Maintenance

This book is great. I wanted to add memory to my tower: it had diagrams and talked me right through it. There are good tips in the margins on computer repair, and it is also easy to navigate with a clearly organized Table of Contents and Index. I was able to find answers immediately to my questions to get the job done. I looked at quite a few on-line when I was thinking about doing repairs myself and this book truly worked miracles for me. I highly recommend it for everything you want to do on your home computer!!!

Do you know whether to buy SRAM, EDO RAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM or SLDRAM?

Do you know the difference in IDE, EIDE, and SCSI?

Do you really know whether it's worth forking out your hard-earned cash at this stage for a DVD drive?

Okay, Okay, of course you do! But until I'd read this book I didn't. Don't let the title put you off. If you are an "Absolute Beginner" then this book is for you, but you would have to be pretty high up the PC Knowledge food chain not to pick up at least half a dozen absolute gems of information.

Like most of us I plough my way through the magazines, e-zines, etc. looking for the pearls of wisdom that will make my system bigger, better, faster and tuned to that peak of perfection. Then I do nothing. This is usually because I have either lost the cuttings or I have lost my nerve.

The first time you "open the box" it is a fearful sight, full of wires and ...er, whatever they are. With this book by your side, they all make sense. Every card, slot, socket, port, chipset...(think of any widget you want!)... is fully explained.

If your question is anywhere between "What is a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive, do I need one and how do I add/change it?" to "What is everything I need to know to be able to build a PC from scratch?" then the answer is in this book.

The authors certainly don't talk down to you, but somehow they have managed to crack that difficult of problem of writing in a style that makes a potentially complex subject seem easy. They actually make you feel that they have written the book specifically with you in mind, and if things do get tough, there are lots of sidebars and an excellent glossary and index to fall back on.

Even if your idea of an "upgrade" is to add a printer or plug in some speakers - it's in the book. Too simple? You want to be at the leading edge and flash the BIOS - it's in the book.

On the other hand, maybe you're not sure whether to take any risks at all, and another thing, is it worth it? Should you just buy a new system? The authors have covered that too - if it's not worth upgrading then that's what they'll tell you.

Everything is organised in a logical linear way. What are the merits of the upgrade, the cost, the degree of difficulty, where to source the parts, what equipment do you need, is there a comprehensive checklist...???(you get the drift). The references and URL addresses alone are priceless and however did I manage for so long without knowing about "SANDRA".

BUT, I nearly didn't buy this book. I was one click away from cancelling my order. The problem? - The title. Maybe "Absolute Beginner..." would be too simple for me. I agree that it's not an advanced book, but I can't for the life of me see why the publishers didn't call it "The Absolute Beginners or Beginners or Intermediate Type of Persons Guide to PC Upgrades". I think a snappy little title like that would have described the book perfectly.

I am an IT professional who writes software on a PC all day long. Although I once added a tape drive and CD-ROM to my PC (which is now almost ready to be upgraded or replaced), I don't know much about the internals of a PC or things like the difference between the types of slots or kinds of RAM but have always wanted to learn. So when I read about a book that claimed to explain all these things and more such as slots, USB ports, hard drives and CD-RW in a way I could understand, I was very interested. And as soon as I learned it was written by the publishers of an excellent electronic newsletter (TheNakedPC) which I've received for quite some time, I ordered it immediately believing it would be full of useful information presented in a clear and readable way and I am happy to say I wasn't mistaken.

The book is full of all kinds of useful information from web sites that have lists of motherboard and BIOS information to where to find utilities to analyse and tell you what is in your current PC. Each chapter covers a different part such as hard drives and video and, after explaining the options available, goes into step by step instructions on how to add, replace and upgrade the items.

Although I may decide to just order a new PC instead of upgrading mine, this book will help me determine which is the better road to take. I will also be able to make more intelligent decisions about what to look for in a new PC since I now know more about what the parts do and how they work together. And if my PC ever breaks, this will be the first book I grab off the shelf. I feel is was certainly worth purchasing.

Before I read Tom Whidden's book I too was victim to a whole load of old wives tales, black magic and voodo of sail trim.

Having read the book I can finally look at a sail and start to understand what is really happening. Tom Whidden's book manages to demystify otherwise difficult to understand topics with simplicity and clarity.

The authors draw from their vast experience and share the various philosophies of sail design with the reader, exploring in more detail the North approach of designing sails the engineers way, so to speak. An outstanding book, covering all the important design choices and their consequences, and how they relate to sail trim. The book also includes perhaps the best written, short and concise explanation of the complexity of sail aerodynamics I have ever read.

I am very impressed by the way the author has made a very complex subject understandable, enjoyable and relevant! The science behind it all is fluid dynamics...but to the reader this book is ALL about sailing.

The explanations of how each individual sail works are very clear. Even more vital is the knowledge of how the foresail and main interact, how that impacts on boat speed and performance and how you can use that to improve your sailing. The explanation of "the slot", how it works and why the "myths" are "myths" I found particularly revealing!

The other feature that appealed to me was the balance between the technicalities and other aspects. The practical assessment of different sail materials was great, and the history and anecdotes of how modern sail design grew up is absorbing.

It isn't for the total novice...but it will teach a great deal to anyone beyond that.

Alistair Gillanders MRIN (RYA Ocean Yachtmaster)

I found the book absolutely engrossing. I am buying an older wooden trawler with lots of brightwork, and this book helped to ease my fears. I found it amazingly enjoyable and informative. I wish every how-to book was as carefully and thoughfully written.

This book is a delight to read and enjoy. The photos are spectacular and Wittman is a wondeful arthur. I found the book extremely educational on the subject of brightwork and entertaining to gaze through numerous times just looking at the incredible photography. It definatley has a place in any boating library.

I'm firmly resolved to hereafter always buy how-to-do-it books written by women. Brightwork tells you everything, unlike most h-t-d-i books that tell you everything except for that one elementary essential detail that you probably should know, but don't.

And when you just can't get up the energy to do yet more tedious prep work on your boat, you can just pull out the book, read some of Rebecca's engaging prose, drink in the beauty of the photographed boats, and next thing you know you can't wait to tear into your project again.

This is the book to buy.

...This book is indispensible. It's written for the race car driver who does at least a little bit of their own fabrication. And that's almost any club driver, and many entry-level pro drivers. Making sure additions to the car stay put, supsension bits adequately bear their loads and stresses, and repairing these things in a pinch, is no small part of winning races.

This book doesn't explain everything ther is to know about fasteners. And it isn't dripping with technical detail; ...

But this book does provide something more valuable: explanations. It looks at a couple dozen of the most popular fasteners in each category and explains why a fabricator or mechanic would or would not want to use them. Carroll uses his incredible experience and approachable, conversational writing type to discusses their strengths and weaknesses, applications, and design.

I think the book isn't limited to racing applications; it's useful for anyone who works metal, and will offer something of value to anyone who's ever tried to replace a fastener in an emergency. Were you overwhelmed when you went through the fastener aisles in your local hardware store or home supply center? This book can help.

The book is a little weak in two areas. First, there's few pages devoted to plumbing. Of course, this is about real plumbing: laying lines and connecting them with pressure-tight fasteners. It explains Army-Navy fasteners and their applications, and discusses all the subtleties of pipe flange fitting. The book isn't about stopping a leak behind your toilet.

Next, the book is showinng its age. It doesn't treat some of the materials that were not exactly commonplace ten or more years ago, but are quite common now. For instance, I can buy titanium lug bolts for my car. (Well, I could, if I had a spare $500 lying around.) Carroll doesn't make much mention of the more interesting alloys being used more commonly in fasteners these days. He also doesn't spend much time discussing the material to be fastened: holding down a carbon fiber body panel is different than getting the same bit fabricated from fiberglass to hold. Some of the illustrations look like they were drawn by a plotter 20 years ago: terrible resolution, confusing lines, poor perspective. Freshening some of the illustrations would be a real shot in the arm for the book.

Those shortcomings withstanding, I can't give this book less than five stars. Mr. Smith's incredible reputation and outstanding experience hold up a dry subject, and give the reader more background than a broader (or deeper) technical reference ever could.

Admittedly this is a dry subject, but this book should be considered required reading for anyone who is serious about building a safe race car. There's more to fastener technology than most of us realize and a right and wrong way to do things. Mr. Smith gets the information out in an easy to understand format with splashes of well-timed humor. While we have all blamed a poor performance at an event on a broken fastener, Mr. Smith explains how to eliminate these problems, plus your vehicle will be safer. You won't even think about using grade 8 bolts from the discount hardware store on that flywheel after reading this book. The section on plumbing was particularly helpful to me.

Fabulous book on fasteners. Up front it sounds really dull, but C.Smith makes it painless. You will find out things here that simply are not available elsewhere. Must reading for people into cars, airplanes or machinery in general

Extremely well written tongue-in-check humor. I've lent my copy out to at least 10 people who'd love to have their own copy - if only it was still in print!

I am a great fan of written humor & have an extensive collection. NOTHING comes close to this. If this were re-issued today, it would sell millions. Dereck Williamson for President!

A battered copy of this book has sat on my shelf for years. There is no quicker way to shake off a frustrating day, than to read Mr. Williamson's oberservations on do-it-yourself home wiring jobs, or building dog houses, or being visited by the Men With Masks. This is the most reliably entertaining book I've ever read. Remember about ten years ago, before Dave Barry became a tired old burn-out, and you'd look forward to his column? Well, Dereck Williamson is at least twice as funny as Barry ever was.

After acquiring a pretty vast library of boat building literature- this is still the most used to reference back to. It is definitely tailored to their processes but these too should be used as models of how the plans should be done also. Cheers

As The "Complete Guide to METAL BOATS" is about to be re-printed I thought this a good time to write an 'Author's review'. Over the past few months I have received hundreds of emails from customers expressing favourable comment on my book. When an author writes a book much of the content is usually 'researched' material ... In this case most of what you read in MB came out of my personal knowledge and experiance in designing and building metal boats. I personally find MB a great reference for the the researched material and the many pieces of information that occasionally 'slips ones mind' If you are planning to build or own a metal boat I can recommend this book without reservation. MB will NOT teach you how to weld but it WILL teach a welder how to build and maintain a metal boat. Regards, Bruce Roberts-Goodson

I waited with interest for the new edition as was advertised on www.bruceroberts.com website, and talked with the folks at Bruce Roberts, who explained that the whole book was being updated. They were quite helpful, and quite correct.

The book explains the "mysteries" and answers most questions regarding building a metal boat whether building from scratch and plans or from a computer cut kit. It explains the differences in the various materials with no great bias and plainly spells out the pluses & minuses of each. Welding techniques and materials are outlined as are methods for fitting out and installing systems.

Mr. Roberts-Goodson's writing style is down-to-earth, explaining items in plain English which makes it very easy to understand. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone considering building or buying a metal boat. Additionally metal boats owners would enjoy this book and would use it as a resource for repair and maintenance.

I am an electrician whose job requires trouble shooting different types of equipment for different customers in many different environments. I see all kinds of motors and machines and jury rigs. This book is invaluable for troubleshooting any motor on the planet. It gives excellent reference schematics and diagrams that coincide with the different chapters. It has helped me on many occasions. It's really meant for poeple who
re-wind motors more than trouble shooters but you will not regret owning it if you do any kind of maintenance or trouble shooting on a variety of machines.

If your looking for a book that is all meat, if your looking for the "bible" of motors, if your desire for motor knoweledge is from the most basic to advance knoweledge.....YOU have to buy this book. I am an electrician, and industrial controls technician and I have found no better book. I am looking through my well used second edition, that was given to me while in college in 1984, and if you could see just my first page of the book, at how much highlighting and notes in the margins there are, you would see that nearly every sentence in the book is packed full of useful information,...IF... you take the time to read it. I believe it is as clearly written as you can get on a technical subject. I consider myself just a slightly above average student, and even I could understand this material. From casual interest in motors to engineer, this book needs to be on your technical bookshelf, unlike other technical books at this price that I threw out after college, this is a keeper. Check out all the other reviewers here, then buy the book.

This book is great. I've read many books on repairing electric motors , but none of them have given me a practical & theoretical view on the subject as this book has. I recommend this book to students, and fully quallified engineers. The best...... My greatest thanks to the authors.

hi well i have read this book'from start'to end'and it is for real'if a builder took there time'and built to what is said'inthe book'you would build a real sports'car'even if you got the frame built by a welder'and built the rest'yourself still would work out as a low cost sports car''the car built inthe book'has a 1600 G.T ford motor'and it will do'130 mph'I was thinking how the hell can it do that'it can as it is built light'and has very little wind drag'just think'what it would do with a fast jap motor'this book'is for real'not a con'or rip off'

hi this book sounds like a must for a car builder'i want a copy'how do i get one'i am in new zealand'please tell me how to get it'

What a pleasant surprise when I opened the book and found detailed plans for the building of a 7 clone. I've often considered building one of these machines for myself,but wondered just how a 5'11",250 lb paul bunyan wannabe would fit inside one of these machines. Well, with the plans at hand, a sheet of paper, a pencil and some quick math, I can determine how I can modify the chassis to fit my rather bulky frame,and maybe even accept a different engine than the pushrod Fords or the Fiat twincams listed in the book. I think a 4-AGE Toyota twincam would be just the ticket...E ticket. Great book, can hardly wait to get started.

The book (a second edition with some additions) details the build of the Locost (Low Cost) replica of the Lotus Super 7. It's a solid primer on the subject, complete with plans for building the chassis, panels, suspension, etc. However, the book was written based on stripping parts primarily from a Euro Ford Mk2 Escort (RWD). While the car was sold in the UK, and other parts of the world, this car was never sold in America. Americans wishing to build a Locost will have to get a little more creative in sourcing parts!

Its an exciting read and I look forward to attempting my own Locost build (albeit with American-sourced components) at some point in the future.

This is an excellent book to help you develop your own first kit car. It will guide you step by step including how to weld, where to source parts, etc. It is an inspiring book!

What a concept! Building your own car! With this book Ron Champion outlines a plan for building your own Lotus Seven/Westfield clone. Some sections may be not as detailed as some people would prefer but overall it is excellent and informative. There are lots of builders and discussion groups that readers could join and learn from. The most valuable part of this book, in my opinion, is how to build the frame. The frame is built from square section steel tubing and welding equipment is required. Parts like the nosecone, windscreen, etc. can be fabricated or bought. There are quite a few Seven clone manufacturers around the world. The 'for as little as..' part may be a slightly incorrect but its much cheaper than most kit cars. In the course of building this car the reader will have to learn a lot about suspensions, drivetrain and engine rebuilding, fibreglass work, etc. It's almost like an outline for a course in Motor Vehicle Technology! I must say that this is one of the best car books I have ever read and if you've ever had schoolboy dreams of building your own roadster type car then you've definitely got to get this book!

This is a great book, but it left out the very frog I was interested in. That being poison dart frogs. However, for beginners like me it had great information and led me to believe I should start with a simpler frog anyway!

This is a great book for a beginner tree frog owner. Unlike other books which spend a lot of time describing all the different species of frogs without any honest-to-goodness practical advice, this book has plenty of both.

This book covers some absolutely necessary basics - how to select a healthy animal, how to diagnose and treat an ill one, how to set up a frog's vivarium, what to feed, and how to breed the frogs. Importantly, it is written for a beginner frog keeper and focuses on species specifically recommended to beginners - green tree frogs, White's tree frogs, white-lipped tree frogs, and red-eyed tree frogs. The general information offered on all the species is really thorough without being overwhelming. Because red-eyed tree frogs, White's tree frogs and white-lipped tree frogs need some specific advice, these species are devoted their own chapters.

The book is well-organized into chapters and includes many black/white and color photographs of frogs and vivariums. A must-have for any frog beginner.

While I was only interested in one frog from this book, the red eyed tree frog, it covered many others as well. This book is extremely helpful in providing both care and breeding tips for your frogs, and it even includes magnificent color photos. I refer to this book as my number one source for tree frog care and would recommend it to anyone.