COMMON SENSE NOT REQUIRED: Idiots Designing Cars + Hybrid Vehicles: My Career with Chrysler (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I grew up in a home where we possessed an arrogance that we were smarter than everyone else..." (more)
Key Phrases: brake regeneration, vehicle dynamics department, low rolling resistance tires, Grand Cherokee, Bob Bachelor, General Motors (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Boberg's missive will either have them laughing, crying, or reaching for a gun. -- Automotive Design and Production, August 2004

Our recommendation ..., is to buy the book. It's inexpensive and eye-opening, and it's a good read as well. -- Allpar.com July 2004 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Author Reveals Experience Working at Chrysler Corporation in Collection of Short Stories

Author Evan Boberg dispels the myths surrounding the automobile industry and the employees who work there. "With very few exceptions, books about the automobile industry are written by members of the press and by high level executives. The car companies hide the problems and embarrassments from the press … and the executives are self-aggrandizing. Though these stories are most often very interesting, they do not tell the whole truth. As a low-level engineer, I was a true insider," says Boberg.

In Common Sense Not Required, Boberg uses humor to expose some of the less intelligent moves made behind the walls of Chrysler. He sets up several "Common Sense Principles" and illustrates with anecdotes from his 12 years at the corporation how these principles were ignored, resulting in increased costs to the corporation.

Common Sense Not Required blends autobiography with a light-hearted exposé and includes tips on commonly asked questions about the industry and cars in general. Readers will learn how to find a good mechanic, why certain things aren’t covered under a new car warranty, what happened to the 100 mpg carburetor and whether or not to buy a hybrid vehicle.

With wit and wisdom, Boberg offers a humorous collection of true stories that will appeal to anyone interested in cars and hybrid vehicles or anyone curious to know what it takes to work in the industry. According to Boberg, "It doesn’t take a genius to design cars, it doesn’t even require common sense!" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: 1st Books Library (February 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414040776
• ISBN-13: 978-1414040776
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #981,452 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating psychological study, May 15, 2004

By A Customer

This is an intriguing book. It's well worth reading, despite the fact that it provides little insight into the automobile industry except to complete novices. If you can read and understand a copy of Car and Driver, there is nothing here you don't already know. There's not a lot of "inside scoop."

Instead, the real value lies in getting inside the head of Mr. Boberg, who is convinced that his world-class intelligence was of such colossal value that Chrysler ignored him at its peril. The first page after the intro sets the tone:

"I grew up in a home where we posessed an arrogance that we were smarter than everyone else....I have heard people talk about how it doesn't take a high IQ to be successful. It takes hard work and perserverance. With my superior intelligence, I have observed this to be true. I am personally an example. I'm very intelligent, yet considered a failure in most people's eyes."

We are put on notice that we're dealing with a genius while bemoaning the fact that hard work can bring success to those with less-than-Bobergian intelligence. He is "a failure in most people's eyes," but that doesn't matter. To Boberg, "most people" are the title's "idiots" anyway. Their opinions about everything, including what cars they want to buy, are insignificant and obviously in error.

The last paragraph of the book includes this assessment of the oh-so-challenging Boberg condition:

"This is where I wish I wasn't so smart."

Well, maybe Mr. Boberg isn't so smart. His book is riddled with typos, factual inaccuracies and bad grammar. (Boberg, aided by a decent proofreader, might have wished he "weren't" so smart.)

Boberg does a good job of providing background and premises for his stories that back up his point of view. If you don't know the situations he's discussing, he provides enough facts for his arguments to be consistent within the universe of the facts provided. However, even a passing knowledge of engineering, Chrysler, or the vehicles he's discussing reveals inconsistencies between The World According to Boberg and reality. The real crux of his tales is not mentioned...or perhaps is not even known to Boberg.

You'd think a guy with such a reverent view of himself might start to temper his arrogance when basically everyone he encounters disagrees with him. Apparently, he never did, right down to unemployment and moving back in with his father after 12 years at Chrysler. This book tells this tale without any sense of perspective, irony, or any self-knowledge whatsoever.

That's the real entertainment in this book: watching an arrogant individual with an inflated sense of his own competence and intelligence slide into complete failure...and not even understand his own collapse after the fact. This is made all the more fascinating by the fact that he is accurately telling us this tale himself, with apparently no idea how poorly this story reflects on him. Just amazing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable, but not a complete waste of time., January 13, 2005

By	morgandp (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

'A reader' sums it all up in his/her May 16, 2004 review.

However, considering it was only a $4 download I didn't feel too cheated at reading this very amateurish, unedited, and unproofed piece of work.

Mr. Boberg certainly has some useful experiences to share with people interested in the auto industry generally and Chrysler's mixed fortunes specifically. However, only his analysis of the costs and benefits of hybrid autos is worth the trouble here. In fact, anyone who believes a hybrid is a magic solution to the problems of fuel consumption and pollution might do well to acquaint themselves with some of the facts here.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So bad, I can't read it..., January 29, 2005

By	Cavebat (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

I'm an engineer; I'm used to reading bad prose. I'm used to dealing with technical people deficient in people skills, but I just can't get past more than a few paragraphs in this book. I'll probably give it another try when I'm feeling more masochistic, but for now this book will be sitting on the shelf. If you have a low tolerance for badly written, egocentric self aggrandizement, then give this piece of work a wide berth.