Autos Books

This book is very famous in the auto industry. It describes and compares world auto makers' overall competitiveness with regard to product development. It explains to us why the Japanese auto makers dominated world auto market in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The Japanese introduced their products far faster than competitors,the Europeans and Americans, to the global market, not to speak of their superior product quality. What happened to them? Were there any market condition involved? The answer is no. The Japanese product managers were champions not coordinators or linkage men. They influenced more power over functional product development teams, such as styling, design, testing. The Japanese also showed real TQM(Total Quality Management) not a lip-service. I think this book helped other automakers to scrutinze their process and to prepare for the next challenge. The Americans and European automakers do not lag behind now in the survival races. They get back to their position as world leader as they did in the early 1900s. If you want to know more about the logic and reasoning, this book has more.

All too often, academic studies in business (and many areas for that matter) are exercises in sausage production: they repackage a few new facts in some worn out methodology and claim it is new. But at their best, they can provide a new framework and vocabulary to adress complex new issues. PDP was just such a book on the auto industry, which was in serious crisis in the 1980s.

This is one of the first and best books on concurrent engineering (cross functional development) and it sets a very high standard. It is well written and persuasive. While some diagrams are overly ambitious - one has 59 arrows and 14 explanatory captions - it rarely gets bogged down in jargon or long proofs. Upon re-reading it, it does not at all appear out-dated; indeed, their prescriptions appears to have been learned and integrated into many American industries, from autos to computer networks.

when I read this book I thought it was just a creative history. I dont to like read books but this one I think is one of the best books cause its a real history and Charles express his feelings since he was a kid and all he had lived in mexico and in the US
the most attractive thing is the part in the jail, when he explains how it is inside and all they have to resist when they want to live and when they have a reason to change their lives.

Im 16 years old student who lives in Mexico, and I really recommend this book for everyone!

Mystery of Mercy
People like to read about people. Real people. Charles Cofield is real and reveals in the early years of his life the mystery of GOD's mercy. People often ask 'Why, Why me?' We are captured by painful punches. The devastion, deceit and destruction that another person goes through holds our attention. We want to see the young 'El Pato' cross the Rio Grande again, again and yet again. We want to read about this adventure of a boy-becoming-a-man who longs for love, worth and freedom. This is a timely easy read. Our nation, the United States of America, is debating in Congress now the policy of immigration and the lack of humanity in our judicial and prison sytems. Cofield's book does not directly address solutions of such magnitude. But, through his life experiences, he provides real examples of the coruption and caring that makes these issues complex. Certanily one can feel the 'crazy anger' that results when those in a position of unchecked power cruely abuse another human life. The author makes you feel with him the hot desire to right wrongs. This is perhaps not an auto-biography that suburban soccer Moms will buy for their troubled teen. But it is a book that should be carefully read by every youth pastor and wannabe to understand how children, youth and young men are trapped by the adversary when a young person's life is void of love, worth and meaningful guidance. It is a powerful story of indictment on church leaders who focus on mass evangelism to the exclusion of one-to-one discipleship. And it is the wonderful story of GOD's mercy, Who like the redemptive Exodus for the children of Israel, GOD's Strong Right Arm brought Charles Cofield to a New Promise. Yes, the author is not a polished writer. The translation from Spanish to English reveals in grammar and syntax that English is a second language. However, that roughness, I believe, enhances the raw material that was 'El Pato's' early life. He is real and his life is real. Cofield does not get 'preachy' in his book, as he turns the last quarter of his pages to a 'rags to riches' (okay 'riches' is 'evangelastic' - a strectch) triumph. Cofield is clear and unafraid of revealing his determination to expose the mystery of GOD's mercy to those others considered unlovable and unworthy. Given that Mr. Cofield and his wife, Marie, are sill a relatively young couple, the mystery of GOD's mercy in their life and mission has not been fully written. His is a mystery adventure worth reading and hearing in person. I recommend his first book.
Also recommended: Samson's Lion

I am so happy with this book. I am new to this style of painting, and the projects are made very easy!

A book by Priscilla Hauser and Boris Grafov which is beautifully presented but I think a beginner would have difficulty with the projects. There are pages dealing with some of the "basics" (such as brush loading, palette preparation etc) which would not be necessry for a painter with some experience. What is helpful to anyone new to the Zhostovo style are the techniques required to paint the leaves and flowers and this is shown in close-up and color very well. There are 10 projects featured and the book finishes with a superb gallery of completed pieces from various collections and these are an inspiration in themselves. The paintings throughout the book are in oils.

Like most manuals, this one covers several years and models and tries to hit all the bases. Most of the information is accurate and helpful for doing general repair work, but sometimes they will show pictures that don't match your model. As examples, the instructions for brake repair were excellent, but the diagrams & photos for the EGR valve looked nothing like the one on my '96 SL1. Apparently, the design was changed since '91, but it didn't make it to the book.

This manual is great. Very simple to understand "how to" fix your Saturn.
Very pleased.

The book is like a next step after The Machine That Changed The World. Very interesting and hopefully will have a great impact on the way producers think.

The Second Century provides a valuable, and rare, look at how the huge auto industry can be made profitable again. Very thoughtful book. And the authors did their homework.

Both authors are part of the MIT International Motor Vehicle Project. Their work updates and expands on The Machine That Changed the World, which is a great book but now dated. Given that the topic of The Machine That Changed the World -- lean production -- has become fairly widespread in the industry, this new look at "building to order" may be a pathway to profitability for carmakers.

But I expected The MIT Press to do a better job of editing. Parts of the book have a convoluted organization that makes it hard, sometimes even impossible, to figure out what the authors are saying. Typographical errors abound. Some lines, sentences, and even paragraphs appear to be missing. And some references to the figures were wrong, rarely but still often enough to be noticed. Perhaps authors and publishers do not bother with much editing and proofreading anymore.

Still, I have been looking for insightful books on the auto industry to match those of the 1990s. Few books do. The Second Century does. Highly recommended.

If you've ever been in an accident, this book is for you, or even if you haven't, just so your prepared. They're so much in this book. All in plain english

If you, or a loved one, have had an accident you really want to at least skim this book. It is all too easy to make less of the event, since acknowledging our lack of control over things is not our nature. Much of the damage is not visible, and can carry on a long time.
In addition the practical advice is practically a checklist of what to do, think about etc.
As one attorney told me "No matter how big the check, you would rather never have had the accident". This book at least gives you a way to deal with much of what results.

This book may not be perfect, but it is the only one on the market for the Diesel engine Toyota 4Runners. Max Ellery consistently puts out better repair manuals than John Haynes and Chilton.

Good, very technical book with lots of parts of the vehicle. There are some parts that have been comleatly left out such as the front diff. Otherwise good all torque specs for components you could ever need and good trouble shooting flowcharts.

My husband and I were able to fix a problem with our 2002 Rav4 at a tenth of what it would have cost at the dealer. Good illustrations. Straightforward, easy to follow instructions. If one person came up with the concept for this book, he deserves the Nobel Prize

I consider that this it's a good book. This book describes detailed the procedures of repair for Toyota RAV4. It seems to me excellent to mention the amount of photographies that allow to see with clarity where each screw is located.

In other hand, this book, also illustrates on the basic concepts of identification of screws and use of workshop tools.

For all things mentioned above, I recommend this book.

While 20 years old, the book still afford a detailed documentation of the rise of the Mexican auto industry. The authors describe the close involvement of the Mexican government in spurring the development of what was perceived as a key industry. From the 50s to the 80s, the government's policies changed significantly. To the present day reader, the most important sections are about events in the 80s.

Since then, the auto industry has grown. Strengthened immensely by the passage of NAFTA in 1995. It is now heavily integrated into the auto factories of US and Canada. The book can be read as describing part of the background in the 80s that led to NAFTA.

Very useful reference for anyoine interested in the Mexican auto industr

When I picked up this book, I did not know very much about the life of Adolph Hitler; after reading it, I'm not sure that I know very much more than bare facts. This is a really excellent account of the mind of Hitler (or rather, what scholars THINK the mind of Hitler must have been like), but it is definitely not for someone who is just starting to learn about the man. The book is densely written and sometimes quite difficult to understand. I appreciate the effort that was put into researching the book, but found that I really should have started out with a more "basic" book on Hitler before picking this one up. I would recommend the same for anyone who is just starting to learn about Hitler.

The information in this book is excellent. That being said, the prose is at times absolutely outlandish. The introduction gives you a cue of what's to come as the author gives you a "Dennis Milleresque" outline of the facts. After he used the term "Heathcliffian" I knew I may be in over my head. I ended up keeping my Franklin electronic dictionary next to the book to define the plethora of odd synonyms used.

It's worth the dollars. Just prepare to feel uneducated.

I'm not going to gripe, as many others have, about the spurious nature of Rosenbaum's arguments, which mostly involve asking fellow Jewish authors why they think Hitler didn't care much for their ancestors.
My gripe is why Rosenbaum thinks that the Jewish halocaust was the only, or even the most important, example of Hitler's evil. In terms of body counts of innocent victims, 10 million of them being fellow Germans, Hitler's sins against the Jews are trumped by his sins against his own people, not to mention those 20 million pretty dead Russians, 10 million of which were completely innocent civilians, which constitutes three times the horror visited upon Rosenbaum's Jewish relatives. Rosenbaum is, like other minority groups, making claim that his ancestors were the champion victims. Perhaps in terms of percentages, but percentages aren't realistic metrics, only total numbers are, which makes the Russians and Germans tops in this competition. I wonder if Rosenbaum ever even considered who was actually massacred by the war, other than his targetted Jews?

This book does not really explain Hilter. Rather it highlights what the various explanations for Hilter reveal about the people or societies attempting the explanations. Rosenbaum offers a balanced assessment of the various opinions commonly offered to explain what happened in Germany in the 1920's through the 1940's and the European reaction to those event. Explaining Hitler is not a full history of the Nazi era but it is a fascinating social analysis of our response to that era.

Written about the history of Hitler studies, Rosenbaum gives a well-written and thoughtful insight into Hitler historians (be they primarily focused on Hitler or some other aspect of the Third Reich/Holocaust - the figure of Hitler always seems to rear his head). Direct interviews with historians gives Rosenbaum insight into who these historians are, and attempts to explain not only what we believe about Hitler but WHY we believe it. Very interesting, and the bible of Hitler historiographies.