Book? What book?

Back in December 2004, I decided that I wanted to write something substantial, not fits and starts of disorganised bits of essays, email ramblings and disjointed fiction. I’d go with a book. I had 3 months of holiday to occupy, was not really inclined to get employed and did not want to be continuously bored.

In this project, I attempted to introduce automotive engines for an interested layperson. It proved to be a good challenge to write clearly and succinctly with minimal use of technical terms.

The endeavour is currently stalled at page 20. In my defence, I had to do a fair bit (that means a lot) of research and mathematical modelling to know what I was talking about before committing them to text. I also did a lot of pretty drawings and diagrams of crankshafts, photographed them, edited the colours and made them look presentable.

I initially intended to post a small (subject to opinion) section of that project online, but a lone segment would be puzzlingly out of context. Instead, I’ll simply show off 2 of my drawings, graphite on paper, with digital image capturing and colour editing.

Click to view full sized images.

(a) induction
(b) compression
(c) ignition
(d) exhaust




Might as well shamelessly promote my ‘book’ now. Its actually an incomplete draft. Anyone who’s interested can contact me for an electronic version (*.doc) of about 2.5 Mb, complete with all relevant illustrations.