Autos Books

I used this book to help plan routes when doing a New England trip this summer. We ended up doing several of the 'loops' in the book and they were great. Good detailed step by step sights to see.

Excellent book. Allows you to see the highlights whether you have five days or twelve. Great routes and wonderful descriptions.

Very practical for people planning a trip to New England for the first time.

We loved this book! It has a number of driving tours that take you to highlights in each state. It has a couple of really nice features. The first, although we didn't stick to it very much, is the time suggested for the trip. They did suggest 2 days for the Southern Vermont tour. We did it in one day but only because we didn't stop in all the little towns suggested by the book. The book does not have much detail on each place so I would suggest a second "guide book" for more details and hotel/restaurant suggestions but the driving tours and directions were accurate and had good 'stop here' suggestions.

Our family used this guide on a recent vacation to New England, particularly at Lakes Squam and Winnipesaukee. The guide gave wonderful suggestions and directions. We stopped at some places that we would not otherwise had taken notice of and we were able to form a more complete 'picture' of the area. The maps and written description were accurate and we felt we could rely on the book. There are many more tours for us to take and we are looking forward to doing so!

Why waste money on unnecessary insurance fees and double coverage? This valuable handbook gives many "little known" tips about purchasing auto insurance wisely and serves as a great resource tool for simple yet thorough answers to a wide scope of routine and also complex insurance questions. -A great gift idea!!!

This book is a must read for any cost conscious consumer.
It contains valuable money saving tips, and provides easy-to-understand explanations
of how the auto insurance industry operates, and how best to deal with them on your own.
Anyone who pays auto insurance premiuns should read this book!

After applying some of the principals from this book I saved 23% on my auto Insurance. That makes this a great investment.

A great book for the young driver. As a college economics instructor, students think I have the answers for their auto insurance questions. I have found Abler's book to be an excellent source of information for these new consumers of a necessary service. Further, for many of these drivers insurance is expensive. This book gives them the clues to shop for the best bargains.

This book should be mailed in a brown paper wrapping to avoid insurance agents from finding out why their clients are becoming so knowledgable. Alan Abler has taken a complex profession and organized the automotive aspects into an understandable and logical way of looking at the industry in a way that can save us all a little cash. This book must be read by all automobile drivers and those who haven't are foolish. My wife and I have taken Alan's advice and are in the process of reevaluating our policy and setting up a meeting with our agent. Take my advice and buy the book.

Great insight, untold stories, and unseen photographs about an extremely private man. It was quite refreshing from the self-serving tomes that celebrities have put out and continue to put out about themselves. The one thing I've always admired about McQueen (besides his obvious acting talent) was his disdain for celebrity and the fact that he remained true to himself. This book drives that home.
Excellent.

Wow, the photographs are beautiful and highly personal. It's like seeing a private photo album from this marriage. Plus the text is informative and revealing. I'm so glad this part of Steve's life is now so well documented.

It goes perfectly on my coffee table.

A fantastic book on the last years of legend Steve McQueen! Great job by Barbara McQueen and Marshall Terrill! Touching moments! Great photos!

This book takes you into the very intimate and private world of Steve McQueen between 1977 and 1980.

Consisting of approximately 150 color photos (most of which were taken by his wife Barbara McQueen) and accompanied by Barbara's recollections of their time together.

Unlike some other photobooks where you sense you are watching the star pose, this book shows you the absolutely unguarded and relaxed side of the man as he goes about his daily life, talking to friends, tinkering on his bikes, dozing in an armchair or washing down the pavement outside his airplane hanger.

These are the sort of photos you would usually never see of a movie star - Steve in the morning before he has showered, looking drowsily over a hot mug of coffee, househunting in Montana with Barbara, or lying asleep on the living room floor with his pet dog lying on top of him.

You really feel like you have stepped into Steve and Barbara's house, it is that personal.

The text accompaniment is also very entertaining and educational as Barbara shares her memories of how Steve wooed her, the initial problems he had to overcome in winning her parents approval of the relationship, his personal lessons to her on how to dismantle and rebuild a motorcycle (sadly unsuccessful) or a gun (successful), how he came to propose, and many other intimate and fun moments. Overall it takes you through their entire relationship and serves as something of an autobiography in itself.

All these photos are beautifully presented in a high gloss large coffee table book format.

Released with the first limited edition run of the book is a 45 minute audio CD of Steve verbally working through the script of the film "Tom Horn". It is fascinating to hear him talk about his vision of the film, rework the script and plan his character. You get a real sense of the epic film he wanted Tom Horn to be (but was denied due to the studio slashing the budget), and you realise just how insightful he was with film and acting. The amount of thought he puts into his role should forever dispel the notion that he just played himself on film.

Steve McQueen - The Last Mile is a very special book and no fans collection will be complete without it.

Intimate, touching, insightful, sometimes hilarious passages into the life of The King of Cool, Steve McQueen. We live in such a visual, media oriented world that we tend to get preconceived notions of who movie stars are, based on what we see. The world saw Steve McQueen as the ultimate man- handsome, macho, cool, someone they could spend their hard-earned bucks on back in the day and get their money's worth at the theater. Barbara McQueen, his widow, saw the real Steve McQueen. She got to know Steve, the family man; Steve, the man who loved the great outdoors and his morning constitutional; Steve, the great mashed potato guru, airplane and motorcycle enthusiast. "The Last Mile" shows how little we all knew of his kindness and philanthropy; how little we knew of his yearning for happiness and how he ultimately found it. The photos in this book will enchant you, leave you wanting more. One of my favorites is one where Barbara embraces Steve from behind. That photo alone is worth the book to me. Beautiful model, handsome superstar, real people worn out from what life has dealt them. You can see it in their faces. It makes me sigh everytime I see it because there's not one person I know who hasn't been to that point and had nothing left but an embrace. You will love this book and you will want more. I guarantee you.

Ron Geskey is an advertising industry insider with experience at Leo Burnett and D'Arcy. As a web marketing professional, I can appreciate the range in focus, from Internet-based PPC and rich media to the more traditional areas of tv, radio, newspaper, magazine and outdoor. Should be appreciated by marketing directors at small and medium businesses, boutique agencies, and entrepreneurs alike--anyone buying media and dealing with media rates.

"David & Goliath" provides an essential primer for the small business owner on the important topics of marketing and media buying.

Geskey is certainly a media maven: the book is well thought-out and each chapter might well stand alone as a reference tool on each topic. The Problems & Exercises at the end of each chapter are clearly designed to reinforce the main lessons of the chapter and learners who take the time to work on them definitely stand to gain a thorough grounding in media and marketing.

Of particular note are the discussions in later chapters: Chapter 9 for the advantages & disadvantages of various media-buying processes ... Chapter 10's Internet strategies and the need for a professional-looking Web page ... fun Creative Media ideas (Chapter 11): blogs, newsletters, podcasts and greeting cards ... how'barter' and 'media remnants' work in Chapter 12 ... and finally, Chapter 14 ("Hello Goliath!") -- an effective wrap-up and reminder for ESOV and the importance of Share of Voice and Quality of Voice.

Readers should not overlook the Appendix chock full of even more marketing tools: Worksheets for figuring sales objectives, tools for conducting a SWOT Analysis, and ideas for determining customer target markets, creating marketing objectives, determining primary market areas and thinking about communication strategies and budget considerations.

Overall, "David vs. Goliath: Guerilla Media Buying for Small Business" might well stand alone as a classroom text for small business owners seeking to implement marketing plans. In future, an updated edition of the book might include more discussion about 'buzz' or word-of-mouth marketing strategies, a bibliography containing citation information about the media and research studies contained in the book and a Glossary of Terms to help the reader refer to essential media definitions and marketing tools.

David vs. Goliath: Guerilla Media Buying for Small Business, A New Way to Win

This was a great and innovative book. Best of all, by filling out the worksheets after each chapter and at the end of the book, it results in a well thought out action plan to raise Share of Voice in your marketing area. Highly recommended and worth the time!

In a highly competitive marketplace, small business owners can often be overwhelmed with the difficult task of making consumers aware of their product. With so many huge business conglomerates dominating the market place, it can seem almost impossible for a small business to efficiently reach their target customers. In his book, David vs. Goliath: Guerilla Media Buying for Small Business, A New Way to Win, author Ronald Geskey shows that small businesses can not only succeed against the Goliaths, but can thrive in the dog eat dog world of big business.

Geskey explains that a key to growing a successful business is to use an innovative, well researched technique known as increasing your share of voice and your quality of voice. Through a step by step method, readers will learn how to make each advertising dollar work harder for them. By dramatically increasing your effective share of voice without increasing your budget in your market area, you can increase top of mind awareness of your product. This will then lead to increased sales and market share.

Not only does the author provide an in depth analysis and understanding of marketing and media, helpful methods and tools are provided to make the most of your advertising dollar. As Ronald Geskey states, "The key is to eliminate advertising spending waste."

Budgets are often wasted when the wrong type of communication is used for the job (e.g., direct mail vs. publicity) or the wrong media are used to reach the wrong target in the wrong place at the wrong time-- negotiated at the wrong price without value added and media investment safeguards.

When was the last time you read a book or an article about how to actually negotiate a media buy to get the most bang for your buck? Maybe never? Geskey's book provides clear steps on how to negotiate traditional and non traditional media buys to get substantially more media exposure for the budget.

Because successful communications with the consumer are critical to the success of a small business, the author discusses and provides an analysis of the many benefits and pitfalls of different marketing communications forms and various advertising media. Advertising media discussed include television, print, radio, internet, direct mail as well over 60 non traditional media approaches.

With well illustrated diagrams and exercises at the end of each chapter, the author provides the necessary tools and skills for you to make your small business a long term success. I plan to implement the strategies for my own business endeavors. I highly recommend the book to current business owners as well as to those planning to start a small business.

Tracy Roberts, Write Field Services

As owner and manager of a bookstore, I know that small business has always felt the challenge of how to become a "player" in the marketplace. Knowing our business purpose did not guarantee our ability to effectively market our business.

Had David vs. Goliath been available years ago it would have likely transformed my marketing of the business and its success. It also would have helped remove my ever present fear of the competition.

The book provides the tools to take the small business owner through the process of analyzing the business and business practices to the development of an innovative marketing strategy and plan to build sales and profit.

I had never even heard of share of voice, and certainly never thought of any linkage to sales or share of market. And even though I bought media, I now know how uninformed and naive I was, wasting a lot of money (resulting in lost sales and profit) without even knowing it.

The author also shows how we can make the internet work for us. He cuts through the confusion of selecting and buying the media at the right price place, and time.

Each chapter is filled with "secrets" which most owners of small businesses are unaware, at least I was.David vs. Goliath: Guerilla Media Buying for Small Business, A New Way to Win Every small business owner needs this insightful book!

Bonnie Schmitz
Bookstore Owner

This is one of the single best repair books ever written. I am a rotten mechanic. This gave me enough confidacne to do some work. Plus, the idiot part gave me a lot of knoweldge that has transfered to differing situations. I read the first edition more than 10 years ago and this is still my favorite. Now I just need one to cover my 83 mustang.

Being a previous VW Bug owner and having gotten the original "VW Idiot's Guide" all greasy and dirty, I love this book. (It was fascinating to learn that Fuji (Subaru) built their motor based on the original Porsche/VW design but added water cooling!).It puts you in touch with your car...gives you confidence that you can become a hobbiest/mechanic... and you can easily figure out what maintenance you can do at home with minimum tools and which maintenance you should let some real mechanic take on. Best of all: Save money! Do maintence yourself! Spot problems before they amount to big money! As they say in the original VW book: "Know your ass....(donkey)" and it will treat you well!

I never really knew a thing about cars, and received this as a gift 8 years ago. Motivated by limited cash and that nagging sense of being taken advantage of at car repair places, I started making my own repairs and doing my own maintenance. My 84 GL is, now, in way better shape than my dogeared, oil-stained copy of this book, and I feel much more in control
Owens rules--the book is exhaustive and methodical and, at the same time, entertaining. The advice is wise (like that of a cool older brother, in one reviewer's words), the directions precise, the illustrations great (especially the one with the dogbone, the pie, and the toilet).
Thanks, Larry & Joe.

I got my Subaru GL used about 3 years ago. It needed a bit of work. After the dealer persuaded my to let him replace all of the gaskets in the engine, I didn't have much money left for any other maintenance. Thankfully, I found How to Keep Your Subaru Alive. Using this great resource as a guide, I've done all kinds of repair and maintenance on my car. Now if only the publisher would update it so I can work on my Dad's '93 Legacy... Oh, well.

Walks you thru repairs every step of the way. The author is very thorough. This book has saved me a lot in repair bills for the 3 Subaru's I've owned. It's common for a dealer to charge $1300 to change the timing belts, I did the job on my car and the belts totaled less than $30.

"This 40 days prayer journal will help to establish the habit of prayer based on adoration, thanksgiving, confession and supplication. This is a practical way to learn to have a daily conversation with God. It is necessary for the growth of any believer and is essential for all human beings. Thanks to God for this beautiful prayer journal and the gifts that have been given by author Jennifer Hope Webster."
-David Fuchs, Pastor
La Catedral de Amor
Editor of The Purpose Driven Life (Spanish Version)

"Este diario de oración de 40 días le ayudará a establecer el hábito de la oración basado en adoración, agradecimiento, confesión y súplica. Esta manera práctica de aprender a tener una conversación diaria con Dios es necesaria para el crecimiento de cualquier creyente e imprescindible para el bien estar de todo ser humano. Gracias a Dios por este lindo diario y los dones que ha dado a la autora Jennifer Hope Webster."
-David Fuchs, Pastor
La Catedral de Amor
Editor de Una Vida con Propósito

Hi! The prayer journal is a very awesome book. It is just the perfect way to become one with God. Even when you are upset this journal is the way to happiness. God has given my mom a gift of writing and she does it like no other. This journal ROCKS! If I were you I would purchase this journal! My opinion is that this journal brings you close to God like nothing else. I am only 12 but I am a pickey person about books and this one kicks all the way to heaven with Jesus Christ! See ya in Heaven!,

Jennifer Webster has designed an easy to use tool that encourages all of us converse with our personal Lord and Savior. For those who are already journal writers, this is the book for you! For those who are not...this is a wonderful way to structure your prayers. The journal helps me focus on more than the laundry list of prayer requests that often consumes my time with God. Chat with God is the best prayer journal I have ever seen!

Chat with God is a good book to do your prayers on because it is a prayer journal...it's a cool book...I use it everyday at school with my whole class. My teacher, Mr. Pike, likes it and he uses it too. I love the book because I write from my heart. My mom uses it every morning. My dad uses it at work. It helps him when he is stressed out.

Chat with God keeps it simple and more importantly balanced. This tool helps readers to be a bit more intentional about prayer. Rather than offering a series of requests and pleas, readers are coached to contemplate God's nature, express thankfulness, and offer confession as well. Use daily, weekly, seldom or frequently. My experience is that it leads to more consistant and more balanced communication with God.

Monaco is THE great novel of the 21st century to this point. If you are serious about literature, you need this volume on your bookshelf.

It's evident that Morse is aware of some of the heedless debotchery and pornographic decadence that people seem to be attracted to in novels these days--Monaco is full of characters that represent that idea. But instead of writing something like the typical modern novel, it appears that Morse rejected that thought and instead went ahead and produced a timeless epic all the while creating his own artform: the poem/novel/philosophy book.

The story is interesting (though it doesn't really get going until 3/4ths of the way into the book) but what's really on showcase in Monaco is something much more important. Morse's writing style is a masterful mix of narrative and commentary that is more lyric than some of the best poetry. His characters are vivid and alive--save for perhaps some of the scoundrel Nazis. And his philosophy is a brilliant mix of liberty-first Lockism and Pope John Paul Duece's love-is-the-answerism. The shocking monologue by a surprise character near the end is still reverberating in my mind.

Some advice to the casual consumer: buy this book. Read it all (a reader will be rewarded for the 600-page effort and the frequent dictionary stops). And instruct your daughters to read it. This should be required reading for all pre-teen girls who are considering falling into the decadence of modern teenage ignonimy. At the very least, the OVerture, Entre'Acte, and Denouement--literary pieces that will blow your mind-- WILL be required reading in 100 level English. At least that's the case if there is any justice in the world--and, fittingly, that's what the goal of this book is--to examine and promote justice.

Everyone has their own way of judging a novel. Some people know it's a good book if they just can't put it down (and stay up half the night to finish it). Some people know it's a good book if they want to read it a second time. The way I know it's a good book is if I never want it to end. And with Monaco, this occurred to me just about three chapters into the 3rd Part. By that time, I had gotten to know the characters well enough that I really began to feel what they were feeling (the warm summer weather as well as their fears and hopes) and that put me in a place that I just never wanted to leave. Monaco is a summery book, which is my favorite season, and combines all of the best, most magical aspects of the season--the sun tans, the long days and the warm nights. And there is a great sense of traveling about the novel--you travel to Monaco first of all, but there is so much travel throughout--sailing, canyons, hiking, Paris, Germany, and Africa even! The magical feeling of Monaco generates a very vivid connection between the characters that really resonated with me so that I actually LOLed a few times and cried a number of times, which is, by the way, another way that I know if a book is good. If you can't help from crying while reading on the plane, it's a great book. No matter how you judge a novel, Monaco probably has it. Magical, beautiful, action-packed...a classic by any standard.

Just like the French Riviera in the 1930s, the setting of this new and perfectly summery novel, Monaco is warm and breezy, lush and tropical, and full of celebrities, royalty, and dreamers, and author Morse brings them all brilliantly to life.

When Dash Bradford turns a brief business trip to Monaco into a more permanent stay in order to help auto parts tycoon Jacques Tourangeau put a car in the Grand Prix--and win the heart of Tourangeau's beautiful young daughter, Margaux--the idealistic American suddenly has everything he has ever dreamed of. But when Dash finds himself up against power-hungry Nazi Germany, he soon realizes that his dreams come with a very high cost, and that pursuing them may mean risking the loss of all he holds dear.

Featuring race scenes that pulsate with all the energy and excitement of a Grand Prix course; a whimsical, romantic, and heartbreakingly beautiful love story; and an exploration into the philosophical questions upon which man has dwelled throughout history, Monaco truly has something for everyone, and Morse brings it all together with skill. With careful attention to detail, he expertly conveys the vibrant coastal setting, the lavish parties, and the gripping Grand Prix races, and his engaging dialogue draws the reader into engaging discussions of faith, tradition, family, enterprise, art, justice, love, and much, much more.

Monaco has the retro feel of a vintage travel poster, the classic action of an old Hollywood film, and the soul of a Russian novel. At the heart of this book is the belief that perfection is possible, and that life and love are worth striving against all odds for. Romantic, hopeful, and full of energy, Monaco provides a welcome alternative to the bitterly discouraging works that tend to populate the contemporary fiction shelves.

Reading Monaco is like treating yourself to a breath of fresh, warm, life-affirming Rivieran air.

On the surface, `Monaco' is a story about an American industrialist who undertakes to build a race car and compete in the Grand Prix. The real story is about idealism and its struggle to survive in modern times. It is a dramatic narrative that delves into the greatest social, cultural and political challenges of our age. And it is also the most romantic book I've ever read.

Dash Bradford is the American idealist par excellence. He strives for perfection in all that he does, in work, in relationships, and in his love. In the opening, we see how he sticks to his principles when confronted by those who accept flaws in the company and when he is lured by an attractive, but mischievous girl. He rejects them easily because his eyes are set on perfection.

The real struggle begins when he meets someone who actually is perfect, in the form of Margaux Tourangeau. Suddenly, he has a first-hand glimpse of what he has wanted for so long. And she is all that he ever imagined she could be--intelligent, witty, talented, gorgeous, benevolent, etc., etc. It is when he meets this perfect individual that he begins to realize his own imperfections and doubt his own motives. Ultimately, he is forced to reconcile his past indiscretions or give up what he has striven for all his life.

Dash and Margaux create a relationship that is the tenderest, most romantic I have come across in all the novels I have read. It incorporates the author's theory on love (from Love Is Justice: An Exploration into Mankind's Fundamental Nature) and, through their dialogue and actions, shows how such a relationship is possible.

The story is constructed in a classical way for the most part and contains large sections of dialogue aimed at drawing out ideas in an intellectual (as opposed to visceral) way. There is an unmistakable 1930s feel, the banter between the characters often reminding me of the rapid-style exchanges in classic film noir. And you can just hear the big band music playing throughout. The prose is descriptive, at times lyrical, and occasionally wordy like an 18th or 19th-century novel might get. One can tell that Mr. Morse has a gift for word craft, though, and the reader will want to savor some of the more sublime passages.

`Monaco' is made up of 100 chapters (as many laps as there were in the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix), framed by three quasi-chapters that summarize and consolidate the themes at the beginning, middle and end of the book ("Overture," "Entr'Acte," and "Denouement"). These three sections, fashioned after the classic epic Hollywood format, remind me of film-in-prose with their whimsical, poetic flow. While they may turn off the mainstream reader, they do offer a very unique aspect to an overall exceptional work.

But its ideas, not its style, are what make this book so wonderful. Whether you are a fan of the classical or not, you will appreciate the thoughts and concepts that unfold as Dash and Margaux make their way into the maturing world of modernism. In the end, we know that modernism wins out, but perhaps, through novels like this, the romantic and classical can stay with us.

Having lived in West Africa, I recognized many of the types he writes about. I think this is a very fine way to take a casual trip through the area with a clever fellow as your companion. Some of the experiences are hair raising, some of the people are decidedly not nice. But all of it rang true with me. The custom officals he met, the hustlers he encountered and the genuinely nice folk along the way make this an ineresting and charming read. Well worth the money

A road trip across the Sahara in a battered 17-year-old Mercedes with 136,000 (at least) miles on it doesn't seem like the kind of trip to undertake alone. Particularly if you don't know the first thing about car repair.

Nevertheless, Dutch journalist Bergeijk can't get the idea out of his head after attending a friend's wedding in Ougadougou in West Africa. Falling into the back of a clapped-out wreck of a Mercedes, held together with rust and baling wire, he discovers the car was originally from Holland.

He's always wanted to drive a Mercedes, so why not across the desert? Determined to have an adventure and make a profit - determined being the operative word - Bergeik sets out with copies of "Sahara Overland," a "Lonely Planet" guide and a Mercedes repair manual that might as well be in Greek.

He encounters lost souls, con men, thieves, low lifes, cut throats and tourists. Little is as he expects it to be. "Or, to put it another way, wherever you go in the world, sooner or later you run into other people and then the party's over."

Entering the desert, he refuses a guide. Within minutes, of course, he's lost and bogged in sand to the axles in a minefield. Yes, a literal mine field. After being rescued, he gets a plate fixed to the bottom of his car to keep sand out of delicate parts and hires a guide.

The guide is a supercilious, chain-smoking, 20-something rap fan. And the road turns to smooth, impeccable asphalt - the new Trans-Sahara Highway. Which is being swallowed by sand almost as quickly as it can be built. "The problem, of course, is maintenance - like everywhere in Africa."

Bergeijk punctuates his narrative with riffs on life in Africa - his take on the African attitude toward the future, poverty, the wealth of the West. The mechanic who installs the plate on the bottom of his car owns only a rickety, inadequate jack. Bergeijk has a good one, which he offers to trade for the work. "No deal. Amadou preferred money." Rather than invest in equipment for his business tomorrow, he needed to pay bills today.

"Now that was one thing. I could follow his reasoning. But then he asked: Can't you give me that jack? Here was someone who could take care of himself, who had mastered a trade, had his own business, and who shamelessly asked: Won't you give it to me? Like a little kid." Annoyed, Bergeijk threw the jack back in his trunk and went on his way.

The narrative makes side trips onto the history of travel in the Sahara, from the horrific experience of shipwrecked merchants in the early 19th century (retraced in Dean King's excellent "Skeletons on the Zahara") to the first motorized Saharan crossing in 1922. He also explores the history of his own vehicle, tracing and interviewing its previous owners, even visiting the factory where it was made.

Funny, sharp and reckless (though he probably wouldn't describe himself that way), Bergeijk has no patience for boors or whiners. His descriptions of the sand-blasted African towns along his route are unlikely to increase tourism while his encounters with people - many of them adventurers like himself - are hilarious, eccentric and occasionally terrifying. The map at the front of the book is useful for following along.

Eye-opening and entertaining, Bergeijk's debut will have readers hoping he travels again.

If your idea of a great vacation is getting into a car and driving somewhere new and exciting, you will enjoy this book. This is one of the best travel/road trip books I have read in a long time.

As pointed out in a previous review, the book is not intended to be very funny, like books by Maarten Troost or Bill Bryson, but I really enjoy the author's writing style. He does an excellent job of describing the many interesting characters he encounters on the way and weaves in many interesting facts and history about Western Africa. I also enjoyed the author's forays into the philosophical aspects of automobiles and his discussions of "Zenn and the Art of Motorcycle Repair." As an interesting side note, the author includes several chapters that detail his attempts to locate previous owners of his Mercedes, which I found interesting and entertaining.

While this travelogue may not have the "laugh out loud" humor factor like others in the genre, Van Bergeijk provides a vivid and brutally honest account of his hair-raising and oftentimes tragic voyage through a region even the most seasoned world travelers rarely visit. Complete with historical and geopolitical tidbits, this book is stands out as a fine piece of travel journalism.

I loved the book, it really spoke to me! The book is an adventure story masquerading as a travel essay. It's a fun and easy read, I knocked it off in a few nights and really it was inspiring. In the book the author buys a 190D in Holland and drives it through the Sahara dessert to the country of Burkina Faso to sell it. The book even has pictures. As a 190E owner I really appreciate what this man went through. While it is a travel story, it's a lot more, there is a technical journal side to it, a philosophical side to it, an introspect and a retrospect. I am a fan of "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", and the author speaks a bit about that in the book too. It is more of an examination of what Persig was getting at when he spoke about quality.

Quite simply the best book ever written on the history of the sport

when i opened up this book it was like the heavens opened up and angels smiled upon me.

This book is fascinating on a number of levels. It gives a great account of the beginnings of hockey, including the tensions between anglo and francophone players in Montreal in the early days.

It's also a great trip down memory lane for any fan who remembers a few decades back to players like the Rocket, and has even further, but fuzzy, memories of guys like Turk Broda or Howie Morenz. McKinley covers all the major players and moments of hockey past.

But the book is more than that. It's at many levels an argument about the game, and the recurring message is that, from the very start, there's been tension between owners who have tried to outspend each other in order to win.

Reading about this element puts the currently approaching labor crisis in a historical perspective in a way that no other hockey book I'm familiar with does. For that reason alone, it's worth the read.

It makes me wish that Gary Bettman, every NHL owner, and every player would pick up a copy. It might enlighten them to know that the money and contract issues currently plaguing the game are not new. Fans can only hope that it would have the further effect of waking them up to the effects of excess before they give the game a black eye through another work stoppage.

A fantastic book. McKinley is to be congratulated.

Fantastic Stories about the history of hockey and the Stanley Cup. Not written like a usual history book, but written as a wonderful story! To anyone who plays hockey or is a big fan, this book is a must!

I have read many books that detail the history of the great game of Hockey, but none was better written than this book. Mr. McKinley tells the history in a way that is easy to follow and entertaining to read. Where many of the hockey history books are confusing to follow, this one is a joy to read. I have read through the book twice already and will surely revisit the book many times in the future. Highly recommend!

Overall it's an alright book. The author does her best to break down the complex subject, and it reads pretty well. However, her goal is to de-mystify car repair, and at times the writing is so technical it is difficult to follow. The discussion gets very detailed and you wind up thinking there's much more wrong with your car than you could ever have expected.

What a great idea! Car repair, even in small doses can be very intimidating. Recipes for Car Care takes the mystery out of the most simple procedures...things that will come up for all of us that own cars. It breaks down each area of the car into maintenance and then diagnosis (for when a problem arises). I simply like knowing that if I need to jump start the car, inflate the tires or change the brake pads, I have a resource to give me details. More importantly, learn the basics so when you take your car to a mechanic, you won't get the run around! This should be in everyone's car (and my daughters are both getting a copy for the glove compartment!).

This book is excellent. It takes the mystery out of how a car runs and what you need to do to keep your car running smoothly. "Recipes For Car Care" has made it easy for me to do my own maintenance checks and simple procedures to my car. I can see myself saving hundreds of dollars a year on auto shop visits!! Now I can determine when my brake pads are worn before it is too late. I can also speak intelligently to my mechanic when there is a problem. This book is priceless!!

If you know nothing about cars, this is the perfect book to start with! It doesn't teach you how to do complicated repairs; mainly it gives you a thorough explanation of how cars work, and it also shows you how to test how well certain car parts are functioning and how to do simpler procedures like replacing filters and valves.

All I knew before reading this was how to open the hood (and you don't even need to know that--it tells you how.) Now I can scan the mechanics' sights on the internet and see terms like "EGR system" and "oxygen sensor" and not even blink an eye--I know what they are and what they do and it actually makes sense!

The best feature of this book is definitely the way it's written. The author doesn't use analogies to other machines that you don't understand either. She compares different car parts to everyday things like rolling pins and tuna cans to help you understand what they look like and what they do. It makes things infinitely less intimidating and easier to understand. Everything is explained step-by-step and system-by-system, and technical terms are introduced slowly enough that you can absorb them. (You definitely need to have enough patience to start reading at the beginning and work your way through, though, because she builds on previous explanations.)

There are also diagnosing sections in the book to help you figure out what's wrong with a sick car and a maintenance chart to give you an idea when to replace things before they break anyway and cause more expensive problems.

A couple of things this book didn't have that I wished it did were price estimates for commonly replaced parts, photographs of parts (it has drawings instead), and a guide on how to negotiate a good deal when buying a car. A good book to get for those features is Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care. Auto Upkeep is more the kind of book you can flip through. It has a lot of little tips on diagnosing problems and car maintenance separated from the main text in little boxes. It isn't nearly as thorough in its explanations as Recipes.., though, and even though it has photographs that help a lot in locating parts, I think the drawings in Recipes are a lot more helpful in figuring out the big picture of how the parts actually work. In other words, Auto Upkeep makes a good supplement, but defintely get Recipes for Car Care if you want an excellent, understandable explanation of how cars function!

Hundreds of basic car care books are out there, but two that I have are excellent: Recipes for Car Care and Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care. Recipes for Car Care lists basic auto maintenance and diagnosing procedures written in a cookbook type layout. Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care uses the text with a supporting activity CD to give you step-by-step methods for basic automotive procedures. Recipes for Car Care uses well-drawn line art to illustrate concepts. Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care uses both line art to illustrate concepts and photos to show car parts (I really like that!). Recipes for Car Care is more for one who wants to diagnosis and repair their automobile, whereas Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care is more for any car owner that wants to learn more about the automobile, its parts, and car ownership. Both books cover most systems of the automobile (such as fuel, suspension, lubrication). However, in addition to explaining automotive systems, Auto Upkeep also explains the car buying process and automobile insurance basics (such as liability, collision, and comprehensive policies - and what they mean). I recommend that you have both books in your personal library.