Most car lovers can remember the high-powered names of engines of the past with fondness -- and maybe a few laughs at the silly stuff some copywriters invented.

There was the Blue Flame (Chevy), Firepower (Chrysler), Interceptor (Ford) and who among us can forget Oldsmobile's Rocket V-8?

But some engines stand out as having helped redefine the American car industry. Those engines are profiled in "American Horsepower: 100 Years of Great Car Engines," by Mike Mueller, ($34.95, Motorbooks International).

The book devotes a chapter to each of 25 engines, including the Ford Model T Four Cylinder, the Deusenberg Straight Eight, the Packard Twelve, the Ford 428 Cobra Jet V-8, Chevy's 409 and 454 V-8s and plenty of others.

Discussing engines can, of course, be a real yawner for many people -- even ardent car enthusiasts. Sensibly, this book refrains from going overboard, and even the technical information is presented in an easy-to-understand and often colorful way.

You get to know the quirks of some of the engines, the role they played in each company's history and stories and anecdotes galore about how each engine came to be developed.

There's also lots of photos of the original engines along with pictures of some of the cars in which they were installed.

This is a terrific book, and I'm hoping the author will find enough other engines out there to write about that we can expect a volume two.

I have a soft spot in my heart for cars of the 1950s, since I grew up in that era, and those are the models that have the most sentimental value for me. But I'm not alone. Plenty of younger people also enjoy cars of the 1950s, when colors, interiors, models and features seemed more interesting than what we often found in cars that came later.

If you want a crash course in cars of the era, pick up a copy of "Cars of the Fantastic '50s," by Dan Lyons ($29.99, KP Books).

With huge photos and breezy copy, this is an easy and enjoyable read for just about anybody. Admittedly, it's hard to come up with much original material on these cars since they've been the subject of so many books already; but the author does manage that feat anyway.

You learn about Henry Kaiser's dislike for the 1954 Kaiser-Darrin sports convertible, Ford's bad timing with the 1959 Galaxie 500 Sunliner and the role that the 1956 Buick Century played in helping to strengthen the muscle car movement. And did you know that Lincoln once had a reputation for road race performance? That's how the song "Hot Rod Lincoln" became such a signature tune.

This is a relatively inexpensive coffee table book, thanks to the size and beauty of the photography.