Reviews (3)

Useful reference
Standard Handbook of Machine Design, 3rd Edition editedby Joseph Shigley, Charles Mischke, Thomas H. Brown (Standard Handbook of Machine Design: McGraw-Hill Professional) The definitive machine design handbook for mechanical engineers, product designers, project engineers, design engineers, and manufacturing engineers covers every aspect of machine construction and operation. The 3rd edition of the Standard Handbook of Machine Design will be redesigned to meet the challenges of a new mechanical engineering age. In addition to adding chapters on structural plastics and adhesives, which are replacing the old nuts bolts and fasteners in design, the author will also update and streamline the remaining chapters.
thorough and outdated
I own both Shigley's books on Machine Design, Mechanical Engineering Design (which I would rate 5/5) and this handbook. I find this handbook is very extensive in the topics it covers, just about everything pertaining to Machine Design, but fails to elaborate in many of the key areas. Furthermore, many formulas are presented, but there are not enough examples on their use. My greatest complaint though, has to do with the print, it seems as if I had in my hand a book written out in the 60s. Drawing are dirty and unclear in many situations, tables seem as if they were cutout from another book and pasted here, then photocopied (the first drawing in the book, a man, seems as if it was photocopied on a lousy photocopier from an old newspaper), and the typeface in the graphs is plainly outdated. I understand late J. Shigley is no longer among us, but Mischke should modernize the quality of presentation when deciding to launch new editions. Overall, I recommend Rothbart's handbook over this one.

Excellent Reference for a Machine Designer
This text is an excellent reference for any design engineer working in the machinery field.It fills in where the Machinery's Handbook falls short.The text is basically (I am oversimplifying) an expanded version of theShigley McGraw-Hill Machine Design Textbook.My only complaint is that thediscussion on the strength of welded joints is missing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Mechanical    2. Handbooks, manuals, etc    3. Machine design    4. Reference    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Mechanical engineering    9. Technology / Engineering / Mechanical   

Reviews (2)

Excellent book on estimation/Kalman filter
I don't usually write online reviews but this book is so clear and useful that I really want to recommend it to others. It is well written with a good outline and summary for every chapter. It also has a pretty diverse range of topics on estimation, including an introductory chapter on basic estimation approaches (e.g., ML, MAP, least squares), and very practical extensions (e.g., state augmentation, square-root filters). Even though I am not in EE and some of the examples are thus not particularly helpful to me, I still find this book one of the best of all the estimation/Kalman filter books out there.

best standard book for target tracking system
I think any person who major in target tracking system related to the Kalman filter must see this book. This book present the fundamentals of state estimation theory and the tools for the design of state-of-the-art algorithms for target tracking. Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Automation    3. Control systems    4. Data Transmission Systems    5. Data Transmission Systems - General    6. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    7. Engineering - Mechanical    8. Motion control devices    9. Remote control    10. Robots    11. Science/Mathematics    12. Technology    13. Technology & Industrial Arts    14. Telecommunication systems    15. Applications of Computing    16. Engineering: general    17. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    18. Probability & statistics    19. Radar    20. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (23)

Good Book
A good book for who wanna learn about Real Time Operative Systems. Easy to read and full of interesting information

It's a good book, but ...
Actually I think that it's a great book only if you have a strong background about how a kernel or RTOS works. I've spent a lot of time reading a theoretical books that teach you what a kernel is about, so for me the reading was easy. The fact that the book includes the source code makes it awesome, 'cause you can see inside a truly real kernel, and eventually write your own (what is I want to do). But if you are an unexperienced user of kernels, or just want to learn something about it, you should start somewhere else. The one a recomend you is that of Andy Tanenbaum, the creator of MINIX (minix is a tiny unix running in an intel 8086 cpu), and this other one that I bought here: Real-Time Concepts for Embedded Systems by Qing Li, Caroline Yao. After you deeply understand what a pipe o scheduler is, among other things, then you should start thinking about coding, because the book has some lack of theory. Anyway I strongly recomend it for experienced users. Have a nice coding =)

Writing style is often confusing
I have a general background in computer science and am trying to learn about embedded systems from this book.My main objection is that the writing needs to be edited to improve clarity.For example on page 61, the author states "Generally, the first message inserted in the queue is the first message extracted from the queue (FIFO).In addition, to extract messages in a FIFO fashion, uC/OS-II allows a task to get messages Last-In-First-Out (LIFO)."The second sentence is ambiguous.Does it mean "In addition to the ability to extract messages in a FIFO fashion, ..." or "In addition, in order to extract messages in a FIFO fashion, ..."?On the next page the author states "Interrupts allow a microprocessor to process events when they occur, which prevents the microprocessor from continuously polling (looking at) an event to see if it has occurred."In this sentence, "prevents the microprocessor from" should be changed to "removes the need for the microprocessor to be".The average reader already knows enough about LIFOs, FIFOs, and interrupts to interpret these sentences correctly, but in many other cases the lack of clarity is a serious impediment to understanding.The book also contains various errors.For example, the path name of a .xls file, given on pages 370 and 403, is incorrect. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computers    3. Computers - Operating Systems    4. Microprocessors    5. MuC/OS    6. Programming - General    7. Real-time control    8. Robotics    9. Operating systems & graphical user interfaces (GUIs)    10. Technology / Engineering / Electrical    11. Embedded computer systems   

Subjects:  1. Electric Lighting    2. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    3. Engineering - Mechanical    4. Furnaces    5. General    6. Induction heating    7. Industrial applications    8. Material Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Engineering thermodynamics    13. Heat transfer processes    14. Metals technology / metallurgy    15. Technology / Engineering / Mechanical   

Reviews (1)

A Must For Design Engineers
This book covers all the fundamental issues related to bolts and bolted joints. It is very easy to read, and does not go too deeply into technical subjects, but gives the reader a full appreciation for the issues involved.As a materials engineer I appreciated the section on bolting materials. Asa design engineer, I found the sections on designing bolted joints veryhelpful. As Plato expressed long ago, the wiser you are, the less yourealize you know. After reading this book, design engineers not familiarwith all the issues will likely not take bolts and bolted joints forgranted. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bolted joints    2. Engineering - Mechanical    3. Machinery    4. Mechanics - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Mechanical engineering    9. Science / Mechanics   

Reviews (21)

Great
This book was in great shape and received it good time. I was real happy with the book and service. Thank you

I never recieved it due to KATRINA...
...I never recieved this item due to the FLOODS in New Orleans...I am sure I'll get it some time, LOL.

Modern Refrigeration Resource
Thanks to the length of time this book has been available and the frequent revisions to the copyright, it continues to get bigger and better as time goes on.
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Subjects:  1. Air conditioning    2. Construction - Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning    3. Engineering - Mechanical    4. Refrigeration and refrigeratin    5. Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Heating, lighting, ventilation   

Reviews (4)

From both the office and academia...
I'm very surprised at the two star review below. This book is one of the most comprehensive and updated books on the topic of architectural working drawings to date. Each chapter is a literal list of things to do and strategies for preparing a full set of construction documents. There is even a CAD chapter and nearly 500 new CAD illustrations. Also, an appendix is available on the publishers website that has a comprehensive amount of CAD information. If you want more CAD information, google search "National CAD Standard". You're money is well spent on this book; look at the number of people who purchase it above 50%+ of the people who looked at this book and all others on the topic. Don't hesitate to buy it now :)
very outdated book
This guide is based on a few specific projects which have little relevance to today's market.No outlines, guidelines, or checklists were available to help with the process of putting together a complete set of working drawings.If you are already in the field of architecture, this book is too basic and not applicable to more modern projects.

Great resource, even for CAD drafters
I bought this book when my younger brother started taking CAD classes to come work with me.I have found it to be an excellent resource, for the beginning draftsman, for putting together a set of plans.For the intermediate and advanced draftsman it is a valuable "checklist" book.The book only has one small section on CAD, but that is not the idea of the book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Design & Drafting    3. Designs and plans    4. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    5. Working drawings    6. Architecture / Design & Drafting    7. Theory of architecture   

Reviews (3)

Excellent comprehensive text
To me, this book's greatest strength is instant applicability of theories and recipes presented in it. Virtually all topics in SAR are covered with great quality. There is no hard tie to any particular type of radar signals, which makes it very versatile.
One of the best texts on SAR signal processing
SAR imaging owes a lot to inverse scattering theory, coherence theory, Fourier optics and holography. Luckily, Soumekh comes from an optics background and therefore, is very comfortable with all the optics stuff. He has done an excellent job in presenting different modalities of SAR imaging like stripmap and spotlight and implementing the algorithms in matlab. There is a lot of depth in his book and every time I read it I understand something that I could not understand when I read it last time. I have become a fan of Soumekh. I also attended one of his tutorials based on this book in the SPIE symposium in Orlando Florida.

nice applications with heavy computations
Wasn't there once a time, in the depths of the Cold War, when Synthetic Aperture Radar was highly classified? It is still jarring to me to see a book like this, telling all and sundry about the many applications to which it can be directed.
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Subjects:  1. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    2. General    3. MATLAB    4. Mathematics    5. Radar    6. Radar Technology    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Signal processing    9. Synthetic aperture radar    10. Technology    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Image processing    13. Mathematical theory of computation    14. Technology / Imaging Systems   

Subjects:  1. AutoCAD    2. CAD-CAM - General    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    7. Engineering graphics    8. Computer aided design (CAD)    9. Computers / CAD-CAM / General   

Reviews (14)

Good for beginners and transfers
Despite some of the negative comments on this book, I bought it anyway. The remarks that this is not a reference manual is unjust. Chapman never claims that the book is supposed to be a reference manual, so don't expect one. The book is written for those who begin to learn Fortran 95 or want to upgrade their skills to make the transition from Fortran 77.
Excellent text for modern programming
It is outrightly silly to rate this excellent book one star and insinuate that it is a terrible write-up. Is it the thin index that makes it so bad, or the explanation of do loops using sin(x) series expansion, according to the first reviewer? If you are a scientist or an engineer (the target audience of the book) you'll probably see the wisdom of such an example instead of counting from 1 to 10 as if we are inside a grocery store.
Horrible as a reference.
This is probably one of the worst programming books I have ever used. The index is terrible, which turns finding any random info into a page by page scavenger hunt. There are very few tables which give nice breakdown of parameters and what not, as the author prefered to scatter information about a single function call through two or three chapters. The "scientific and engineering" aspect of programming is so spoon fed it really does nothing to enhance understanding of the subject.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. FORTRAN 90 (Computer program l    6. FORTRAN 90 (Computer program language)    7. FORTRAN 95 (Computer program l    8. FORTRAN 95 (Computer program language)    9. Fortran (Programming Language)    10. Programming - General    11. Programming Languages - FORTRAN    12. Programming Languages - General    13. Mechanical engineering    14. Technology / Engineering / General   

Reviews (3)

insufficient for all levels
I found this book to be inadequate at all levels. It does not go into sufficient detail for beginners, and neither does it provide rigor for the experienced controls student. Do yourself a favor and buy separate texts for the basics (like Brogan's Modern Control Theory) and for the advanced.

Good Book
Up to this time,there are no 5 stars books in Linear Systems. However,this book is one of the best 4 stars books available for the subject.Through the book, the author sometimes assumes that you know or understandsome topic, formula,...etc. without mentioning it. However,you can do it,but it may take you some time to figure out what it is. If you are goodenough in linear algebra you will have no problems to handle the book up tothe last page. Chapter 2 & 3 are the most important chapters in thebook because they prepare you for the rest of the book. MATLAB is beingused in a nice and helpful way to visualize some concepts and applicationsof the linear control theory. I recommend this book as a textbook for anintroductory linear systems course and also for self teaching purposes.

The Good, the Bad, and the Insufficent
My overall impression with this book is:satisfactory.Though there are a more errors then desired, and a few that are pretty confusing, the majority of the book is accurate and very instructive.I would recommendthis book as a reference for introductory treatment of Linear System Theoryand DI just completed this book in the beginning of March.Having aControls background I found this book both helpful and instructive, yetlacking in sufficient detailed explanation on some tough topics.Chapter2: 'Mathematical Descriptions of Systems' was very helpful with thedetailed definitions and easy examples. Chapter 3: 'Linear Algebra' is achapter that could use expanding.Some of the topics addressed in thissection are speedily discussed and rapidly completed.The first edition ofthis book was chided for it length.This edition must be chided for itbrevity.However, when lack of explanation abounds, examples and homeworkproblems can make up for deficient instruction.Chapters 4 through 6 areeasy to follow and through in their treatment.Chapter 7, however, isanother chapter where too much explanation was removed.The examples arehard to follow in this chapter, and there are a few very confusingmistakes.Chapters 8 and 9 are very well written, though confused attimes.However, they yield a sufficient knowledge of the addressed topics. Read more

Subjects:  1. Advanced    2. Computer Engineering    3. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    4. Linear systems    5. Mathematics    6. Robotics    7. Science/Mathematics    8. System design    9. Systems Analysis    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Applied mathematics    12. Cybernetics & systems theory    13. Engineering & Technology | Electrical & Computer Engineering    14. Systems analysis & design    15. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (21)

A Very Disappointing Book
This book is a huge disappointment.The cover is modern and promises a high-quality treatment of an interesting subject but the inside is ridiculously simplistic and leaves an awful lot to the reader to figure out on his own.The extremely abbreviated text is arcane and the "pictures" are no more than primitive line drawings.In many cases, this is woefully inadequate to understand what's going on.This 1868 book belongs in the "Antiques" section.It was a huge disappointment and simply annoying.

Mind Blowing!
I work as a Mechanical Designer/Draftsman and a Home machinist. Both of which I have a degree in, This book is worth every penny. It is interesting, detailed, handy! Although small it is packed with interesting sketches. I must warn anyone interested that this book is intended for the heavily mechanically inclined.

Great Reference Book
This book is fascinating! Originally written in 1868 it briefly presents 507 different mechanisms with a graphic for each. When I first received the book my first impression was that it was too small to be much good. Indeed, I think it would benefit from a total reformat devoting more space and detail to each mechanism. However, as I looked further I saw that there is JUST adequate size to see everything. (The formatting has obviously changed since the original which leaves wide spaces above and below each page. It occurs to me that they should be good places for making notes.) The illustrations are numbered and correspond to the text on the facing page. The drawings are simple and beautifully done in the style of the time (nineteenth century). The text is very short and to the point but again just adequate to the job of describing the mechanism.
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Subjects:  1. Engineering - Mechanical    2. Machinery    3. Mechanical movements    4. Reference    5. Technology    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Antique clocks & watches    8. Clocks & chronometers    9. DIY   

Reviews (1)

Review on microsystem design
The book tries to cover many different topics at the same time and sometimes makes a quite messy work. However, the book has very good chapters and not so good ones. It provides a good introduction on MEMS fabrication, but a more interested reader will find difficult to fabricate MEMS with the given information. Chapters 5,6,7 and 8 are excellent, but chapters 9, 10,11 and 12 are incomplete and not easily understandable for a Electrical Engineer graduate student. Chapter 13 begins with general equations to be simplified considerably later, giving the impression to the reader that he has learned only a little about fluids. Chapter 11 is quite confusing and chapter 12 lack examples in 2D and 3D lumped models. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Design and construction    2. Electronics - Microelectronics    3. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    4. Engineering - Mechanical    5. Industrial Technology    6. Microelectromechanical systems    7. Microelectronics    8. Science/Mathematics    9. System design    10. Systems Engineering    11. Technology    12. Technology & Industrial Arts    13. Electronic devices & materials    14. Technology / Engineering / Electrical    15. Technology / Engineering / Mechanical    16. Technology-Electronics - Microelectronics    17. Technology-Engineering - Electrical & Electronic   

Reviews (8)

Recommended for PLM Project team
We got 4 books on PLM for our project. This cost most but was best value. Lots of details about reasons and benefits for PLM, how PLMs evolving, helpful hints about how to run the PLM project, how to make the business case. Good case study examples, a maturity model to help positioning, explanation of difference between PDM and PLM, stuff about how and why people may resist. Lots of good material, lots of details, useful different views of PLM. This book is well structured and is a useful starting point for manufacturing organizations looking to implement PLM. It provided us with good direction and ideas and challenging questions to answer. Recommended reading and source of discussion and decision for a PLM Project team.

Outstanding resource for Product Lifecycle Management
Great source of PLM Knowhow. I like the overarching way PLM is treated with all 5 phases of the product lifecycle included. Product idea, product definition, product realization, product support, and product end-of-life. This is cradle to grave plm, not only product development. The focus on the product is timely as manufacturers rediscover that product is king. The text is crystal clear, concise and complete. It has everything from PLM vision and PLM strategy to nuts and bolts of PLM implementation. Its holistic approach includes processes, applications, information and people. It is the most comprehensive PLM book I have seen. This book is a PLM reference before, while and after PLM is implemented. Great reading for a PLM Director, Director of Product Lifecycle Management, PLM Manager, PLM Project manager, PLM/PDM manager, PDM Manager and anyone else into PLM whether its with Agile Software, MatrixOne Matrix, UGS TeamCenter, SmarTeam, Softech ProductCenter. Useful links to web site www.johnstark.com and 2PLM ezine, a weekly zine about product lifecycle management.

read this for a successfull PLM implementation !!!!
Its about time a book like this came along. Sure it has strengths and weaknesses, like any other book. Read it for its strengths. But beware of its weaknesses. A weakness, it takes over 400 pages to describe all PLM. A strength, its the only book so far that covers 'real PLM' and not just a slice of PLM. Another weakness, its definition of PLM, 'PLM is the activity of managing a company's products all the way across their lifecycles in the most effective way' is more strategic than many others, this isnt weak-kneed departmental PLM for file management. Next strength though, this robust definition holds good over 400 pages and all the product lifecycle. A weakness of the book is it doesn't have the usual diagrams of PLM seen in many glossy marketing brochures. A strength, it has a set of slides you can build on to make your own presentations. A weakness, Stark the author doesn't offer a quick fix or a quick plug-in technology solutuion or a quick read. A strength, Stark's approach to PLM is innovative, far reaching, complete, business-oriented. A strength, Stark shows great understanding of what all manufacturing companies have in common, and uses it wisely.I see two main uses for this book. Long-term, on the PLM managers desk as a PLM reference. Short-term, great introductory reading for all members of a PLM implementation initiative. This will get them tuned up for a strategic PLM project. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Industrial    2. Engineering - Mechanical    3. Operations Research    4. Product life cycle    5. Product management    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Collaborative Product Development    10. Computer Aided Design    11. Product Data Management    12. Product Engineering    13. Product Lifecycle Management    14. Product Realisation    15. Production & quality control management    16. Technology / Engineering / Industrial   

Reviews (4)

The new, new testament
This book is a must have for anyone in the crane industry, I train crane operators and the information is an invaluable resource which covers all aspects of cranage. It is well set out and concise, it covers everthing from basic safety principles through to complex engineering solutions. Save yourself some money in the long run by owning this book & teaching your operators and planners from the lessons learned by these guys. Your equipment will be preserved & costly mishaps will be avoided.

Excellent-
Good overall technical writting, Excellent, authoritative text on the subject
Well written, using language easily understood by the average technical reader with an interest in the field ( unlike many engineering tomes in my experience ).Also unlike many texts, proofreading and editing are skilled and thorough.Shapiro ackowledges in the preface to the first edition the roles of his co-author sons as "militant proponents of the clearly expressed thought".The success of that effort is obvious.Read more

Subjects:  1. Construction - General    2. Cranes, derricks, etc    3. Engineering - Civil    4. Machinery    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Tractors And Heavy Equipment    9. Building construction & materials    10. Mechanical engineering    11. Technology / Construction & Construction Trades   

Reviews (7)

An effective guide for new line design
This book gives a new insight about the PROCESS and shows some ways to optimally design it with minimum wastage. The concepts described here is not just limited to the manufacturing process but extends to any other business process. Consideration of the resources in Man , Machine , Workstation and Inventory sets a well-defined boundary of constraint for designing new production line.
From a Lean Manufacturing Engineer
This treatment of Lean Manufacturing is written from the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) viewpoint. The center of the manufacturing world for the production control dept. is the MRP software which makes this viewpoint on Lean interesting, especially since two of the major advantages of implementing Lean is to reduce inventories and to eliminate production control department overhead. The only requirements for MRP in a lean environment are long term raw material scheduling and finished product delivery scheduling.
Lean Secrets
It is very unusual when a consultant reveals their secrets to implementation concepts. Dennis Hobbs tells how to implement lean on a step by step basis. The secrets of kanban calculation in addition to line balancing are exposed. This book is a critical resource for companies interested in conducting their own lean implementations. Dennis provides detailed explanations and not just lean stories that fail to get to the real issues of how to implement the concepts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Costs, Industrial    3. Handbooks, manuals, etc    4. Industrial Management    5. Machinery    6. Manufacturing    7. Production & Operations Management    8. Production management    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology    11. Mathematics and Science    12. Mechanical Engineering & Materials   

Reviews (4)

Advanced Strength and Applied Elasticity 4th Edition
Many Engineering text books lately do not seem to be written well.I feel that this is not the fault of the authors as much as it is the fault of the editor.This book overall is not in my worst text book list, but can be improved very easily.I have given it a 2 star rating, meaning that it still can be improved upon and until it is improved it is a difficult book to follow. Good but not perfect
First few chapters are well treated but advanced topics are not covered in detail.For example, beams on elastic foundation chapter is not covered extensively.To conclude,anyone interested in advanced mechanics of materials should own it.

Not Practical
As an Aerospace Engineer (structures), I found this to be the one book that remains on my shelf. It has valid and accurate ACEDEMIC explanations of structural systems - but it does not lend itself to practical implementation of those methods...and many other books do! If this book is supplementing a curriculum, it will serve its purpose well. However, if you actually plan to use what you've learned - not here.
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Subjects:  1. Elasticity    2. Engineering - Mechanical    3. Engineering Mechanics    4. Material Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Strength Of Materials    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Mechanics of solids    10. Science / Statics   

Subjects:  1. AutoCAD    2. AutoCAD (Computer software)    3. CAD-CAM - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    9. Computer Software Packages    10. Computer aided design (CAD)    11. Computers / CAD-CAM / General   

Reviews (1)

Great reference work for the professional maintenance engineer
This book contains over 1500 pages of figures and often dense text. It is the only book of its kind that I know of written clearly for the degreed maintenance and facilities engineer. This book is an edited work by several dozen authors who are all leading maintenance practitioners and experts in their field. The book covers both management and technical issues associated with the maintenance of the modern physical plant.
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Subjects:  1. Engineering - Industrial    2. Engineering - Mechanical    3. Handbooks, manuals, etc    4. Manufacturing    5. Plant Maintenance    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Engineering: general    10. Industry & Industrial Studies    11. Technology / Engineering / Mechanical   

Reviews (4)

Good solid book
I'm not a mechanical engineer and I have been able to follow the book well. It goes really in depth in some places, so you have to know when to skip a few pages. But it is fine for a final year undergrad course, and I'm sure it would work for a grad course as well, but if you don't have a good math and science background (ie engineering), then just research www.howstuffworks.com and then subscribe to a few car magazines. There is a lot of practical info in here as well, but don't kid yourself, most of this is theoretical backround. I am an electrical engineer who wanted to get into hybrid vehicles, and I think if you are like me and want to just buy one book on ICEs, this is it.

A really scientific approach to the engine practice
This book is my Bible. It does not explain you how to add 2HP to the engine, it explains how all that works and why, with theory, numbers and serious real world tests. the Bible for engine related study and research
almost all the areas concerning internal combustion engines are covered in proper detail. it is useful for related undergrad and grad studies, also an indispensable reference for grad research work in engine technolo