Don "The Snake" Prudhomme reveals for the first time ever his incredible life and career on and off of the drag strip.

Imagine spending a year with Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, having coffee together and talking about his life, his racing, his friends, and his family. He’d tell you about how he rose from being a high school drop-out who was painting cars to a respected Top Fuel dragster driver and successful businessman. You’d hear how he toured the country with Tommy Ivo and "The Hawaiian" Roland Leong, racing all the legends from "Big Daddy" Don Garlits to "The Golden Greek" [Chris] Karamesines. He'd say how he met Tom McEwen and recall how they became the Snake and the Mongoose, leading to a career in Funny Cars that netted him four championships in a row. He'd talk about the thrill of first wins and owning his own teams but also the struggles of bad seasons, crashes and fires, broken parts, and broken contracts. Along the way, he’d speak about the people in his life, such as engine-builder Keith Black and NHRA president Wally Parks, and those who were killed in the wild and unpredictable sport of nitro racing. It wouldn’t be only racing, though. Prudhomme would share lessons he learned about business and life from such varied sources as a neighbor in Granada Hills to Ford GT40 driver Dan Gurney. He also would talk about the importance of family: how his wife, Lynn, and daughter, Donna, changed his world and how finding out about his African-American roots opened his eyes to a culture and inheritance he’d always wanted. This is the experience you’ll get in Don "The Snake" Prudhomme: My Life Beyond the 1320.

Ever since its introduction in 1955, Chevrolet's small-block V-8 has defined performance. It was the first lightweight, overhead-valve V-8 engine ever available to the masses at an affordable price and, better yet, had tremendous untapped performance potential, making it the performance engine of choice to this day. What sets the Chevy small-block further apart is the fact that a builder does not have to spend big money to get big horsepower numbers. Using multiple examples of engine builds and case studies, The Chevrolet Small-Block Bible provides the reader with the information needed to build anything for a mild street engine for use in a custom or daily driver to a cost-is-no-object dream build. Includes parts selection, blue printing, basic machine work, and more.

The first illustrated history of the Brizios and their street rods, which have defined modern hot rodding for more than twenty years.

The Sumerians, the pragmatic and gifted people who preceded the Semites in the land first known as Sumer and later as Babylonia, created what was probably the first high civilization in the history of man, spanning the fifth to the second millenniums B.C. This book is an unparalleled compendium of what is known about them. Professor Kramer communicates his enthusiasm for his subject as he outlines the history of the Sumerian civilization and describes their cities, religion, literature, education, scientific achievements, social structure, and psychology. Finally, he considers the legacy of Sumer to the ancient and modern world. "There are few scholars in the world qualified to write such a book, and certainly Kramer is one of them. . . . One of the most valuable features of this book is the quantity of texts and fragments which are published for the first time in a form available to the general reader. For the layman the book provides a readable and up-to-date introduction to a most fascinating culture. For the specialist it presents a synthesis with which he may not agree but from which he will nonetheless derive stimulation."—American Journal of Archaeology "An uncontested authority on the civilization of Sumer, Professor Kramer writes with grace and urbanity."—Library Journal

Made to Break is a history of twentieth-century technology as seen through the prism of obsolescence. Giles Slade explains how disposability was a necessary condition for America's rejection of tradition and our acceptance of change and impermanence. This book gives us a detailed and harrowing picture of how, by choosing to support ever-shorter product lives, we may well be shortening the future of our way of life as well.

"Phillip sees things in a different light and has a way of conveying his thoughts to a legion of fans that read his column, including the subjects he sometimes had to criticize. That takes a unique writer." Rob Geiger, Managing Partner, Geiger Media Global, Inc. What's it like to be a maniac on a mission? From the worlds of performance engineering, product development, drag racing, auto racing and human creativity, go beyond with THE ECLECTIC 18. Learn tipping points key to the success of The Justice Brothers oil empire uncovered only here. Realize lessons from Funny Car NHRA pioneer John Force's rise to racing supremacy and how his success