Not really as user-friendly as it needed to be， this jumps straight in with this Typ car， then that Typ car as a spin-off from the VW， and then collabs with an Italian bloke， and then more Typs – all with their attendant cylinder layouts， stats and so on。 I expected those – and how awkward it makes reading such matter to a non-petrol-head such as I – but I did think for a general history it would have started before the beginning， as it were。 But no， this is full on。Pretty much like the Porsche， Not really as user-friendly as it needed to be， this jumps straight in with this Typ car， then that Typ car as a spin-off from the VW， and then collabs with an Italian bloke， and then more Typs – all with their attendant cylinder layouts， stats and so on。 I expected those – and how awkward it makes reading such matter to a non-petrol-head such as I – but I did think for a general history it would have started before the beginning， as it were。 But no， this is full on。Pretty much like the Porsche， then – whichever one you care to mention。 And it is still interesting to see from the visuals how recognisably a Porsche the cars from the 1950s were （before then， less so – the early Typ 64 a nonsense of a car in relation to what was to come later）。 The other aspect to how well this volume will go down is the impossible-to-unweave mesh of race cars and road vehicles that makes up the Porsche history。 They aren't alone， of course， in bringing track tech to the production model， but with all the different kinds of racing long before F1， and then Le Mans and other ways to prove engineering mettle， the history has to cover both， and so the Porsche owner has to read about the race successes and failures in celebration of the marque she adores， while the race boff has to see the perhaps more mundane sides – such as when Peugeot quibbled at the Typ 901 designation。 Add ten， and the rest is history。Of course， the comment above about Porsches looking like Porsches early on does kind of go out the window when you get to the 1970s and the Spyders （subject of my favourite ever Top Trumps card as a kid， I remember） – but the fact remains this manages to carry enough knowledge and research about how all the cars spun off from each other， and how every race requirement made each and every change， to leave the reader as intimately connected to the marque as they wish。 If you have to brace yourself as a real layman or casual browser， so be it – this knows its audiences and its duties and does them all well。 Pretty much like a Porsche， then – although I am not going to say this is a Spyder。 But it ain't no Typ 64， either。 。。。more