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Rating: 
Summary: IloveitIloveitIloveit
Review: "Car Smarts" changed my relationship with my cars - present and past. I used to automatically blame my ex husband for anything & everything that went wrong in my auto department. Men were responsible! But now that I'm gently and humorously enlightened by Ms. Jackson, everything is running much more smoothly. The book is totally entertaining and very readable. The Money-Saving Tips throughout the book are really great! I actually diagnosed a CV joint problem and was able to have an informed, adult conversation with my mechanic. Don't know who was more surprised! I've given the book to both my daughters and highly recommend it. I really don't give a hoot about what goes on under the hood - but "Car Smarts" taught me that it's better to know than depend on an ex husband. I laughed all the way through it. My tattered copy now lives in my smooth running car.
Rating:
Summary: Every Woman's Reference Book
Review: I never thought reading a book about car mechanics could actually be interesting! But since cars are an integral part of our lives, it behooves us to understand them better (just like relationships)! Anyway, Mary Jackson does a great job of making this an easy read, with fun graphics and analogies to help us better understand the workings of the automobile.
Rating:
Summary: Humorous and helpful
Review: Reading this extremely helpful and sage guide to automotive understanding, I wondered: Is there any machine in our lives on which we depend more, and about which we know less? My relation with cars has long been superficial: the key, the radio dial, the window, the seat belt. Jackson's humorous and knowledgeable book gives us non-mechanical types a look under the hood. Ingeniously, she develops the analogy of the human body; cars, like our bodies, require regular maintenance, fluids, are sensitive to environment, etc. Buy this book: your car (and your checking account) will thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Transform yourself to a 'real' car owner
Review: This book is great. It covers all the main points with money saving tips. This book has it all and it explains it in a very easy no fuss way with hundreds of diagrams.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for Beginners
Review: This book is great. It covers all the main points with money saving tips. This book has it all and it explains it in a very easy no fuss way with hundreds of diagrams.
Rating:
Summary: Transform yourself to a 'real' car owner
Review: What I like most about this book is the simple, direct, logical presentation style of the author. The explanation method always starts with a simplified reference to a human body, then a direct comparison with the actual car part. So you could analogically grasp how the part works and deduce logically on how to take care of that part or how to deal with the associated problems.
Aside from that this book also explains very well the necessary terms such as tire size/codes, the meaning of 15W40 for the car oil, etc.
With all of that, this book does not make you a car genius, but you would be far from giving your car technician a zero-knowledge customer impression.
The downside: the troubleshooting section at the end of each chapter is probably better off left out as it's very general and of little value. A better approach would be to incorporate them as examples, with logical guidance on solving the problem.
This book is a good starting material for people who has zero background in automobiles (most of us are, including myself), it would not, however, be comprehensive enough for people who has strong interest in cars.
I would love to see a second series by the same author for readers who graduated from her current book.
Rating:
Summary: Exactly what I was looking for. Great book.
Review: When I decided I wanted to learn a little bit more about what makes my car tick, and perhaps find out on my own what that annoying (and fairly bad sounding) whir was, I decided to check online for a few introductive books. This was the best one I found. It explained everything in a very intuitive and helpful manner. I recommend it to anyone curious about what their amazing automobile really is, and why it took so long for them to come about. Yes, they're pretty complicated, but a whole lot of fun when you figure them out.
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