Sex, Drink and Fast Cars

First of all, this isn't some sleazy novel. It's borderline academic. I bought this book some time ago at Half Price Books because of the title and cover art as much as anything...being a hard core car buff who grew up with the 50s cars. The promo info sounded interesting, too. What influences car design? More to do with looks than inside tech stuff. The fins of the 50s for instance. This is a well written book by an expert who tries to give the reader insight into this concept and does a great job, although some of what he says is a bit "deep" in a few spots, but nothing to ruin the read. I came with a communications and art background, as well as being a die-hard car buff, so that might have spurred me on to buy it and like it. Anyways, no matter your background, you can pick this book up cheap, so try it. I just bough two copies to replace the original I had which I gave to a friend for Christmas...only after finding out I could get more copies. This is one of few books I've ever had this kind of response to: went over to the house of the guy (another car buff) who recieved the book for Christmas. He brought out the book with markers sticking out of it and said, "What did you think of this passage?" He wanted to discuss the book and the author's thoughts and how it related to day's designs! Wow! An example of the neat stuff in the book is where he relates the supposedly true story of some famous car designer's remarks when seeing the Triumph TR7 for the first time: "God, tell me it isn't the same on the other side!" Author is a noted critic and curator for a major British museum and has authored several other books on design.