There are many ways to learn about cars. A popular method is formal training from a technical school. When you enroll in one of these automotive technology programs you use a recommended text book and hands on experience coupled with classroom instruction from a teacher that was hopefully a mechanic at some point in their life.
The youngest guy I have ever worked with just completed one of these car repair programs at our local community college. This mechanic is so young, I can say I was turning wrenches before he was born. He brought in his text book and let me use it to study for ASE tests.
This was the only book he had to purchased for his automotive technology classes. He used it to learn about cars in the classroom, but he also used it to work ahead. This gave him an advantage over other students in the class that were just doing the bare minimum.
He finished first in his class and this helped him land a job with our fleet company. Government car repair jobs are hard to get, but he had no problem. The automotive technology text book that shot him ahead of the pack is 1,664 pages and is the 6th Edition of the series. When you want to learn about cars this resource in my opinion is a leading authority on automotive theory, and repair procedures.
I believe this is the newest edition and has been updated to include coverage of hybrid vehicles plus new content on electronic automatic transmissions and many other topics that include recent changes in the car repair industry.
The writer of this book is well respected in the automotive learning world. Jack has many years of experience as a technician, educator, author, and editor. He has authored or co-authored more than thirty automotive technology textbooks and specialized training manuals for cars and trucks.
The author holds a Masters of Arts degree in Vocational and Technical Education. He spent twenty years at Columbus State Community College as an instructor and administrator and has also been a long-time affiliate of the North American council of automotive teachers.
Automotive Technology Book Review
After letting the neighbors son look at the book for a week, to see if he would be interested in fixing cars, we did a short interview. This is the edited version of what he had to say about it. You can learn about cars with this well written and comprehensive book that contains a large amount of information about the individual subsystems in today’s automobiles.
Learning about cars one section at a time stops you from becoming overwhelmed and giving up. The book is very readable and presumes no previous knowledge about automobiles or auto mechanics. It starts you off on the ground floor without boring you.
The chapters on tools and performance tuning for maximum power and fuel economy is helpful for car enthusiasts, while the following chapters build on this knowledge and get surprisingly in-depth. I’ve used this title for learning more about auto repair and it has come in handy when performing basic maintenance on my own vehicle.
Even if you don’t work on your own car you can find this book helpful. Use it to understand just what the car repair shop or mechanic is trying to tell you. It’s also useful to go back to when considering the purchase of a new automobile so you can learn about how the most modern systems operate before you jump on board.
Version 6 of the Automotive Technology a Systems Approach will easily pay for itself by helping you make the right decisions about automobiles. It also makes an impressive book to display for house guests on the coffee table. Since the material is required for many college level courses finding the book used shouldn’t be that difficult.
The book I recommended on this page is huge and expensive because it covers so much information. If you’re looking to specialize in specific auto repairs I have some other resources that can help you learn auto repair.
The homepage has a rundown of things you’ll find on the you fix cars website. This next link takes you there from this learn about cars page.