I've had a copy of this book for quite sometime.  Recently, I bought more to give to kids in the family who have mechanical interests.<br><br>This is an excellent primer starting from levers and proceeding simply but building to how the internal combustion and manual transmission works.<br><br>A definite read for anyone with wants a simple explanation of basic mechanical systems or those who just like to read increasingly better presentations of those topics they throw at you when learning basic physics and engineering.<br><br>There is some inadvertent humor.  The chapter on the block and tackle asks you to remember when you watch movers take a piano out a fourth story window, handling it with ease only a rope.  Well, no, even in my 50s, I can't say I ever saw that outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon or black and white movie.  But then, the machines remain the same and are still used today although generally with hydraulic-operated drum doing the hauling.