Nonfiction Book Reviews

The World’s Worst Cars: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters by Craig Cheetham was a depressing book. I picked it up because I thought it looked interesting - something my father would like. He always gravitates towards books on mechanical things like tractors and pickups, and I thought this would be another good one for him to read. I checked it out of the library and sent it home to him, and he returned it with a note, “This book was depressing.” Surprised, I asked him why. He said, “It was page after page of cars that didn’t work, and why they didn’t work, and there just wasn’t anything uplifting or happy in the whole book.” I thought depressing was a strong word for a nonfiction book on cars, so I figured I’d read it and see what I thought, instead of just turning it back into the library as I had originally planned.

Turns out, my dad was right (see Dad, I do say that sometimes! :-P) - this book was depressing. I also didn’t agree with it entirely. My great-grandmother’s car was in there - the Chevy Nova. Not that I was in love with that car, but considering she’d had it since it was brand new off the lot from ‘70 all the way up in 2004, I think you’d be hard pressed to say it wasn’t reliable. It also listed the Ford Explorer because of the fiasco with Firestone tires, but the American public has a short memory, and if the amount of Explorers on the road is any indication, people have gotten past their fear of driving that SUV.

The cover is fun (it shows the Reliant Robin, a three wheeled car that tipped when you went around corners too fast) and the premise is great too. But don’t plan on sitting down and reading it cover to cover any time soon - it’s much too depressing for that. If you’re a car buff and want a book for your coffee table, this one might be good to generate comments during dinner parties, but that’s about it.

2.25 out of 5 stars.

Havs