If you've ever opened a car bonnet with an eye to adventure, chances are you did so equipped with a Haynes Owner's Workshop Manual. For many years the oily tinkerer's indispensable companion, these dense, unglamorous, no-frills guides could see one patiently through anything from changing a headlamp bulb to stripping a carburettor or rewiring a faulty ignition.
But since there's no point opening today's bonnets without a PhD in combined mechanical engineering and computing, diversification has become the watchword for the Somerset workshop press turned international publisher.
Last year saw the publication of a Haynes manual for the most temperamental, and difficult to start, of all automobiles, the teenager. This March they moved on to the same manufacturer's supermini model, the toddler, with advice on potty training, tantrums and the best way to pull out milk teeth. "Owner's Manuals" have also been produced for men, women, babies and how to make them (though not necessarily on the back seat).
But the biggest departure of all will come later this year, when the manuals step away from reality altogether, with a new children's series planned including manuals for would-be spies and pirates. Eventually, a manual is envisaged for every childhood dream, including astronauts, detectives and, quite possibly, car mechanics.
Those who, like me, have Haynes to thank for numerous quick fixes, and the odd impromptu oil shower, will wish the publisher well in its new ventures. Indeed, in the constructive spirit of the books blog, we might send them some ideas for future manuals.
Unfortunately the most basic manual of all has already been covered by Georges Perec, but there is still room for precocious poets, wannabe popstars and trainee celebs...
