The Book Brigade: A-Z of 21st-Century Cars by Tony Lewin

Growing up with smart phones in our pockets and tablets on hand, our lives are becoming increasingly digital and tech-heavy. With a "dying" print industry (The Sun on Sunday aside) and growing scores of people hitting up the web for the latest and greatest, you'd think that published books were on their last legs. Heck, even today's toddlers are confuzzled by print.

However look a little closer, and you'll realise that there's still room for high quality. Whether that's in the form of magazines with amazing high-res photography or books that add raw emotion when held in your palms. One of the latest books we've come across to deliver on emotion and amazing value-add is Tony Lewin's A-Z of 21st Century Cars.

What is this 539 page, £24.95 book all about and why should I buy this instead of searching Le Interwebz for car info? Well simply put, this is everything in one place, in one very aesthetically pleasing package. The author, Tony Lewin, is a former editor of What Car? magazine and launched the Financial Times Automotive World. So he knows what he's on about first and foremost.

As the title suggests, readers can sweep through 300 entries and look at cars mainly from the viewpoint of fantastic design. Featured designers in the book, and in fact stand-out sections, have been colour-coded so you don't miss out on detail. Big names like Bertone and controversial characters like Chris Bangle have sections dedicated to their life's work. Forget your preconceived judgements about the E60/61 5 Series, this is your opportunity to access the minds of figureheads who's works you see all around you in everyday life.

If you get bored of the text, then there are 1,500 images for you to peruse. Ranging from early Bristol cars through to the Ferrari 458 Italia, you won't just find 21st Century produced cars in this book. In reality, this is more like the ultimate car encyclopaedia.

Whilst manufacturer and marque sections allow you to get a feel for the history of these automobiles, I would have liked to see some hard stats too. There's nothing quite like seeing how much horsepower current engineers can extract out of engines these days to make you proud of an industry which is really going up against it thanks to financial woes.

More to the point, will people want to buy this book in lieu of the elephant in the room, Google? To hardcore car nuts and enthusiasts who constantly yearn for more information and for youngsters dreaming of designing iconic cars, this is definitely worth the price tag. It's cheaper than your University textbook, which has got to count for something!

To top off the offering it would be nice to see an iPhone or iPad app. Ultimate user interaction is the name of the game and would mean that the book's publishers could access both technophobes and the current crop of digital dreamers. You can purchase your copy by heading here.

Thanks to Merrell Publishing for sending us a free copy for review.