"Your Garagenous Zone" - book review | FerrariChat

"Your Garagenous Zone" - book review

Discussion in 'General Automotive Discussion' started by Doody, Oct 2, 2004.

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  1. Doody

    Doody F1 Veteran

    Nov 16, 2001
    6,099
    MA USA
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    Mr. Doody
    #1 Doody, Oct 2, 2004
    i haven't seen this book discussed here before, so i thought i'd post some thoughts, having just picked it up this week.

    Your Garagenous Zone
    Innovative Ideas for the Garage
    2004
    Bill West
    Paragon Garage Company, Ltd., Fort Collins CO
    ~185 pgs
    softcover
    purchased from amazon.com

    i get the impression that this guy put this together and published it himself or via a local tiny outfit (i'm sure Harcourt doesn't lie awake at night worrying about "Paragon Garage Company").

    its primary focus is INSIDE the garage. my two favorite garage books
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561583782/qid=1096717460/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_2_1/104-0661715-9709549 and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0760314713/qid=1096717460/sr=2-2/ref=pd_ka_2_2/104-0661715-9709549 tend to focus on the exteriors and architecture, and the cars inside. this book probably started out as just a "how to not have a horribly messy garage" focus and then grew from there.

    in its initial focus, it was probably a 50 page book with lots of pictures. they basically tacked on all sorts of other stuff to flesh it out (my opinion). what's interesting is that he focuses on different "features" of a garage and goes through lists of providers of such stuff, discussing the products.

    unfortunately, most of it comes off as paid advertising (indeed, some of it looks like paid advertising). there's very little in the way of value judgements from the author, and the lists are woefully short - ie: i assume those who didn't pay didn't get included.

    for example, when discussing floor treatments, he mentions two epoxies and two rubber floor solutions. no mention of plastic snap-tiles. no mention of ceramic tiles. it's very cursory.

    his discussion of door openers is even more cursory. he doesn't discuss jack shafts at all, and only mentions the Dalton iDrive opener, which, while innovative and interesting, my garage door guys now refuse to install because it just doesn't hold up (they say). no discussion of power ratings and why or how they matter. etc. etc.

    the lift coverage isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

    this is indicative of how most of the book works out. i did learn some useful things though. the coverage of storage solutions is nice and seems more thorough than the other sections (cf. initial focus above). i now know where to buy a garage turntable - which is very cool - i had only seen pictures of one before http://www.hovair.com/ . there are some innovative (silly, but innovative) garage door designs pictured.

    production quality is nice - pretty pictures throughout. the author is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). i get the impression that the better part of this book is largely reprinted from a 1999 volume he did and then they tacked on the other stuff. the book has its own site http://www.garagez.com/ whose sole purpose seems to be to sell the book.

    this book could have been useful, but he didn't take it even close to its logical conclusion. for the one or two new things i learned it was worth the short money, but i would not run out and buy it unless you're a real whack-job - like me :)

    doody.
     

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