Saab Books

Other than the factory service manuals, this is the best, and possibly only, manual that covers the 2-stroke models. In addition it there is a chapter that includes the factory recommendations for performance tuning, plus a list of high performance pieces that used to be available through the Saab dealers.

A worthy addition to the library of a Vintage Saab enthusiast.

I borrowed this book from my local public library, and I am glad that I did not purchase it. I found the recipes to be fairly unhealthy, such as added sugar in items where there was already fruit included. I agree with another reader, I could leave those items out- but I imagine that there are parents out there who do not KNOW that they should omit them and it seems unwise to recommend the extra sugar and salt. One recipe even suggested using processed cheese product!
As to the reviewer that mentioned that she could not imagine a baby who likes onions and garlic...well, I have one of those! I was very surprised when my one-year-old started to dislike the more bland food I was making especially for her, and enjoyed her food more when I started adding more flavor, such as onions and garlic.
I was surprised that some of the reviewers mentioned that they would have had no idea what to feed their kids after breast-milk. It's sad that pediatricians are not helping their patients' families with that at regular check-ups.

This is an excellent book for easy starter meals for baby's just getting their teeth and toddlers. The recipes are quick to make and simple and most contain ingrediants already found in your kitchen. They provide a nice variation in a child's diet and some adults may enjoy the recipes as well.

When I was raising babies I was completely unprepared for what to feed them, how much to feed them, and when to introduce new healthy foods. A few years ago I purchased this book when searching for a baby gift for a friend. Now I buy both the Better Baby Food and Better Food for Kids for all my friends and relatives having babies. Everyone loves this gift!! I even purchased a copy for myself and still find the recipes great for teenagers and just the presentation makes the recipes look so simple. I also like checking the nutritional value and feel better knowing what goes into each recipe. These books are incredible and I will continue to purchase them.

Having a mother who is an RN, and yet not wanting to be a health-crazed maniac, I struggled with the idea of Gerber/prepacked baby foods versus doing it myself in our own kitchen. My mother recommended "Better Baby Food", as it was used by her hospital's cookstaff for pediatric menus. What an indispensible guide it proved to be and the continuation book "Better Food for Kids" is every bit as wonderful! The recipes produce foods that are easy (if you are tired or juggling multiple children or a full time career) and really great in regard to: variety of taste, color and texture and our whole family enjoys many of the meals in the later sections and the earlier stage recipes make for great side items to meals! Great tips on feeding picky eaters and special dietary concerns for both the healthy and the ill/child with mallady. If you are like me and considering making your own baby food there are great tips like usuing a handblender/food processer/hand chopper to puree or small chunk soft or cooked foods (making sure to add the water left from cooking process to add back in extra nutrients)--then spoon into ice cube trays and freeze--later plop these into little sandwich baggies or tupperware in freezer for quickie meals--we would take an ice blob of peas and another of golden delicious apples and ask for a mug of hot water at a restaurant to thaw it out and warm it, our daughter loved it...and it really was easy...and really did save MONEY! There actually is just 1 chapter devoted to each stage of age and eating, but index in back refers reader to many referenced items that cross apply throughout each stage (i.e. allergies). As for the other review's notation about questioning recipies with butter, sugar, etc...a little, in moderation is what all doctor's or anyone of authority in the medical or nutrional world recommend, unless allergic or there's a known health consideration. My advice, if you are truly concerned about things like sugar, substitute apple juice or apple sauce, which if that is a health/diet concern you would probably already known anyway! Great book---I pair this with the "Better Food for Kids" as a continuation and another little item for all baby showers I attend and so far no complaints, lots of thanks later on actually!!!

I got this book from the library to get fresh ideas on what to feed my 8 month old son. I'm very happy that I didn't buy it. While the title suggests that there are recipes for babies, the majority is really for toddlers. With a few exceptions, the only suggestions for children under 12 months are plain veggie, fruit and meat purees, and even those are mainstream (i.e. the purees you can buy in jars). I found much more interesting combinations in a German cookbook (parsnip with potato and pork, polenta with broccoli, and how does fennel with banana sound?). One of the "exceptions" is a barley vegetable soup that contains dried legumes. In other books, I read that legumes are not suitable at that age because they can make the baby gassy, and I don't want to risk that.

While reading the first part, I liked the fact that the authors say that using canned goods from time to time is ok, but I was not so pleased to see they used LOTS of canned foods (including canned soup that is usually very high sodium). "Baby's first birthday cake" has a whopping 540 calories per slice including the icing, and contains 4 cups of sugar for 12 slices.

Some of the recipes do sound interesting, but the overall quality is rather questionable.

The book has an impressive introduction with a very interesting analasys of the extreme right; both black and white. However, the author makes it clear from the beginning that he is an extreme socialist, therefore his ideas have to be taken with a grain of salt.

The first part of the book, with the description of a utopian society ruled by the Nation of Islam, strongly resembles an Orwellian type of society. It is well written and presents interesting ideas.

The second part of the book however leaves something to be desired. It seems that the author has departed from his original attention to detail and social-political analasys and has transformed the book into a banal story, unworthy of being attached to the first part of the book.

Overall, this is a book worthy of being read, with interesting ideas, and a good writing style.

The book is a page-turner and a powerful political pamphlet. The thing I deplored about it is the run-of-the-mill 400-year hybernation scenario and the ensuing 400-year gap in human history where nothing seems to have happened since the late 20th century. Saab should rewrite the second part of the damn novel to make it a masterpiece.

Impressive both with the detail in the beginning and the quality and fun of the story, I read AD in a single sitting. It's the type of sci-fi that scares you because of just how possible it is. It 's the kind of story telling that has you wishing for the hero to win in the end. I recogmend it to everyone.

Science fiction isn't usually my first choice when I want to escape between the covers of a good book. With the exception of Octavia Butler and a few other talented writers, people of African decent don't seem to play much of a role in the future as defined by writers of fantasy/speculative fiction. For that reason, I was intrigued when I read the description for A.D. on Amazon and ordered the book.

Although the premise is interesting (an African American man is cryogenically frozen and awakes 400 years later in a racially segregated New World Order) the author, Saab Lofton, lacks the imagination and talent as a writer to make the novel work.

The reader is immediately challeged to suspend their disbelief to the point that he/she will believe that bankrupt Aryan leader Tom Metzger and NOI despot Louis Farrakhan are smart/influencial enough to split up the country according to their racist doctrines.

Sounds far fetched? It is. By tying the events in his novel to these pathetic figures, Lofton not only makes his futurist novel seem "dated" but wholly implausible. He simply lacks the talent to create a future existence that can borrow from the present and exapand it without creating a heavy-handed and choppy diatribe.

The novel's protagonist, Elijah, rarely rises above Lofton's thumbnail sketch of him. Other characters suffer the same fate. In a story as fantastic as this one it is imperative that the characters be fleshed out enough to make the story believable. Lofton simply never accomplishes this.

Lofton (a far left socialist) can't decide if A.D. is really a novel or a flimsy article for the pages of the Socialist Worker. Never content to let the characters and their actions speak for themselves, Lofton continually stiffles the story by interjecting (read:forcefeeding) the reader his own political agenda.

His writing style is overly didactic, never allowing the reader to become absorbed in the "story" itself. In addition to this flaw, the editing of the novel is so bad it's a distraction. Fragmented sentences and other grammatical errors make A.D. a test of the reader's patience.

Aside from these problems the novel itself isn't very original. Lofton heavily borrows storylines from Ayn Rand and George Orwell without taking note of their ear for dialogue and passion for storytelling. Where Orwell builds suspense in 1984, Lofton is predictable.

In the end, A.D. is a forgettable story. I've read reviews in leftist papers that praised the novel for challenging reader perspectives when in all honesty people are more challenged by well-written, thought provocing pieces. This is not that piece and fans of A.D. are probably already in the choir that Lofton is preaching to.

If you must read this book, I implore you to skip the self-congratulatory introduction . In it Lofton goes on his own diatribe against "Trekkies" and whines endlessly about being homeless (though he never slept in a shelter); not being able to handle school at a local community college and full time work (note to Saab: people do it all the time); and waiting for his "inheritance" to kick it. To make things even worse, he refers to himself as "The Mighty Saab Lofton, King of the Impossible"--I wish I were kidding. The prologue isn't much better (a mini-PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE US without the footnotes) and is out of place in a book that is supposedley a sci-fi novel.

Loftons' knee-jerk reactionary tale of black versus white, in a conspiracy laden immediate future, rides the crest of the Waco, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City bombing tide with Pat Robertson /Louis Farrakhan-esque jingo-ism for any shade you view yourself as. Written on a level barely suitable for a high-school senior, it's a good book to read on a flight when you have to choose between being bored to death, or just being bored to the point of drooling.

This book was not too bad at the start. The first chapter covers feeding your 2 to 4 year old, and the second chapter talks about feeding your 4 to 6 year old. They give tips on how to increase your child's fibre, and suggest trying to reduce juice consumption. Futher on, there's a discussion about essential vitamins and minerals. Some time is devoted to food contamination and food allergies, choking, bowel function, obesity, daycare, and dental care.

Where this book really falls apart is in the recipe section. I would NOT call these foods BETTER foods. Almost all of the recipes include either butter, cheese, or sugar. I don't think it's a good idea to feed my children Quiche Lorraine, Fettucine Alfredo, and biscuits dipped in cheese and mayonnaise. Really. The recipes in this book were less healthy than most of the recipes I see in regular children's cookbooks. I expected much better from a team of dieticians.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It has the perfect ratio of health and nutritional information to recipes. I did not feel overburdened or confused by the explanation of what is good for my child and why. Often, when doctors write books like this, it's more akin to sitting in a lecture hall trying to understand a complex graph, complete with the latest scientific data. Refreshingly, these authors were to the point, realistic and plain in their explanations.
I was even more excited about the recipes. I would find one I liked, intending to copy it down, but by the time I reached the end, I wanted to write them all down! Not only were the recipes simple and easy to follow, but they included things that I already eat and more importantly, presented new things in ways I wanted to try and make. I appreciated the fact that the authors were not restrictive in fats or sugars. I believe that if you ingest these things as part of the recipes and as part of a balanced diet, avoiding superfluous extra snacking of empty calories, these ingredients as integrated with the many other excellent vegetable and protein combinations will not only be enjoyable, but will encourage your children to try new and interesting foods far into the future.

Having a mother who is an RN, and yet not wanting to be a health-crazed maniac, I struggled with the idea of Gerber/prepacked baby foods versus doing it myself in our own kitchen. My mother recommended "Better Baby Food", as it was used by her hospital's cookstaff for pediatric menus. What an indispensible guide it proved to be and this continuation book "Better Food for Kids" is every bit as wonderful! The foods are really good in variety of taste, color and texture and our whole family enjoys the meals actually! Great tips on feeding picky eaters and special dietary concerns for both the healthy and the ill/child with mallady. As for the other review's notation about questioning recipies with butter, sugar, etc...a little, in moderation is what all doctor's or anyone of authority in the medical or nutrional world recommend, unless allergic or there's a known health consideration. My advice, if you are truly concerned about things like sugar, substitute apple juice or apple sauce, which if that is a health/diet concern you would probably already known anyway! Great book---I pair this with the Better Baby Food book and another little item for all baby showers I attend and so far no complaints, lots of thanks later on actually!!!

Literally, nothing else compares. It's the only one! Seriously, though, anyone who owns a Saab should get the relevant manual, if available. Without this book, I would have spent either far too much money at the dealer or far too much time looking for a mechanic daring enough to work on a Saab.

The book binding is starting to come apart a bit after a couple years, and the photos and overall feel of the book is a bit unprofessional, but I've found it useful for its purpose. The difficulty ratings are junk, however. One repair which had a rating of "easy" had me to the point of beating my car and anthropomorphising the poor thing with creative profanity, whereas one "fairly difficult" repair took little time and effort. Use your own instincts to decide whether you want to tackle a task.

It was nice to find a manual for this car. It doesn't seem to be available at auto parts stores.
Fairly well laid out book, somewhat typical of other Haynes manuals I've had. Hardcover should help the book last longer.

This manual is typical Haynes with poor quality paper and hard to see detail in photographs. It is unfortunately one of the few such manuals available for this car and other foreign cars.

This manual was obviously written for the UK. There is lot of information but they omit things like: EXHAUST!!! These vehicles have an odd ball and socket exhaust connection with a band clamp, it would have been nice to get some pointers on assembly. Also, no mention of seat heaters, radio repair, antenna fixes. Fortunately, there is wealth of information available on the web. All in all, its handy because it has fluid and torquing specs.

This is a British manual. They refer to some parts differently than American mechanics. I suppose this might bother some people, but I though it was rather interesting. Don't buy it if you TIRE of reading reading the word TYRE. Otherwise it's exactly what you expect from Haynes.

I have used Haynes manuals for my GM vehicles and they had plenty of information. This is the most incomplete manual I have ever owned. It made no mention of a critical part I needed, the IAC valve. I have yet to find an adequate replacementy manual.

the book was Ok for basic maintenance and repairs but lacked model specific information for example no convertable parts or descriptions and did not have the depth and detail needed for older cars.

The NG900 Haynes manual was a constant companion when I had my car. It is full of information and pictures (though some of poor black and white quality). It provides good step by step detail for doing just about anything you would routinely need to do. Does it cover everything? Nope. The car used was a naturally aspirated 2.3l and not a 2.0 turbo, which is the more popular model. Therefore, a few things are just slightly different and a few things aren't covered in as great a depth as you may want. However, over all, this manual is priceless. It is a UK version, but everything is pretty much applicable for left-hand-drive cars. Now I need Haynes to come out w/ a 9-5 manual!

This book is fine for those with a little bit of experience working on motor vehicles. If you don't have that background there is probably enough information to get you in trouble. I have never owned a SAAB and picked one up with a sick gearbox (transmission) for a song. I found that the information was enough for me to easily handle the engine removal and gearbox replacement. The tip to get around purchasing the SAAB specific clutch removal tool paid for itself on its first use. Overall and excellent book for a reasonably experienced DIYer.If you aren't that experienced rope in a mate who is, shell out for a couple of beers and learn as you go. With a little time you will find it an excellent guide. Cheers

I used this manual on my 81 900 all the way through school and saved thousands of $$ on repairs. Not for the timid, but it's based on a tear-down and rebuild of the car, so it tends to have a lot of info about getting at things in really tight places. I got through water pump replacement, clutch replacement, numerous tune-ups, replacing a wheel bearing, replacing the transmission, and doing brake service. The amount of grease and oil on the book is s testament to how many times I used it keeping the car in good running order.

I have an '84 900 turbo, and I found that this manual left a lot to be desired. As I've found with a lot of Haynes manuals (this is my fourth), this manual is missing a lot of details. For instance, what is that cylinder in the front left fender well? I finally had to search through junk yards to determine that the flexible hose from the air filter does not actually connect to an exhuast port, but just wraps around the exhaust manifold. I really wish the under the hood/car views had better resolution and were more detailed. Finally, the manual often just says "see photos" instead of refering to specific photos. I get the impression this one was rushed to print.

About everything I've looked at has been WRONG. I looked up some info online and found out some things such as shift lever boxes changed in 84. So I'm guessing if you have a pre-84 this book may actually help

If you're seeking a useful manual for your Saab 900 or 900 Turbo, this probably isn't what you want. This is a VERY technical technical manual, useful only for those already comfortable with building/rebuilding and servicing engines.

Ok, this is written from a modelers standpoint.
The big problem is 90% of the pics are flight pics. very few on the ground so as far as getting detail walk around shots for modeling? FORGET it! no useful pics of the landing gear, no line drawings of the cockpit beyong the front panel, no shots of the wheels, no close ups of panel and rivit detail, no usable closeups of engine nozzles. 6 pics I had immediately recognized and had downloaded from the internet, there 2 poorly done pics of pilot/with suit. and the helmets were only lightly addressed. If you want page after page after page of pretty plane in flight shots, then you will like this book. it does do a good textural historical overview of development of the type though.
I bought the book brand new and subsequently saw it available used for 6 dollars. BUMMER! in fact, i have other aerofax titles, and they are VERY useful, dont know what happened with this particular book.

The book is okay. It should have been run by the editing department another time or two though as there are a lot of gramatical errors and typos and such.
The story of the Gripen is told fairly well however, with lots of development details and obscure but interesting facts. The text can be somewhat disjointed though and could have been better organized. Even with that there is lots of great info in this book.
For modelers: you're out of luck. Almost 0 detail shots. There is a good section on cockpit development but only a few photos and you can find better ones on the net. Most of the pictures in the book are very nice but are just generic, here's-the-Gripen shots. A few photos are terribly pixilated as well.
Anyway if you want info on the Gripen, go for it. If you want a modeling reference, well, there isn't really one yet.

In the world of aviation books, Midland Publishing can be considered a leading authority on a diverse range of civil and military aircraft. The majority of titles published under the Aerofax and Red Star banners deal with Russian/Soviet or British/US aircraft. Some of the best work in the field are the volumes by Russian/Soviet aviation expert Yefim Gordon, such as the recent titles on Soviet Secret Bomber Projects and the Su-24 FENCER. Midland also does an excellent job examining aircraft from other countries, such as this solid volume on Sweden's JAS-39 Gripen multi-role aircraft by Dutch author Gerard Keijsper.

The JAS-39 Gripen was the first of the world's 4th generation combat aircraft to take flight and enter into front-line service. It followed in the famed footsteps of its predecessors, the J-29 Tunnan, J-32 Lansen, J-35 Draken, and AJ-37 Viggen, whose unique and elegant designs made them favorites of aviation enthusiasts worldwide. Designed in response to a 1980 Swedish Air Force (Svenska Flygvabnet) RFP for a multi-role combat aircraft to replace both the fighter/attack and recon models of the Viggen, the Gripen was the winning design of IG-JAS, a joint consortium of Swedish companies led by SAAB that included Volvo and Ericssen. The Gripen's basic design of single engine, side air intakes, and delta wing with canards mounted just under the cockpit was mandated by the unique Swedish requirements that have guided previous designs like the Draken and Viggen: the aircraft should be single-engined to keep maintenance and cost down, must be able to operate from short roadways, and should have a quick-surge capability.

On 14 September 1982, Gripen took off on its first test flight. Over several years numerous prototypes were tested and dozens of modifications to the digital fly-by-wire systems were made, resulting in a highly capable, dependable, and reliable airplane that has suffered only 3 airframe losses in its entire history. Gripen carries a 27-mm internal cannon and can carry a diverse range of weaponry such as AMRAAM, Meteor, Sidewinder, and Maverick on its eight weapon points. Coupled with air-to-air refueling capability, LANTIRN targeting pods, and AESA radar, Gripen has a bark equal to its bite. The aircraft's single F-404J engine produces 18,000lbs of thrust with afterburner, enabling it to reach speeds of up to Mach-2. Twenty-four years and 60,000 flight hours later, over 200 Gripens are in front-line service with the Swedish Air Force and export Gripens are equipping the Air Forces of Hungary, South Africa, and the Czech Republic. Gripen's low cost and high performance has made it a leading contendor for foreign military sales.

Keijsper's book conforms with the fairly standard Aerofax format. The book begins with an overview, discusses design histories and test regimens, explains weapons and avionics systems, then moves into the aircraft in-service and its export versions and sales. The text is accompanied by a wealth of photographs, with over 250 color and black and white photographs in 176 pages. Three-way design views that effectively illustrate the design process are also included, which helps the reader in understanding the nature of aircraft design immensely. A nice tough are squadron patches from many of the squadrons currently operating Gripen as well as detail on the Swedish Order of the Gripen Knights, which is a professional group of Gripen pilots who are awarded badges based on experience and proficiency. The level of detail offered in this book is incredible, essentially providing everything you could hope to know. It is dated, being written in 2003 and published in 2004, and could stand an update on the major differences in the C/D models over the original A/B, but that is information that can be found elsewhere.

There are some flaws in this book that bring it down a few notches. First, no biography of the author is provided. The only detail offered by the publisher is that Keijsper is Dutch and lives in the Czech Republic. He clearly received large amounts of information from the Gripen Consortium and the Svenska Flygvabnet (in fact the book often reads like a press release) but the author's credentials are brought into question. The structuring of the chapters is a bit awkward. Chapter 3, Improving the Breed would have been better suited as a discussion after Chapter 8, Into Service. There is a 2-page chapter on Extreme High Alpha Test Flying that serves no real purpose, and should have been removed. There are minor errors in the text, such as the comment that the Gripen has supercruise capability, which with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.9 seems hard to believe, but overall nothing too alarming. There is a disconnect between the photos captions and the text which make them feel like two separate narratives and there are numerous grammatical errors, likely the result of translation from Swedish to Dutch to English. Minor stuff to be sure, but something a keener eye should have caught in the editing process. Overall though, this volume on Gripen has a necessary place on the bookshelf of both aviation enthusiast and military analyst for years to come. The photography and design diagrams alone are worth the purchase price, and this book lives up to the standard set by the Aerofax banner.

The next few years will be crucial for Gripen, as it nears the end of its production run and fulfillment of its current foreign order book. Without follow-on orders from the Swedes or a substantial export order, the production line may close and this graceful aircraft will slowly age its way into obsolescence. Conversely, should the US Joint Strike Fighter be delayed, countries like Denmark, Norway, and Australia may look to Gripen as a ready-made affordable solution, ensuring its continued production for many more years. For now though, Gripen patrols the skies over 4 nations, vigilantly watching and protecting against external threats and ensuring a continued place for Swedish combat aircraft in enthusiast's hearts and the world's skies.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis MO

While I can appreciate the statements in the first review, I don't think they are entirely accurate or fair. For one thing, one MUST use the correct manual for a given car. The writer was misusing the book if he/she was taking torque specs and guessing at the correct ones for a different engine. The statement that this book is not complete is also true, but one should realize that it is impossible to cover every wire and bolt in less than 200 pages. For that, as that person had suggested, I would recommend the more expensive, but also more comprehensive, manuals offered. I have used these manuals for years, and they do have their place.

I have an older Saab and decided to get a repair manual for it. This one was a major dissapointment. All electrical and vacuum diagrams are left out. Their reasoning for this is that there is too much to list. However, Chilton incorporates this information into their books on newer cars (such as the Chevy Lumina) that are far more complicated. Some of the pictures are also very vague. I found myself guessing at some of the torque specs, since I have a 16-valve engine and this is written mainly for the 8-valve. This book also tends to over-complicate some items, while over-simplifying others. I don't recommend this book unless all you want to do is change your oil and spark plugs. Anything more complicated, and you're better off going with the Bentley manual (if you can find one) or the offical Saab manual.

While I can certainly appreciate the effort that goes into researching repair manuals, the Chilton books for Saab are too general to be used as anything but backup for other manuals. For the 99, the best choice is the factory Service Manual (#0314948 - very difficult to locate) followed closely by Haynes (#247 US).