5 comments about The Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Guide to Motorcycling Excellence: Skills, Knowledge, and Strategies for Riding Right (2nd Edition).

1. This book is excellent for the novice and I am sure it is a nice refresher for all. A newbie would be foolish not to take the course and reading the book in advance of the course is extremely helpful.



2. This book is essentially the expanded version of the booklet they give you at the MSF Basic Rider's Course. As such, I found nothing useful in it. It would be a great book to read before you take the class, though. I was looking for strategies on braking and cornering in various conditions, but what I got was just a listing of road conditions, not what to do about them. It mentions the different types of skids, but not how to recover from them. I guess they want us to have to take their Advanced class...



3. This book is excellent, and covers all you need to know as a first time motorcyclist. The one thing I cannot stress enough: Read it before you take the class (and be sure to take the MSF class, it will save your life!) The first section of the book is identical to the class in many ways, and, although I read through all of it again, it really is exactly the same. If you read this ahead of time, it will have you ready for the written test in the classroom, so that the class itself becomes review, and you can focus more on the hands-on part of the course while you are there, instead of trying to remember all of the new info in your head.



4. This is an excellent beginners guide to motorcycling. It covers almost all the bases, and is written in an easy to read and concise manner with lots of helpful illustrations and pictures. Furthermore, the 2nd edition is fairly current... other books have pictures taken in the 60's or 70's, not this one. The book is coated with high quality laminate pages which makes it a very heavy duty book.
   
   I highly recommend it for any future/beginner motorcyclist! In fact, it is a must have for new riders period!!!



5. Let me start off by saying that this book does not bypass taking the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) riding class in anyway for a budding motorcycle rider. If you want to ride a motorcycle then the MSF course is a must period. The MSF class teaches you so much while allowing you to practice in a safe and calm riding environment with trained instructors at your side to ask questions and get help from. Not to mention that some insurance companies will give you a policy discount on your monthly insurance payments for taking and passing the MSF course. You also don't have to do the DMV riding test if you pass the MSF course. So in the end the MSF course is more then worth what you paid to take the course for on top of the safety and riding training you get.
   
   Outside of the MSF course this book is a good primer to mentally prepare you for the key ideas on how to ride a motorcycle and what forces are at work while riding. Ideas like counter steering, smooth control inputs, avoiding target fixation, and a light over view of potential road hazards you might face and many more other topics are all discussed in this book. It also goes on to talk about other areas some people might not think about such as how to select a proper helmet and what to look for in riding gear. It also talks about the effects of lack of sleep, drugs and alcohol all have on a rider. I would recommend this book to anyone who has signed up for the MSF course but has not taken it or who is just interested in the idea of riding a motorcycle. In the end this is a very good primer book if not a refresher for those who have just finished the MSF course and need to brush up a little on some key concepts.

5 comments about Scooters,Automatic Transmission 50 to 250cc (Hayne's Automotive Repair Manual).

1. Well written (just have to get used to some of the English terminology) and well illustrated covering many maintenance items,repairs and overhauls to 2 and 4 stroke, air and liquid cooled scooters. You will need your owners manual for specifications though, as only a few brands are listed. Manual also covers safety items,as well as tool and workshop tips.



2. this book provides all the info you need to disassemble and rebuild most scooter motors as well as tips and methods to make it easier



3. this book almost was what i was looking for i still had a lot of good info tho the shipper sent it out super fast and it showed up faster then i thought it would i very surprised at how fast it got here



4. The Lovely Pearl ET4 on the front cover is not one of the models covered, a bit misleading. If you have one of the later L.E.A.D.E.R. engines, any engine work should be doable, since the ET4 and the LX share the same engine.



5. Despite the different makes and models of scooters, there are many similarities between them. This book takes advantage of that, and instructs you on how to service the various components generally, and not specifically; service information specific to a particular make and model is not given. For example, in chapter 10 ("Electrical Systems") figure 7.1: "Wiring diagram for a typical turn signal system". Diagrams specific to each scooter model are not given. The idea here is after reading the manual, you should be sufficiently familiar with the components of a scooter that when you service yours you won't have too much difficulty, even if your scooter's engine and drivetrain isn't exactly like the one in the pictures. This does mean that there isn't a lot of hand-holding; if you want service details specific to your scooter model you'll have to buy the official service manual from the manufacturer (and pay the high prices).
   
   The list of specific models covered by this book is derived from the "Data" section, where information (torque settings, bore and stroke, etc.) specific to each model is listed.
   
   It would have been nice if time were taken to explain the operation of parts that are unique to scooters. For example, the variator (part of the CVT) is not something found on motorcycles and most cars. Chapter 6 (covering the transmission) explains how to remove and service the variator, but does not explain how it works. The addition of this information would strengthen the book considerably, as it would educate the reader as to the "why", and not just the 'how".
   
   The content is a few years old, and more recent models are not included. This is something to keep in mind if you have a recent scooter with an unusual engine, such as a Yamaha C3, which is fuel-injected.
   
   One thing to be aware of is this book is apparently written for a British audience (Haynes Publishing is a British company). This means that British English is used throughout, as opposed to American English. You'll see "spanner" instead of "wrench", "petrol" instead of "gasoline", "tyre" instead of "tire", "circlip" instead of "retaining ring", "renew" instead of "replace", etc. This isn't a big deal, but may take some getting used to. Reference section 18 is about the MOT Test, which is given in England and not the U.S.A.
   
   In all this is a very handy and useful reference. Combine this with parts diagrams for your particular scooter (obtainable online), and you should be prepared to tackle most service tasks.

5 comments about La Ley de La Atraccion: Mitos y Verdades Sobre El Secreto Mas Extrano del Mundo.

1. Estoy muy agradecida con el Dr. Cruz por mostrarme con su libro una manera mas positiva de ver la vida, es fabuloso, sin duda lo recomiendo, se convirtio en mi libro inseparable. Muchas gracias



2. Es un libro muy realistico. Esta muy sercano a lo que es la vida diaria, con respecto a lo que se refiere a la Ley de La atraccion. Su contenido realmente da pautas para mejorar nuestrtas vidas con un enfoque en lo que hemos venido haciendo con nuestra realidad y como cambiarla para hacerla mejor.



3. Si lo que buscas es encontrar unas líneas que cambien casi por arte de magia tu vida en un momento difícil de ésta - siento decirte que- no es este el libro que buscas. Es más, si encuentras uno así, avísame!
   
   De este modo, lejos de todo el ámbito paranormal o mágico que alguien podría esperar, el libro lo que sí que es, es interesante como pocos; combinando la pscología con un punto de vista más científico de cómo trabaja la mente humana, y con un toque de sentido común y racionalidad del que a menudo nos olvidamos.. todo orientado a invitarnos a pensar de una forma positiva, para atraer nosotros mismos las oportunidades que deseamos.
   Desde luego que es un libro muy interesante y que merece la pena leer.



4. He leido algunos libros sobre La Ley de Atraccion, este es uno de los mas practicos con ejemplos significativos que he leido, Camilo Cruz se enfoca en el poder de la mente, su funcionamiento y como esta atrae cosas a nuestras vidas. Todos planteamientos estan basados en cosas que vemos en la vida cotidiana lo que lo hace muy real, sencillo y practico



5. Para todos aquellos que sufren de pensamientos negativos, para aquellos que viven pensando en el fracaso este libro les podra ensenar como ver el mundo desde otra punto de vista. Muy bueno para sacarse de la mente todo lo negativo que acada segundo llega a nuestras vidas y sobre todo para levantarse el auto estima. se los recomiendo 100%, una verdadera joya que no debe faltar en su colecion.

5 comments about Auto Repair For Dummies.

1. Why hasn't there been any newer editions since 1999?
   
   Self-reliance with regard to car maintenance is something that I have always wanted for myself.



2. Has been an all-inclusive auto resource. For newbies, but is packed with stuff.



3. After watching my sister go through several Auto Tech classes to learn how to work on a car, I was intimidated by the amount of time & money I thought it would take to get the same knowledge. Then I found this book. I've been a faithful reader of the Dummies books for a long time, and this one just reinforced my opinion of them.
   
   After reading this book, I am able to change my own oil, check & change my brakes, change a flat tire, know which replacement tire to buy and why, and diagnose almost any car problem myself. I have saved hundreds of dollars (maybe over $1000 by now) because I knew exactly what I needed a mechanic to do to my car whenever I took it in.
   
   As a bonus, my car now runs better than it ever has before, because this book also covers preventative maintenance in extreme detail. It even lays out a monthly routine for you for checking most of the systems in your car.
   
   I highly recommend this book to absolutely anyone who wants to learn about cars. Even if you know nothing except how to start, drive, and stop your car -- before reading this, I thought the rim CAME WITH the new tire! -- this book is for you.



4. Before this book I didn't know a thing about cars. Now, I would still say that I don't but, I would NOT go to the mechanic for everything.



5. I've always relied on mechanics (with mixed results), but I wanted to know what was going on with my car and to be able to perform basic maintenance myself. This book is very easy to use (MUCH better than my owner's manual). It provides a good overview of how cars work, as well as specific advice for particular repairs and maintenance. If you're already a gearhead, this is presumably too basic, but if the inside of your car is a great big mystery to you, this is definitely the book to get.

5 comments about Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques.

1. If there was just one book I had to buy, this wouldn't be it, but I liked it. It had a lot of good things to say about mental attitude. There are some things I would of like to see him leave out, like his pictures. I am glad that I read it and will review it from time to time.



2. "Total Control" isn't the pinnacle of riding techniques. Hough's "Proficient Motorcycling," (both of them) and Ienatsch's "Sport Bike Ridng Techniques" are the hands-down winners in that respect. However, the book has some worthwhile content that other books don't cover. As a secondary source, it is well worth price. Some of his scrunched-up portrait photos would have a buzzard turn around and fly the other way.



3. I first read "A Twist of the Wrist 2: The Basics of High-Performance Motorcycle Riding", then I read this book. I greatly appreciated Twist of the Wrist for providing the geeky details and well-written descriptions of what was happening to the bike and rider when everything is working correctly (or not), but this book was able to add some more pictures that helped to clarify things which weren't clear to me from Twist of the Wrist.
   
   There were some descriptions in Total Control that resonated better with me than what was in Twist of the Wrist, and vice versa. The same thing can be said for the drawings and pictures.
   
   My recommendation: buy both books. If you don't like reading very much and want better step-by-step pictures, then Total Control is probably the better book for you. Once again, I strongly recommend buying both books - Total Control and Twist of the Wrist 2.



4. Purchased the book for my son whose passion is riding his sportbike on the track and hopefully race in the future. Read portions of the book myself and I have to recommend it to all who are sportbike aficionados. The book is to the point - dead center. Gives great pointers, helps you understand what you may be unable to articulate. Great read!



5. If you ride a sport bike and want to learn to lean it correctly/safely around curves, fast without jerks and changes in the arch, this is the best specialized book for you! Learn about the common reasons people crash like you have never heard it before--why we panic and what that causes, which ultimately results in a crash. And how to overcome it! Great book.

5 comments about How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive 19 Ed: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot.

1. I bought this as a graduation gift for my cousin who is fixing up an old VW Van. I bought it because of the fun hippie style drawings, but he loves it for the info! Really a great gift for any (air cooled) VW owner!



2. I have owned a copy of this book for the past few years and have found it to be an invaluable reference for working on my 1960 type 1. Not only are the jobs broken down into step-by-step procedures that are extremely logical, but Muir's sense of humor and upbeat attitude help to put you in the proper frame of mind to do things right. Quite honestly though I would have to say that Peter Aschwanden's illustrations are the highlight of this book for me. not only are they FAR more useful than photographs for showing the details of a part (drawings can get rid of distractions, show cut-aways, etc that are impossible with photos) but these illustrations truly are works of art. It's really nice when you are deep into a difficult project and you get to turn the page and have a laugh at one of the drawings. These drawings are one of the things that put this book in a class of its own.
   
   I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 for a couple of small reasons. First, you definitely need to own a shop manual too, as this book is not going to be all-inclusive for your particular model. Second, although the drawings are great as I mentioned above, the book would be a lot better if there were a whole lot more of them. Some of the steps in the procedures will cover a page or two of descriptive text that would be a lot better served by using an illustration.
   
   In a nutshell, if you have an aircooled VW, BUY THIS BOOK. Then again, even if you don't own a VW but you are a fan of the mentality of the 'hippie' era you would probably enjoy reading the book anyway.



3. This book is the ultimate guide for keeping your Volkswagen up to speed. The diagrams show it the way it really is - not a computer generated drawing. This way, you truly know how it looks when you get in there and what to do with all the stuff! Computer drawings throw you off base and can be confusing because they do not truly represent what's in there.
   
   It's truly for the "idiot." The text is down to earth and humorous at times. I highly recommend this book for someone who is going to be working on a Volkswagen.



4. First, my credentials for this review. From 1971 to 1994 (with insignificant gaps), I've owned and driven three Vokswagen buses and used this manual to keep all of them on the road. I've gone through four copies of it, using each one until it either fell to pieces, became illegible from grease and oil stains, or needed to be updated as I bought a later-model bus. It has guided me through six or seven engine rebuilds (I used my engines very, very hard) and God knows how many other procedures ... I think that I've done every single procedure in the book that applied to my particular makes and models. And using this book, I've done work on various WV bugs, buses, and squarebacks that belonged to friends of mine.
   I agree with everybody who calls this the indispensable reference for VW owners. I also agree with those who point out its shortcomings. Muir quotes a friend of his, on a review of another VW book. as saying "I agree one hundred percent with ninety percent of what he says." That could also apply to my own feelings about this book.
   As a technical manual, it mostly consists of solid information -- solid enough, anyway, to get you back on the road so you can find somebody to show you how to do it the right way. I've always advised a prospective repairer to own both this book and another manual (my favorite was the green Volkswagen Official Service Manual, also called the "Bentley"), read the Muir write-up first to get a general idea of what to do, and then compare it to the other manual, note the differences, and ask somebody why the differences are there. Usually it's because Muir assumes you're making do with a minimum of tools, or are too cash-strapped to make a proper fix. Occasionally, you'll find that John was flat wrong about something (such as how to warm it up in the morning, or why chokes should be disabled), or that your particular model had a different set-up than the ones he was familiar with.
   But to simply compare this book with other technical manuals would be to ignore the most important feature of this book, which is its ability to empower you. It presumes that the reader has no technical aptitude and starts you gently down the road to proficiency and self-confidence. I'll bet that more mechanics have been inspired by this book than any other technical manual ever written. Not only that, but once you have discovered that you can indeed perform a repair competently, you get a sneaking suspicion that there are other things you can do if you apply the same confidence, common sense, and ingenuity that John taught you about. I doubt if I would have had the courage to time a sewing machine, install a hard drive, build a mandolin, or re-assemble a hang glider if John hadn't shown me that I had the potential to do these things.
   This book has survived because of its idiosyncrasies, not in spite of them. John writes that "You must do this work with love or you will fail. You don't have to think, but you must love." He's telling you something important about Life here, and about the relationship we have to our possessions and to our work. Forty years later, these are still wise words, and to find them in an automotive manual is astonishing. Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" tried to apply philosophical principles to machine repair, but it failed because he was no mechanic and tried to gauge his mechanic's skill according to his own expectations of what a mechanic's mind-set should be. John knew better. He knew, and taught, that you achieve oneness with the machine by applying mind, heart, and hands together, and by listening to the machine as it tries to tell you what needs to be done. If there's ever been another book like that, I haven't heard of it. And if there is, I'll wager that the author has read the "Idiot Book."



5. The is the one VW book that is a must have. If your new to Aircooled VW's get this book first.

5 comments about Convert It!.

1. in an era of gloabal warming, high gas prices and a growing feeling of helplessness its nice to have a book that tells you haw you can make a positive impact by doing your own conversion.
   
   the steps are clear the layout is concise and when there are options they discuss pros and cons of your choices.



2. The book is a quick read and goes over the details of constructing an EV. Focuses mainly on the construction and is light on the background and concepts.



3. author michael p. brown says this book is a step by step of what is involved in converting a petrol to electric and that is exactly what you get for a novice ev converter its all you will need --- bar a lot of motivation



4. Very good introduction to EV conversions. Worth the price just for the practical tips and process information. Written in the early 90's, so it lacks information on newer motor systems (eschews AC because of complexity) and recent battery technology (lithium ion, etc.). It really could use and update... I'm sure there have been advances in the last 15 years. Mr. Brown is still offering workshops in EV conversion in Seattle and runs a conversion supply company (Electro Automotive). Interestingly he offers newer AC kits through his operation. If you're serious about converting to electric, this book is a good place to start.



5. This is a great book for the EV enthusiast. I was a little surprised that the pages of the book seem like xerox copies. But the quality of the information is very impressive.

No comments about Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us).

5 comments about Build Your Own Electric Vehicle.

1. The book is practically a collection of mind maps of various decision trees and other concepts... The text probably is adequate for designing a decent conversion. It's pretty useful if you don't mind the author's quirks.



2. I liked this book a lot, it reads well, it provides the "how to" information in the title but also a lot of background information. The only real defect I can find in it is the date of last update (1993). Suprisingly, most of what is said is still valid, but there are some things missing which did not exist then or were not mature enough. Some recommendations actually got even better: the "AC propulsion" system, which is already much praised in the book, went on to even greater success in the Tesla roadster. Just get someone (the author, if still active, or someone else) to update it for 2008 new technologies.



3. In general I found this book of value as a technical reference volumne but was extremly disappointed in the bias shown toward hybrid vehicles and larger cars of all types and the attitude that EV'S are for short shopping runs and you should use an ICE for anything else. This attitude has been what has slowed the uptake of EV's and kept the creation in the hands of mainly gifted amateurs. Yes I certainly will be using the formulae in the book but will be looking beyond the USA most of the electrics and electronics for my electric touring car



4. This book was written in the early 90's. It's so out of date that it's almost usless. Whish I had know before I spent $$$.



5. I read the book because I was interested in converting a car. At times, it became waaay more technical than I bargained for. But it gave me the confidence to go ahead with my project.
   
   I later learned that what I wanted to build was going to be so expensive, that I would not be able to afford it. This led me to see the book on a different light. For example, I would have liked it to be more specific info on the ranges and speeds one could get with a certain system. I did not find that... maybe I skipped it when I blew off the extremely technical info.
   
   But other than that I thought the book was AWESOME. I would not recommend anyone to start a project like this without first talking to people who have done it already. (That is how I found out that I was being too ambitious).
   
   I have not converted a car yet, since I decided to wait until batteries get better so I can get the range and speeds I need. But when the time comes, I going to pick up this book again. This puppy is NOT going to the used-book bookstore.

5 comments about Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century.

1. I am one person that is truly going to make ethanol for gas, whether or not I continue this adventure is another question. But where we live in Europe we pay about $8 per gal for diesel- just so you know what is coming your way USA. I also happen to live in the corn belt of Europe- so it's dumb not to try and we have a small farm. Therefore I am so thankful that I bought this book. I would also recommend for further study [...]



2. This book is Huge! Full of really great information, everything from the history of alcohol fuels to how to convert any gas engine to alcohol. This is a must read for those that want to get off foriegn oil.



3. I purchased this book with the primary intention of learning how I could convert all the waste fruit I generate in my grove into alcohol. The author is well educated and does know his stuff and shares his experience in creating alcohol to be used as fuel. However, the book includes chapter after chapter of political information (and mis-information) which really hurts the books ability to inform. When will people realize and understand that mixing in your political beliefs into a "how-to" type book just doesn't work. Like most people that would but this book, my primary goal is to learn how to make alcohol to use for fuel. I could care less about how evil the Bush administration is or how big oil is ruining our lives or how almost every topic he covers seems to always come around to blame someone for something ie. global warming.
   
   It is unfortunate that Mr. Blume could not control himself enough to hold back his bias and simply write a cookbook style how-to book. He would have saved a ton of paper if he would heed my advice and drop the political stuff. The book would be about a third of the size it is now.
   I wish that Mr. Blume would have taken his publisher's advice and wrote two books; one for his political agenda and the other that teaches how to make and use alcohol as a fuel. Then he would have a winner.
   
   In conclusion, please strip out the political stuff which does nothing to advance your ideas and only causes more divisiveness. Think of it this way: if you limit your audience to only those that agree with you politically, the only people that will read your book are you and your mother. Make it universal by making it neutral.



4. I am an environmental educator at the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm community in Summertown,Tennessee and author of Shutdown: Nuclear Power on Trial (1979); Climate in Crisis: The Greenhouse Effect and What We Can Do (1990), and most recently, The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times, from New Society Publishers and Amazon.
   
   Arriving in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the International Permaculture Conference in 2007, I checked the online schedule and saw that the organizers had set me down for a morning session on "making money from tree planting." Caught by surprise, I had to scramble to prepare a powerpoint and one of the ideas I thought to explore was biofuels. Conventional wisdom has it that "agrifuels" are in competition with food production and climate remediation. I dashed off an email to David Blume asking for an example of "permaculture fuels."
   
   He replied, "Well to take a page from the book. In semiarid areas where the temperature goes no lower than 0 degrees F you can plant an overstory of mesquite to provide both 340 gallons of alcohol per acre from the pods and fuel the plant with coppiced branches from the tree. In the understory you plant perennial Opuntia (nopales) thornless cactus, and between there and the dripline and beyond you plant the starchy root crop, Buffalo Gourd, for a total yield of far over 1000 gallons per acre without irrigation."
   
   There you have it, a polyculture for food and fuel. But what about climate change? I wrote him back, "Would you say the guild above is a net carbon sink?"
   
   He responded, "It is absolutely a massive carbon sink. Pretty much all arid country crops put the majority of their growth underground and have a robust mycorhyzzal feeding regime. Perhaps 80+% of carbon produced in the top growth is exuded for rhizosphere associates. Mesquite is unique in that a large portion of its root burrows deep to support it with water extracted from far below. There have been recorded instances of mesquite going down 160 feet for water."
   
   And that, in a nutshell, is Farmer Dave's permafuel thesis. That he takes several hundred pages to flesh it out, in Alcohol Can Be a Gas! Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century, is an enduring blessing for permaculturists everywhere. This six-volume set, bound into one thick paperback, is both required reading and a standard reference on a par with A Pattern Language and David Jacke's Edible Forest Gardens.
   
   The six books contained in one are, in order, Understanding Alcohol: Visions and Solutions (including "busting the myths," polyculture and photosaturation, and Brazil's national program dissected), Making Alcohol: How to Do It (including 30 odd feedstocks from algae to whey, the sugar method, the starch method, fungal and bacterial enzymes, fuels, and distiller construction), Co-Products from Making Alcohol (animals, aquaculture, mariculture, mushrooms, methane, etc.), Using Alcohol as Fuel (carburetion, injection, small engines, flex-fuel conversions and cogeneration of heating, lighting and cooling, and typical conversions), The Business of Alcohol: Hands-On Advice (legal and economic considerations and case studies); and A Vision for the Nation (state and federal incentives, Community Supported Energy and permaculture).
   
   Just exactly what is the appropriate role for alcohol fuels is an old, but ongoing discussion, and it has been known to get heated at times. The Tortilla Rebellion in Mexico, catastrophic overplanting of maize and soya, gene splicing by multinationals for cellulosic substrate alchemy, forest clearing worldwide -- these are serious concerns.
   
   Recently, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to increase ethanol production by giving generous subsidies to the U.S. farm belt. The Act mandates the use of 15 billion gallons of biofuels annually by 2015 and 36 billion gallons by 2022 (up from 8.5 billion subsidized gallons now). Nearly all of this would be corn ethanol, taken from grain stocks, with the stover burned or plowed in. Beginning in 2016, the government would ask farmers to add the corn stover, along with switch grass or wood chips, to make annual increases of 3 billion gallons in "cellulosic" ethanol. This legislation passed over the opposition from Big Oil and food manufacturers, but is just the kind of massively soil-destroying, economically bankrupting, petro-addicted type of legislation that was ideal for harvesting votes in the Iowa caucuses.
   
   By showing how ethanol can be ethically produced in combination with food, soil, carbon sequestration and other objectives for healthy system design, Blume provides a rescue remedy for our planet at a time when it could scarcely be needed more.
   
   Loek Boonkamp, who studies agricultural trade and markets for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, estimates replacing just 10 percent of the world's current petroleum use with biofuels would consume about 30 percent of all the grain, oilseed and sugar produced in the U.S., Canada, the European Union and Brazil, not to mention a huge volume of water. Blume takes Boonkamp's argument head-on.
   
   The US has 1500 million acres of agricultural land and uses 70 million -- about 5 percent -- for corn. Mesquite covers 70 million acres of desert land. Harvesting mesquite pods would yield more alcohol than corn without any inputs of soil, fertilizer or water. The US could achieve similar yields from the lawn clippings coming off suburbia on any given Saturday (30 million acres at last count). There are dozens of these examples in the book. Moreover, one has to consider how much of that corn produced in the US is actually used as a food, and how much is used in floor wax, plywood, crayons and other products.
   
   But then, why use farmland at all? Why not harvest ethanol from cattails or dried seaweed? Willows and bamboo planted on berms separating long canals of cattails, with greywater, spent mash and fermentation carbon dioxide returned to the roots could yield 10,000 gallons of ethanol per acre.
   
   The Chinese are getting 4.8 dry tons per acre off seaweed from coastal waters, and the Vietnamese, who farm shrimp from April to September, harvest algae from the same shallow lagoons and estuaries the rest of the year. Kelp grown on nets can cover hundreds of acres of ocean and provide bread flours, carrageenan, agar and other ethanol co-products while also restoring health to over-nitrified "dead zones." Blume estimates the energy return on marine ethanol is on the order of 15 to 1, significantly better than current returns on petroleum exploration and production.
   
   Alcohol Can Be A Gas! goes beyond helping the mechanically adept convert their internal combustion engines to ethical fuels. It provides clear operating manuals for the farmers who will grow those fuels, the fermenters who will build and operate the stills, and the artisans who will create and trade myriad co-products.



5. This book delves into the kind of information that could help us avoid making the same mistakes over and over. If it can help create awareness of how susceptible the public is to being flim-flammed by the Oil Industry experts and its sycophants imbedded throughout the government and media we could clean this mess up. The book shows that it was the oil interests who politicized energy not the author of this book.
   
   Contrary to the specious complaints of some, this book doesn't pretend to be a "How To" book on making alcohol out of fruit... which is plain from a quick look at the table of contents. Try a brewers store. Besides it is illegal to make alcohol in any useful quantities without an expensive license...ever heard of the ATF? ...good grief