask questions. It took me 6 months to rebuild my VW motor following instructions in this book and other service manuals (Haynes, Autobooks). 5 of those 6 months were for research and getting all the necessary tools ready. Only about 1 months work on weekends and friday nights to rebuild a 1585cc dual port VW motor for my brother's 1965 Beetle.

The Big Blue Bentley is very informative and the procedures are very easy to follow. Practically everything one wants and needs to know when repairing their aircooled VW's is in this book. Very highly recommended. I give this book "Two very greasy thumbs-up"!

OK, so I got an advance copy. I can't help it if I got it at a book convention. I couldn't resist. This is a wonderful book. There's not a spec or motor description to be found. This book is all about the love of the Bug. And the history. and the advertising. But most of all about the way people get attached to their Buglets and drive 'em forever. And everyone who drives one has a story. Even the people who don't drive them have a story. This book features incredible design and pictures that I, a bug lover, have never seen before. And for Beetle 2 nuts, there's plenty of attention paid to it. The author has one of each. I think that's hilarious. His writing style is even funnier. Bug somebody to buy it! I'm thinking of actually buying one to give to my dad for Father's Day. After all, he bought me my first bug and we repaired it together. He'll like this bit of Bug nostalgia.

I read about this in the New York Times and the LA Times, so I figured it was worth the buy. And it was! It's a very different approach to the Bug -- more about the people who buy it than the car itself. Ouellette is a great writer. somewhere between Gore Vidal and Garry Trudeau. A must for the Bug library.

Not since ancient Egyptians bowed down to scarabs has such a devout cult worshipped a bug -- the Volkswagen Beetle, that is. Under-powered, unglamorous, a complete oddity when it first arrived in the U.S., somehow the VW Bug won the hearts, minds, and automotive budgets of thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands of Americans. In this delightful "family album" of a book, Dan Ouellette has captured, in apt, economical prose and a witty selection of pictures, all the rapture and counter-cultural fun that Bugs brought to life on the road. His book may be the best record yet of the car that shocked Detroit and changed the way we relate to the automobile. It's a timely reminder that the affection Bugophiles feel toward the cars they have (or used to have) is powerful enough to jump over the generations and embrace VW's new Beetle. Poster boy Che Guevera decorated countless college dorm rooms, but the Bug brought a real revolution to our garages. If you love cars, design, history -- or the Bug -- you'll want this book.

I have had this book for a couple years and still never get tired of looking at it..The pictures are that fun to look at. It shows the year to year changes of details and options for every beetle from the 30's to 1979. This book got me hooked on VWS and i'm currently fixing my 70 beetle up. Buy it now!

Although the basic shape of the Volkswagen didn't change over the years, many detail changes were made. This book does a good job of documenting them. There isn't much text, but the book if full of detail photos showing the small (and sometimes not-so-small) changes from year to year. If you're restoring your Volkswagen to 100% stock condition, you want to know how to tell a '65 Beetle from a '66, or you just like Volkswagens, this book is a good read.

This is a great book for noting the year-to-year changes in the Bug. Almost every change is photographed and documented so that you can see it. There isn't much in the way of writing, but mainly pictures and explanations of the VW's and the yearly changes, including the various dealer installed options. This is a great book, especialy for identifying what is original or how something is supposed to look.

A long-awaited application of the theory of communicative action to issues of automobile maintenance. While I haven't read the book myself, I certainly plan to assign it in all of my upcoming courses on the mechanics of the public sphere.

While Prof. Habermas is one of the most versatile thinkers of the late twentieith century, one had no idea that his expertise went as far as Volkswagen repair.

Leave it to the computer wonks at Amazon to bring this little-known text to our attention. One wonders how it will affect Habermas scholarship:

Intersubjective recognition and ignition? Between Facts and Tires? Gas Mileage and Human Interests?

The new dissertations will be flying off the show room floor!

I have only read to page 1042 so I do not yet know how it ends, but regardless, Pensky has rendered a limpid translation of Habermas's "Volkswagen Quantum Official Factory Repair Manual: 1982-1988, Gasoline and Turbo Diesel, Including Wagon and Syncro." This is one of those translations that appears to speak more profoundly than the original, and with the expanded appendix, the full color map, and the inclusion of new chapters on both "Wagons and Syncros" this text will spend more time on my nightstand than on the shelf.

I was so impressed with this family's story, one which is truly an American dream come true. A great deal of hard work and determination, lots of wise choices and always doing right by their customers and employees made the company what it is today. Loved the stories about keeping their trademark thumb on "taking care of the customer" and building relationships that last a lifetime. I don't believe any of it was luck. Just good people, doing good business.....every day.

Well written, great photos and graphics. Inspirational story and a great read. Would highly recommend as a quick read but a story that sticks with you for a long time.

Audrey Knoth did an excellent job in telling the story about Checkered Flag! Like the previous reviewer mentioned, it is not "salesy" at all. It really tells the story of an American Dream come true - all done through persistence and consistency.....and a little luck.

As a part of the family behind Checkered Flag, "We All Win" taught me a great deal about where we came from and what we stand for. But you do not have to be a part of the family to enjoy the story.

All the funds raised from this book go to the United Way of South Hampton Roads, so please help in the support of a great cause!

I started reading, expecting a subtle sales pitch. Was I surprised! It's a heartwarming, compelling story, a prime example of the American dream.
It's the kind of book you start on a whim but then can't put it down until you've finished, and then find yourself wanting more. Ms. Knoth did an outstanding job and I hope to see more of her writing. Meanwhile I think I'll go down to Checkered Flag and look around. Not because I need a new car but just to take a chance on meeting this remarkable man.