Transportation Books

We bought this for our young children (5-year old and 4-year old) as they were excited by the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy.

We bought this book along with "Pirateology: The Pirate Hunter's Companion" last year. We take the books off the shelf every couple months and read through them for bedtime. The books will stay in our collection for years to come.

This book helps introduces kids to a large amount of new vocabulary but, more importantly, covers so much ground that it acts as a fantastic springboard to further study history or science.

This book is so interesting! I love it! My 5 y.o. daughter even loves this book!

This is an all around excellent book, I am completely satisfied with this purchase, and I highly recommend this book for the pirates enthusiast in your family!!

My adult daughter is mad about pirates. Her niece and nephew (6 and 10) bought this for her for Christmas. It was a hit.

I bought this for my 7 year old nephew who had a newfound fashion for all things Pirate. Being a book (at a birthday party) it didn't get his full attention until later on when he asked his parents to sit and read it to him.
Now it's a year later and I found out the book was a tremendous success from the get-go. He brought it into school to share with the class and every kid there wanted his own copy so phone calls were made and the hunt was on. A few parents were able to get a copy. My nephew and his friends dressed up as pirates and went together to see the latest Pirates... movie. Later my nephew was huddled with his special book, relishing all the details it provided. This book is interactive by design which makes the reading all the more personal and imaginative.

I like this book for its enoyable writing style and practical information on the rigging of traditional small wooden boats. The various sails documented are the lovely and functional products of centuries of European and American boating tradition, and what is good in life should stay that way, and the author assists this process with his contribution to the subject. Indeed, what better way to insure the continued tradition of lug sails and etc, than to discuss them in an inexpensive and focused book such as this? If you were to own just one book on small traditional sails, and were not interested a lot of ancillary and craftmanslike detail, this might be the book, although a variety of other books are also available and go into greater depth on this or that issue. Of course, you can't have too many books about traditional boats, so you ought to own and read them all! Start with this one, and if you enjoy it, start buying the others, is what I'd advise.

The photographs are clear and useful, but if I have one complaint, it is the basic visual format of the book: the type size and page layout could be slightly more compressed and compactly designed, providing the same information in a more handy (less amateurish looking) package. A small complaint, but there you have it. If I didn't complain about something, you might not believe the good things I had to say. --wt

I enjoyed the first book "Ultimate Garage" and was thinking to my self how nice it would be to see more, I got my wish, this sequel is every bit as good as the first book, the photography is beautiful, generous in size and quantity. It's nice to see what others have done especially when you consider all of the variables that are involved, the site, the collection to be displayed, the style of the collector, the commitment (money spent) and then enjoy the details of the end result. Many of us are collectors of things, not necessarily cars and we love to display them, the way these folks put their collections together gives you a lot of encouragement about your own collections and how we can display them. It's wonderful to see a project comleted in a beautiful way, these are magnificent car collections and I thank Phil Berg for taking the time to assemble this latest book and for the collectors who have opened their garage doors for us to enjoy. I hope he can find material for a third volume because I will buy it.

Great continuation series from Phil Berg. I enjoyed reading the first one and I couldn't wait to get his new one. More great stories about car crazy people and their garages.

I purchased Ultimate Garages for my Dad and he loved it. Now I have given him Ultimate Garages II! He became a hermit as soon as he opened it Christmas morning. We try to save his books for last because we won't see him after he opens them. Other than to start telling us about one thing and then another from the books!Another great buy!

Ultimate Garages II is even better than the original Ultimate Garages. My favorite feature of the book is the amazing photographs, true eye candy! Why and how these guys built their man-space is interesting and fun to read. The collections of cars are too cool! It gives me something to dream about... a future collection of my own.

For a car enthusiast, this book is a jaw-dropping, salivation-inducing look into the lifestyles of the rich and car-obsessed. It's what most of us would do if we had the money, but instead can only afford a book showing what others have been able to do with their blessings. Basically a bunch of private car museums not open to the public, which I would go see personally if I could. Instead I have this book, which I love.

If you liked the first Ultimate Garages, then you'll probably like this book fine. There are a few differences. The book is about an inch taller and wider. Amazon is wrong, the the new book is 192 pages, not 224 (the old book is 224). Old book has 24 garages, new 23. The old book is divided into 3 categories: garage as palace, real-world garages and nontraditional garages. The new book is not categorized, but most of the profiled places would probably be considered palaces, with just a few real world types. I haven't counted pictures, but I think the old book has more pictures. It had hardly any pages without at least one pic. The new book seems more focused on fewer, but larger pictures. There are many pages without any pics, with a lot of blank border space that could easily have been arranged to throw in more smaller shots. I found myself wanting some extra views on some garages, like an outside shot or an area that was talked about in the text but not shown. For me, you really can't have too many pictures. So much to see! I do like the stat boxes in the new book showing price to build, square feet, # of cars, etc. I was surprised there was no author's preface explaining the book or the differences with the sequel.

So, while I may have liked the execution of the first book a little better, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fancy garages. And if you like classic cars but never thought about if you like fancy garages, I guarantee that you'll like these garages and if you're like me, it will start you thinking about what you could do with your own garage and relatively tiny budget.

I have read several books on engines and this one is by far one of my treasured favorites. It is very detailed and has loads of information. I personally run one of the largest national remanufactured and used engine companies [...] selling thousands of engines each year.

It is important as a leader in the industry to stay polished on my knowledge of engines, and this book has helped in so many ways. This book would be helpful for car buffs who tool around on the weekends and powerful enough for the nations best mechanics. Well worth the price!!!!

This book contains so much info its unbelievable. Everything is step-by-step and so detailed. This book is a must have!

Freedman's interesting narrative of the Wright brothers portrays them as proper gentlemen who wore suits with bowties even while repairing bicycles in their shop, mechanical geniuses despite being high school dropouts, and totally dedicated to their dream of creating an aeroplane. The photographs in this book were taken by Wilbur and Orville Wright themselves. In addition to being aviators, they had a fascination with photography and converted a backyard shed for processing film. They knew that documenting their progress would be important for future generations.

In this fast-paced book, Freedman makes the long ago brothers seem real. He describes their quirky behaviors and intersperses excerpts from journals and letters written by the Wrights. Freedman demonstrates their tireless perseverance by detailing how trial runs failed again and again. The Wright brothers are truly heroes, worthy subjects for one of Freedman's books. Any student interested in mechanics, inventors, or aviation would enjoy this book.

How They Invented the Airplane is probably the best Wright Brothers biography yet. It's written by my favorite author of the genre, Russell Freedman. (Lincoln: A Photobiography)

The only thing that made the book a little less enjoyable was the lack of information about the childhood of Orville and Wilbur. Also, I found myself asking questions about The Wright's parents and and siblings, who were weakly potrayed in the book Every other bit of information was intact, and the affect was this great book.

I do not own this book but i have read it and it is very informative, has great rare photos! And i learned a lot about the Wright brothers, some things i should have proabably known before...If it weren't for them we would still be on the ground, or at least for a while longer.

Wilbur Wright, the brother with visions, invented the airplane along with Orville Wright, the brother who loved to tinker. Wilbur once said, " My brother Orville and myself lived together, played together and, in fact thought together." Wilbur and Orville persevered in their struggle against Mother Nature, the public opinion, and failed flights and experiments to fulfill their dream of making a flying machine.
This biography tells the story of the lives of the Wright brothers, from the time they were little boys tinkering with toys, to when they finally sold their marvelous invention to the United States government. This book shows how the airplane started out as a glider, then evolved into a plane that stayed in the air for 5 seconds, and finally into a plane that stayed in the air for an hour and 13 minutes. It also explains how getting the government to buy their plane was a difficult task because it had already spent $70,000 on another person who tried to invent the airplane. Luckily, the government said yes after the Wright brothers had built a better plane. This book also contains miraculous pictures of Wilbur and Orville's flights and failures.
I recommend this book to anybody who enjoys biographies or who wants to sit back and relax with a good book. This book is an all around good read but what especially sticks out is that it shows that if you put your mind to something you can always accomplish it, no matter how difficult the task.

I read The Wright Brothers by Russel Freedman. This book describes the lives of our countries aeronautical pioneers,
Wilbur and Orville Wright,and how they invented the first true airplane. From the time they were children, Wilbur and Orville lived together, played together, worked together ,and even thought together. From their tiny bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. to the Kitty Hawk Island sand dunes. These two men defied known ideas about flight and built their own self-propelled craft that soared them to fame. Even today, a little over a hundred years after their first self-propelled manned flight, these two men are remembered for their courage. I would recomend this book to anyone interested in either the Wright Brothers or the history of flight in general. If it were not for these two, man would not have gotten of the ground!

The title should read :- "Plug-in Hybrids; the Cars that will Transport the World". Sherry Boschert has done a wonderful job in drawing all the pieces together. It is a "must read" for those who have an interest in our transport future. I sincerely hope that by the year 2012, it will be completely implemented. However, I feel that the automobile industry and the oil companies will both fight very strongly, against the adoption of PHEV's. Also, the Governments of the world, will not be sufficiently forceful, to demand, that the automobile manufacturers produce quality PHEV's. They are our only answer, to vehicle pollution of our planet.

I like this printer cartridge, I think it actually prints better than the original. I was not sure it was going to fit, it looked different from the original cartridge. When I inserted it it locked right into place.
Definitely would recommend these, and will probably buy another one to keep as a spare.

This book exposes American car companies indifference towards environment and national energy security. A must read for every American who cares about environment and terrorism.

This book gives an unbiased view of what our options are as Americans on reducing and virtually eliminating our dependence on foreign oil. It also gives the pros and cons of alternative fuel sources as well as the great advantage of plug in hybrids over hybrids currently being sold.

Chelsea Sexton: "The EV1 caught the eye of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a regulatory body searching for ways to meet the states Clean Air Act and clear its smoggy skies". Sep 1990, CARB mandated if companies wanted to do business in California, they had to produce a percentage of zero emission vehicles: 1998 - 2%, 2001 - 5%, and 2003 - 10%. "The Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate might as well have been a kiss of death for the EV1." Automotive News in 1998 figured GM spent $350 million for the EV1 development. People outside GM believe the company spent $600 million on its multi-year lobbying and public relations campaign to kill the ZEV Mandate. In late 2001, GM and Chrysler sued Calfornia to block the ZEV mandate. By 2005, of the 800 EV1 available for public lease, all but 78 were hauled off to Arizona and crushed. By 2003, ZEV Mandate "gave automakers the option of meeting requirements by making a handful of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for demonstration purposes". "CARB went along with the hydrogen scenario, even though this technology would not be usable for decades, if ever." "In 2001, CARB had created a new category, alternative technology partial zero-emission vehicles, to give extra credit to hybrids and especially plug-in hybrids with a 20-mile all-electric range." In 2003, the range was reduced to 10 miles. CARB stated, "We believe that they are accelerating our progress toward our ultimate goal, which is zero-emission vehicles. We're particularly happy with how this AT-PZEV portion of our regulation has worked out." After AT-PZEZ, 2003, GM and other automakes officially canceled their electric-car programs.

The ZEV mandate ensured tought competition, a new kind of vehicle, and historical resistence to change. GM and other automakers went to work to meet California's ZEV Mandate. "Seven major car companies each signed an individual Memorandum of Agreement with CARB to produce a small number of electric vehicles by 200 as a demonstration of their viability, and to make ZEV's 10% of sales in 2003."

GM initiality built 660 lead-acide battery packs with a 70 to 90 mile range per charge In 1999 GM release the last 182 EV1s which used the Nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) battery with a range of 140 miles. GM was in a financial slump and looked to cut costs. "It abandoned the EV1 and bought the hummer brand and started to ramp up it's marketing of the most wasteful car in history." The EV1 waiting list grew to 5,000 names. GM said it would restart production of the EV1, if there was enough customer demand. Other prototype versions of the EV1 were created but not marketed, including a plugin hybrid version.

The hybrid and electric car could lose out to the new "Air Car". The MDI Engine is more efficient, with a different configuration that allows pressure to build in the piston producing better torque. Four horizontal piston turn the camshaft. The vehicle runs on compressed air stored in a carbon fiber tank. The air can be compressed from home in a four hour recharge cycle or on the road using a gas powered compressor. 6000 ZEVs are scheduled to hit the streets of India in 2008. Tata has indicated that they will build the Air car. The air car solves the problem of energy storage, no batteries required. The air refuel stations run on electricity meaning no transportation of energy required. Recharging air reserves is off the electrical grid. The car will be light (simple and small engine less steel), so stronger nanotechnology materials will be required. The air energy usage is very efficient.

India and China will push the Air car technology into a feasible and desired market opportunity. The low cost will apply to the vast number of comuters that travel less than a 100 miles a day.

America could transform automobiles like they did computer technology creating a doubling of computational power every 18 months and doubling information every nine months which created more value for less money. IBM next generation of computer architecture could move computation towards artifical neocortex machines, another leap forward. Automobile value has been noncompetitive and for this reason the price remains high for the value. However, India and China competition will bring new levels of innovation and value to the market.

People want cheap fuel alternatives. The automotive company that provides increase comfort and power with a every decreasing fuel cost will penetrate the market and gain market share. The cell phone replaced the land line telephone; the Voip replace both; the iPhone combined music, media, and phone together in device function within a emerging network. The automobile will become an appliance, it is inevitable. The applicance could run on air or electricity. The market will follow the path of lest resistence. Air cars have less waste problems and disposal of the car include recycling the materials used in the car.

MiniCat: Compress Air recharge from an air-station will be 3 mins. The cost of the vehicle will range between $12,000 to $16,000; 800 miles with dual energy - air and gas.

CityCat: will sale for $13k running at speeds of 68 mph and maintaining a range of 125 miles. MDI says it will cost about $2 to fill the carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi.

City bus: MDI uses the CAT's Series 34 moto-compressors/moto-alternators which are safe and powerful; the compressed air be used to power the alternator and produce 10-20kW of electricity.


Hybrids Case:

LA 301: produced by Clean Air Transport, four seater, 57 hp electric motor, 18kwh of batteries, 650 cc internal combustion engine, and 7 gallon gasoline tank with a range of 150 miles.

In 2006, Tien Doung said, "We changed, a plug-in hybrid is the most viable technology."

DOE futurecar challenge proved that a ford Taurus could replace the 140 hp engine, 3,000-cc, 6-cylinder with a 3 cylinder, 660 cc motor combined with a 100 hp electric motor. The Taurus accelerated from 0-60 in 10 seconds and had 15% less moving parts. "To cruise at 80 miles per hour on highways only requires about 40 hp in an engine, most cars carry around 250-300 hp." The electric motor provides the performance and acceleration and the gasoline engine provides the steady-state load for the greatest efficiency.

The Volvo HEV98 combined an electric drivetrain with a three-cylinder piston engine. Ford buys Volve and the parallel hydrid drivetrain was applied in Ford's first hydrid SUV, the Escape hybrid.

"President Lyndon Johson slapped a 25% tax on all imported light trucks in 1964 to retail against Europe for restricting imports of frozen chickens from the United States. US automakers exploited that advantage and began advertising their trucks and utility vehicles to all drivers." "Congress exempted light trucks from the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act that set fuel economy standards." "The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 allowed light trucks to emit tow to five times as much pollutants compared with cars." By 1998, 47% of the vehicles sold in the US were SUVs and light trucks. "Truck sales accounted for $4 billion of Ford's record $6.5 billion in profits in 1997".

In 2000, Andrew Frank converted a Chevrolet Suburban to a plug-in hybrid increasing mileage from 15 mpg to 29 mpg. The suburban hybrid included a DC brushless electric motor on the front wheels making it four wheel drive, a 1.9 Liter gasoline engine, and the ability to run on electricity for 60 miles tapping 29kwh NiMH battery pack before relying on gasoline. The hybrid suburban had less emission than an Honda Insight on trips of 87 miles or less. Frank also converted a 330 hp Ford Explorer using a 1.9 liter Saturn engine, 75 kwh electric motor, and weighted with batteries 4,500 pounds and remove tailgate and seats yielding the same weight as the original.

Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) converted a 1998 Prius putting in 5 kwh Ovonic NiMH batteries, 20 AH, tripling the power and energy with a 20% increase in weight. The prius could travel 20 miles on electric only and 70-80 miles per gallon of gasoline.

AC Propulsion built a plug-in hybrid Jetta that had an all electric range of 30 miles and improved efficiency, 27 mpg city, and 34 mpg highway with a 560 miles per tank range.

"Calcar and EnergyCS estimate that plug-in hybrid would sell for $3,000 more than a hybrid or $5000 more than a non hybrid car if mass-produced by a major automaker."

Good for someone how is starting their own business, if you deal with your own company, is more of what already you do.

I purchased this book because I am interested in starting my own Freight Brokerage Business. In order to start your own brokerage company you "must" already know how to broker freight. What I am looking for is detailed information about where to start and everything that is needed to startup. This book just gives a "very simple" explanation about how you broker freight. This was a total waste of my money!!!! I have been in the trucking business for 21 yrs and have brokered freight for about 8 years so I already know in general what needs to be done. I need a book that is much much more informative about HOW TO START A FREIGHT BROKERAGE!!!

This book completely oversimplifies almost every aspect of brokering frieght. It has a few good tips, that's about it.

YeeHaw! Well, this book is just plain entertaining to read, not to mention full of little tricks that get more engine HP within any given set of racing "rules".

What I like best about Smokey is his attitude about the race itself, and about the rulebook.

"If it aint written in the rules, then I figure it must be legal."

That phrase encapsulates much of Smokey's life and adventures in stock car racing, engine building and racing in general. You gotta love his enginuity (typo on purpose).

If you want to get a better feel for what it really takes to build winning race cars, this book is for you!

Warning, not for the faint of heart!

Gene

My nieghbor races a stock car and Smokey is his idol. If you want to learn so hot rod tricks from an icon get this book.

I bought this book for a friend on mine for christmas this past year. He absolutely loved it. It'a imformative and actually keeps you interested which is a change from most how to books.

Smokey Yunick was a legend in the USA and this book shows why.For those interested in modifications to any engine this book will please most people.There's a lot of information in this book and its good value too.Definitely a must have book.

Smokey Yunick's Power Secrets was a very informative read about a true legend of the United States. It has helped me to modify smaller applications due to my low funds. I have built the best that I can with the money that I have, and I feel proud to carry down the legacy. I learned alot about my passion in this book and I liked it alot.

Luke Lundy, 9A, 4th period

Dreaming about converting your garage into a motorcycle workshop. Then this book is for you.

Although I have been around motorcycles for almost 40 years, I never really had an organized place to work in. Having recently aquired a small garage, How to Set Up Your Motorcycle Workshop had some great ideas about organization, logical placement of tools, workbench, etc, to save time and energy. I also liked the chapter devoted to lighting, something definitely lacking in a lot of shops I have been in. All in all it will get you off to a good start, the rest is up to you!

This book shows, not only how to set up a small hobby shop (my goal), but also a medium to large shop for the professional. The need for maximum utilization of space as well as work flow are covered in depth. Anyone wanting an efficient and enjoyable shop will want this book.

Like D. Conyer, I don't understand the point of the review based on color vs b&w photographs. This book delivers exactly what the title promises, and includes advice for all levels of bike mechanics and all sizes of available work space. As someone who is limited to "his half of the garage", I appreciate this approach. Highly recommended!

This book contains good, detailed information from an expert mechanic on setting up your bike shop. It's not an "overview," it's a detailed guide. I know because I recently set up a commercial shop using this book.

The sections on lighting and shop layout gave me a much better sense of how much space I needed. Turns out I needed less than I thought, so that saved me considerable $$$.

Rating this book one star because you didn't get color pictures of screwdrivers and shop layouts is ridiculous. If you want color pictures, buy Life magazine. If you want to learn how to set up a motorcycle shop the right way, buy this book.

I ended up replacing the water pump before I got rid of this truck and the diagrams and directions in the manual got me through it with minimal headaches. Now if I could just afford to buy all the tools needed!

A more comprehensive repair book than a Haynes Manual. Written by the Haynes
people anyway.

I have a Chilton's manual that I bought when I had my old mustang. It covers '87-93 Mustangs and was an INVALUABLE resource when I had that car. In fact, I continue to reference it frequently when I'm doing work on my '87 Thunderbird, because it's based off the same chassis and many things are similar. I bought a Hayne's manual for my Thunderbird and I hated it, so I went back to the Chilton's for most reference.

So, when I bought my '94 F-250 diesel, I figured a Chilton's would be a good investment.

Boy was I wrong!

For starters, my truck is a 7.3L IDI Turbo diesel, which was produced in '93 and '94. There is not even a MENTION of this engine in this book. It jumps straight from the naturally aspirated 6.9/7.3 IDI, to the Powerstroke. Now, granted, the Turbo IDI is pretty similar to the n/a IDI, but some mention of the turbo system or something would have been nice.

From there it gets worse. I can't believe the amount of detail that is nowhere to be found in this book. As another reviewer mentioned, this thing completely omits anything about the fuel filters on the IDI engines. Then, later on in the book, it skips over many other topics. It describes how to remove the instrument cluster, but doesn't specify which model year it's talking about, and includes several unnecessary steps while leaving out necessary ones (I removed mine with help from some folks on a message board). No instructions on how to remove the headlights or marker lights are present anywhere in this book...only how to change the headlight bulbs. The exploded assembly diagram for the 4WD front suspension is smaller than a 3x5 index card and it's impossible to make out any detail. Things like this should have at least half a page dedicated to them! And that's just what came across for things I've been trying to do on my truck so far.

I don't even understand how you could produce a repair manual that was lacking this many important details.

Chiltons books used to help me rebuild engines, transmissions, axles and more. They were very detailed and helpful. When I opened this one to try to troubleshoot the transmission, it says the only thing I am smart enough to do is check the fluid level. Beyond that, I need to go to a mechanic.

Somewhere along the line, Chiltons has become completely worthless. I'm not wasting my time or money on them anymore.

I purchased this book to find out how to repair the heater and change the fuel filter on my 1990 diesel F250. It offered no help on either. Trees have fallen in the forest for no good reason.