Skip to main content

Car Science: an Under-the-Hood, Behind-the-Dash Look at How Cars Work

By

CAR SCIENCE: AN UNDER-THE-HOOD, BEHIND-THE-DASH LOOK AT HOW CARS WORK; Richard Hammond; New York: Dorling-Kindersley, 2008. 96pgs. Non-fiction.
Motorheads old and young, large and small should be enthralled with Hammond's take on everything automotive in this new release. Dorling-Kindersley's trademark illustrations draw the reader in to Richard Hammond's fascinating text which starts at the very beginning ("The history of the car is really the history of fuel.") I always thought I knew why horsepower is called horsepower, but in these pages we discover that when James Watt introduced the comparison, he was measuring the amount of coal mine ponies could pull one hundred feet up a mineshaft in one minute. Estimating that horses are 50% more powerful than ponies, he settled on 33,000 pound-feet per minute as equaling one horsepower. In fact, horses can't pull twice as much as ponies, so "a real horse only has 0.7 horsepower." But I digress. Divided into sections on Power, Speed, Handling, and Technology, Car Science will keep the Gyro Gearlooses up to their greasy little elbows in pure pleasure, for hours on end.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Library in the Woods

By
  The Library in the Woods Written by Calvin Alexander Ramsey Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Books, 2025. Picture Book. I am always intrigued by picture books that tell stories from the past in beautiful and meaningful ways, leaving the reader educated, and also hopeful and inspired. This book definitely did that for me! The cover is a beautiful peek into the story waiting on the pages. Junior and his family have lived on a farm that is having a hard time producing what it needs to for the family to survive economically. The parents make the hard decision to move away from the farm and into the city. Junior misses a lot of things about his life in the country. However, when Junior's friends tell him about a library in the woods, things change for him in the best way! He is amazed by the seemingly endless collection of books, and is eager to check some out for his family. Junior excitedly borrows a few books, including one about a farmer for his dad ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Tumblebaby

By
Tumblebaby Written by Adam Rex Illustrated by Audrey Helen Weber New York : Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, 2024. Picture book. I love a funky picture book. Slumbering Tumblebaby rolls out the door and into a wonderfully meandering yarn, thwarting scoundrels and coyotes, scaling unclimbable mountains, and even building a community center in Colorado City. Adam Rex's text reads like a folksy tall tale, punctuated by funny lines and rhyming chants.  Weber's colorful, round illustrations feel a little Fauvist, a little cubist. It's a sort of "Oh, The Places You'll Go!"  but in reverse - we learn in the last few pages that, in fact, that baby was YOU! This revelation made my young son gasp, which made me choke up.  Tumblebaby is a surreal delight perfect for reading together. 
Post a Comment
Read more