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Larry Kunz said...
>
> How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures
> for the Compleat Idiot, by John Muir.
>
> Despite being highly nonmechanical, I used this book in the late '70s
> and early '80s to keep my '64 Beetle going. I still don't know of a
> better technical manual. It takes you from changing the oil to
adjusting
> the brakes to rebuilding the engine -- if you're so inclined.
>
> Muir passed away years ago, but his successors have kept on updating
his
> book, now in its 19th edition. It strikes the perfect balance between
> informative and whimsical. (If you don't think that can be done, buy
the
> book and see for yourself.) The illustrations are wonderful.
>
> A reviewer on Amazon hit on just the right word for this book:
> "empowering."
>
I've never read the VW book, but it sounds like it might share some
literary genetic traits with _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_
by Robert Pirsig. I had a TW professor (who also taught Lit. classes)
that really loved that one. I don't know that I would recommend it as an
example of good Technical Writing. However, I do remember pretty vividly
some passages on the quest for quality that might form someone's
philosophical approach to whatever vocation they pursue, be it engineer,
mechanic or authoring technical documentation.
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