You wouldn’t dream of repairing your own car, but knowing how it’s transmission, brakes and other systems work can save you time and money!
“The Greaseless Guide to Car Care” provides you with the answers to all of your car care questions.
What regular maintenance do my car’s systems require?How can I avoid unnecessary wear and tear on my vehicle?
How can I choose a good mechanic?How can I intelligently discuss mechanical problems and service needs with my mechanic?How can I make the right choices when buying a car?
How can I save money on all aspects of car care using Mary Jackson’s money saving tips in each chapter?
This book is virtually identical, word-for-word and illustration-for-illustration, with “The Greaseless Guide to Car Care” by the same author. This is not stated anywhere, which leads me to conclude I should look elsewhere for consumer advice on cars.
Mary Jackson is within her rights as an author to update her book, change the title and the covers, etc., but she has a responsibility to inform her customers. She in fact withholds vital information about her product, a complaint often leveled at the auto repair industry.
The irony is that I bought these books to avoid being ripped off.
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.
I was looking for a simple, “how to” book to give to my teen aged grandson in order to help him be a better, safer car owner.
I have been the resident car expert most of my adult life. As a former automobile dealer, race car driver, race car builder and currently a racing instructor (part-time) for the National Auto Sport Assn. (NASA), I am used to being called upon for any and all questions pertaining to cars. Fortunately, the love affair with these machines still burns brightly and I enjoy the questions and discussions. Unfortunately, the car loving genes did not pass on to my Grandson or my Daughter. His “car smarts” consists of starting the motor and driving. Bright though he is, he has not learned to buy gas, wash the heap or even lock the doors. When it breaks, he calls for his mom or me. I live in another city and can only advise him by long distance.
I thought, “maybe if the kid knew a little more about cars and understood a little preventative maintenance, the heap might run with a little more regularity. I finally choose “Car Smarts” because it was simple yet comprehensive but entertaining and funny, thus a better chance that I might coerce him to actually read it. Guess what? I ended up reading it cover to cover and I enjoyed it more that I imagined. There were actually a couple of points that I actually learned myself. Who would have believed? This book should be mandatory reading for every drivers license applicant in the US. I would recommend it a textbook for a high school Drivers Ed course. Five stars to mary Jackson. Don Sutton
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.
Car smarts is good to understand the basic principles how a car works, but it touched too less in topics such as “How to check / repair by yourself” and “What tools you should buy”. I read “auto repair for dummies” few years ago, it did better in this sense.
THANK GOD somebody finally published this book! It COMPLETELY DEMYSTIFIES the automobile, teaching you everything all drivers should know and few do (why isn’t this stuff taught in Driver’s Ed instead of what to do at a Stop Sign?)
It uses cartoon illustrations to show how individual systems in the car work. It also provides charts and checklists to help you troubleshoot for yourself what is wrong with your own car based on certain symptoms. It is easy to understand. When you’re done reading this book you will feel much more confident dealing to the people who service your car.
There are not only chapters on how your car works and how to take car of your car, but also how to buy and lease a car and how to choose and deal with service providers.
The book was written by a woman who used to feel as clueless as me about cars, so she became a mechanic.
“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.
Author has done an excellent job in covering the basic workings of a car. As the title states it’s a guide to ‘understanding your car’ and NOT repairing your car. A basic understanding of how cars work is necessary before one wants to repair or maintain his/her car.
Mary Jackson’s Car Smarts provided a very in depth, easy to read summary of cars and how they work. I actually bought this book in conjunction with Tom Newton’s How Cars Work and I am extremely glad I bought Jackson’s as well because How Cars Work does not adequately explain the process of how cars actually work! (I ended up using it as a reference after reading Car Smarts). Car Smarts, however, inundates the reader with information in a manner that allows the reader, who – like myself – is probably fairly ignorant when it comes to the mechanical operations of a car, to learn and associate the workings of the car to the workings of the human body. Now when I think of pistons, I can picture a person’s legs pushing down on a bike to create motion. And when reading Motor Trend or Automobile Magazine I actually know what DOHC and an “inline six” on a BMW means. Great book – highly recommended.
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.