It tells you how the car works, but not really. It is for beginners trying to get learn something in autoshop, or learning about it in college and have no idea, or any idea about a car. If all you know about a car is how to drive it then this book is good to get, as a stepping stone.

The publisher's blurb on Amazon here is a bit vague on what this book is actually designed to do. I wish they'd published the author's quote on the Amazon description that they printed on the back of the book. It would have been a clue to me not to buy it (so perhaps that is why they didn't include it). So, I'll type it here for those who may also find it a useful clue:

"When I opened my tutoring center I couldn't find enough reading material for my teenage students, especially the boys. So I started writing short descriptions about car parts aimed at improving reading comprehension. I used simple drawings to help students visualize and associate the car parts with words. Eventually I had enough material for a a complete car book and... well... this is it!"

Having read that on the back, I thought, "Well, of course. This book does read just like a collection of definitions for a juvenile mind that doesn't want to learn as much as skim a concept."

When I got this book, I was hoping for a quick overview of the car. A quick read to look at to gain background understanding before jumping into more complicated books, since I know nothing about cars. It didn't help me much.

Yes, it's a quick read, but it's over-simplified. It's like reading a dictionary without seeing the words in context and hoping to retain the words you learn as useful vocabulary. Or it's like reading only the chapter summaries of a text book which are geared not to help you learn the concept, but to jog your memory after you've read the full material and understand it.

Generally, I have no difficulty absorbing technical information, but this book doesn't give you the full context to grasp the concepts behind the list of "car parts". I plan to keep this book in my library as a quick reference dictionary of sorts, but in retrospect, I wish I had not purchased it. It is badly overpriced and not much use for a novice looking for a cohesive understanding of cars.

My grandson is interested in cars & such so I thought he'd like to know what makes them tick. He started high school so this should help.

The information was clear and informative. I am glad I bought it. The order also arrived in timely fasion.

I like the simplicity of How Cars Work. It has helped me communicate with my auto mechanic and has allowed me to make easy repairs and save money too. I've also been able to diagnose brake problems before they got out of hand.

This book lists all the main parts found in a car, provides a diagram of that component and a one page write up. There are some 200+ pages in the book. I have not read the book. This book is not very technical. I purchased the book as a gift for a relative of mine, who was interested in knowing a little about cars. This book does not get into details of the internal combustion engine, the four stroke cycle, the starting/charging systems, electrical systems, transmissions etc. For example, it will probably list one page about the alternator, show a diagram and mention about its basic functionality.

This book is good for someone who is seeking just an overview of car parts.

I changed jobs and became a parts delivery person. The knowledge I have received from the book as helped me in knowing what my customers are talking about and thus can relate messages to the sales staff. For my job and personally, I like knowing what the function of the parts are and where they are located. I am so glad to have the book. It was well written and made learning easy.

I changed jobs and became a parts delivery person. The knowledge I have received from the book as helped me in knowing what my customers are talking about and thus can relate messages to the sales staff. For my job and personally, I like knowing what the function of the parts are and where they are located. I am so glad to have the book. It was well written and made learning easy.

The diagrams in the book where nice, but man this guy isn't an author. You can tell he knows what he is talking about but he just uses a lot of lingo. Thankfully, there is a glossary, but it takes too long to look up every word. He just tells you the different parts in mechanisms. He doesn't really explain how anything works. By the way, he has like 5 nicknames for every part. If you are a beginner too complex, if your an expert you probably know this stuff. If you have the money and your an amateur go ahead. If none of the above I wouldn't suggest this book.

The author is an owner and operator of a tutoring center. He is not an expert in auto mechanics. As he points out on the back cover the pictures and the concepts were for teenage boys and the accompanying graphics are of poor quality.

If you actually want to learn anything substative of autos this is a poor poor choice. You are better of visiting the automotive section of www.howstuffworks.com or some similar website to learn more with better graphics and for free.

I bought this book long time ago and finally had the time to look at it and I regret it.

I have always wanted to getting learn more about how a car works but never could find a reliable source of information that put the whole picture together. If you already know the basics of how a combustible engine works and how the basic systems of a car work such as steering, brakes, etc, then you don't need this really basic guide. But if you are like me and needed a place to get started at the beginning then this book will be a real enlightening experience.

This book was a joy to find and read. I have always wanted to getting started learning about how a car works but never could find a reliable source of information that put the whole picture together. If you already know the basics of how a combustible engine works and how the basic systems of a car work such as steering, brakes, etc, then you don't need this really basic guide. But if you are like me and needed a place to get started at the beginning then this book will be a real enlightening and encouraging experience.

For a non-mechanic, this book gives the simplest guide to understanding how cars work with excellent illustrations. The book is broken down into short sections giving you a very basic understanding of the engine to the electrical to all parts of a car. The book covers it all. The language is very simple as it breaks down the various car parts into understandable terminology and by the end if you didn't know what "twin cams" mean, you will now. You won't be able to rebuild a car after but that's not the purpose. For a mechanic it may seem like a comic book but for the uninformed its very enlightening.

For a non-mechanic, this book gives the simplest guide to understanding how cars work with excellent illustrations. The book is broken down into short sections giving you a very basic understanding of the engine to the electrical to all parts of a car. The book covers it all. The language is very simple as it breaks down the various car parts into understandable terminology and by the end if you didn't know what "twin cams" mean, you will now. You won't be able to rebuild a car after but that's not the purpose. For a mechanic it may seem like a comic book but for the uninformed its very enlightening.

If you or someone you know needs to learn the basics about cars, you need two books: How Cars Work and Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care. Both are great gifts for new drivers. I purchase How Cars Work and Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care for my nieces and nephews when they turn 16. Being an automobile technician, I think everyone that drives cars should know a little about them. How Cars Work does a great job using drawings to show car parts and what they do. Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care uses actual photos to show parts. Auto Upkeep also explains how to buy a car and choose automobile insurance. How Cars Work includes a worksheet for review at the end of each chapter, while Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care has a CD with review activities and internet links.

I saw this book on my friends front room table and I was so impressed with the cover I had to open the book. Wow, what a book, I was overwhelmed by all the information pictures and words that I had heard but never understood. As I read through it, I knew I had to have it. I went out and bought three of them and gave one to my friends daughter who is 15 and eager to drive. I never had a book like this when I was growing -up and I think this is important info for anyone who doesn't know anything about cars. Terrific book! Buy it and you will see how helpful it could be for everyone in the family. Thanks for writing this book.

I was planning to perform all the maintenance work on my 2 cars, an Audi S4 and a Honda CR-V. I have done oil changes and air filter changes in the past but I wanted to do more. I bought this book and the "Auto Repairs for Dummies" book in addition to the specific service manuals for the 2 cars. This book gives very very brief explanations with big text fonts and big pictures (not much meat) of how things work so don't hope to perform any actual work by following the book. If you just want to know how cars work and don't wish to perform any actual work then this book may be is for you. I highly recommend the dummy book and forget about this book if you do plan to perform work on your car. The dummy book has a lot more details and it actually shows you how to do the work. I often turned to the dummy book when the service manuals are not explaining things in detail.

I consider this book is a "must have" for anyone except perhaps auto technicians. I am a novice when it comes to car parts. I heard of or knew of (or I think I knew) terms like "Front Wheel Drive", "Rear Wheel Drive", and many other common car terms but I can't tell them when I check my car. But after only a few hours reading on this book, all these common car terms in my brain and their inner relateness begin to fall into their rightful places. THIS BOOK IS THAT GOOD.

What make this book stand out are :

1. The authur strived for clarity while not skimp on details either. The writing is in clear, concise, to the point fashion that leaves no ambiguity but contains enough details to out-content many 300+ page auto books (It must be a fashion these days. I found many such thick books wasted much of their contents on third-rate humors /jokes I found annoying while wasted rest of their contents on ambiguous, not to the point technical writing. To those authors, I will say : PLEASE, either be a stand up comedian or a technical writer, but not BOTH. If you do both, you will fail at both).

2. Detailed illustrations. Almost 50% of this book is devoted to detailed illustrations. Each page deals with a specific car part (be it crankshaft, fuel pump, timing chain, or else) - half of that page is technical writing, another half is detailed illustration. The illustration is not just for that specific part alone. It also illustrates other related parts in the same subsystem so you understand how the part works within the group that it belongs.

The book comes in 96 pages but in generous 8.5 inches x 11 inches size. That's how such detailed illustration is able to fit into half of page. Another thing I like is that the pages are made of high grade, pure-white (not tinted, or neutral colors) paper. Very few books these days are made from such good papers.

A GOOD BASIC OVERVIEW OF HOW A CAR WORKS, NICE TO HAVE FOR REVIEW.

This book is intended for the individual who knows very little to nothing about auto mechanics. Each page covers one specific aspect of how a vehicle operates with a short and simple explanation accompanied with large and detailed diagrams. There are seven chapters over the seven most essential automotive systems with a brief test at the end of each. One cannot rebuild a car after reading through this book, but what it does give is an overall knowledge of how a car works. The reader will gain the knowledge to understand what is going on in a mechanic's shop and to better maintain his or her own vehicle. This book is not for someone who already knows the basics of or has worked on automotive systems. However, it is excellent for anyone who has never picked up a wrench or wants a brief introduction to the subject.

This book contains very basic material on the operation of the car; it appears to be a decent read for teenagers looking to grasp the basic; but the more mature readers will find this very shallow. The text contains the fundaments of auto mechanics; it is split into seven chapters; and each chapter describes a major automotive system. It has a test section at the end of each chapter to gauge how much you have learned. This book does not cover details on 2-stroke or 4-stroke engines; how the engine starts spinning after turning the ignition etc.

I must admit that it was enertaining reading this books with all the descriptive pictures.

I was looking for something that covered the basic car and this was perfect. It even has a test at the end of each chapter so you can see how you are doing. Recognizing that cars are complex, the author does a great job of simplifying and making good use of pictures of car parts. If you have an interest in learning about cars, this book would be a great place to start.

This is a very good book for beginners. The book is broken down into general sections (body, electrical, engine, etc), and typically each page has a drawing and about half a page of text. While some people have mentioned this book is good for juveniles, this is also a great book for adults who don't know much about cars - you'll get good information on the basics without being overwhelmed by details. You can always get a more detailed book if you like this one, but this is good enough to let you speak intelligently with your mechanic. The only complaint I have is that some of the drawings seem slightly amateurish, but they do seem accurate. This is a very small complaint, other than that, great book!

My sons are Avery (5), and Ethan (3). One unusually warm day in late fall we were walking past a neighbor's house and saw a few kids gathered around a huge fire truck engine. This neighbor is a volunteer fireman, and this engine looked newly painted. We go to take a closer look and Avery says "look Dad, the crankshaft". A moment later Ethan identifies the crescent moon shape of the top of the combustion chamber where the gas burns (his exact words escape me, but he indentified the area and function, perhaps with my prompting). We had been reading and re-reading the first few pages for a week or so prior. Beaming with pride I considered sending the author a blank check, then realized he would ask me to sign it..since I was (and still am) unemployed, I thought the better of it. But the sentiment was there. I found the book on the internet because Avery had taken to asking me how cars work whenever we drove in our van. My answers were shallow, meaningless, and likely very incorrect.
I had to do something.

We never finished the book together, and lately they have been asking for it again. I have nearly completed it. When it comes to car repairs, I have been taken to the cleaners so many times that I may not even have to shower anymore. Had I read this book much earlier in my life, I would have had the confidence to at least question some repair charges. This alone makes it worth its weight in precious metals. In truth, I am a mechanical idiot. If this book can assist my young sons and me in understanding how the engine works with the crankshaft to get the wheels moving, likely it will help others too.

I could have (and maybe should have) just said 'buy the book, you won't regret it. So doit. AND, if Tom ever offers a CD of his jazz guitar playing, I promise I won't write any more verbose reviews. I'll probably be too busy stealing his licks.

S-

Kids love cars, and kids will love this book because it explains in a straightforward manner exactly how cars work. The book divides the automobile into systems and describes each system in detail. The drawings are excellent. Knowing how cars work helps young drivers become better drivers, and mechanical knowledge helps all drivers understand their machines when something goes wrong. I give a copy to every young person I know when he or she first gets a driver's license.

How Cars Works is refined simplicity. I work for a major Auto Parts chain and when I get new employees, the first day they read this book. Just from two hours, an average "Joe" off the street can get the feel for how a car works. This book is well illustrated to fit the text. Granted, this book does not go deep into any specifics, but gives general information on all subjects such as Engine (top and bottom end), brakes, cooling system, chassis, and much more. I would recommend this book to any new drivers as well as anyone wanting to know more about cars.

As an automotive enthusiast, I'm often called upon to describe the mechanical inner workings of cars. Newton's book takes on some very complex automotive relationships, but expresses them in a way that is clear, even for the uninitiated. It's a great family reference book that should be kept nearby, especially for those who have teenagers of driving ages. The book helps to underscore the importance (and necessity) of maintaining such mundane tasks as checking and refilling the engine oil. A volume II would be nice for the computer controlled functions in a car such as tuned-port injection, speed density and mass air flow systems. Keep up the good work, Newton.

Up till now I was completely clueless when someone would talk to me about cars. When I got this book I was disapointed about it's size. After reading it though, I was amazed that I could learn that much in a 96 page book. This is the only book about cars that I could find that covered the basics of everything! It's a must if you don't know anything about cars but wish you did!

I found this book to be an excellent explination of all facets of the automobile. Even very difficult subjects such as how limited slip differentials work or how the various components of a suspension act together were very clearly explained. Each subject has very straight forward illustrations which support the text. All in all, it's the best explination of how cars work that I've seen. This would be great for every new driver.