Hoosier, a long time ago, walking home from school (grade 4) when I was young and little I saw a car manual that someone had deserted with the rest of their garbage, on top of their garbage can. It had a general section and sections for all North American cars. It was an encyclopedia of mechanics. I read that book cover to cover many times, I learned a lot from it over the years and although some of the information would not apply any more, some of it would. I continue to regret turfing that book, I could still learn from it. I remember one little thing from it which was that at the beginning it was written that whenever pushing or pulling on a wrench, look to where you are pushing because if your hand slips off the wrench or the wrench slips off the nut or bolt, that is where your hand will go, bruising, breaking or cutting your hand. I think that old manuals in echoing older times are just a nice read for gear heads. Haha, I just remembered reading a road test of an Aston Martin, in an old Car and Driver Magazine. The reviewer wrote of how the owners manual did not explain much of anything that an owner should know but did explain how to de-coke the cylinder head. Don't throw out any manual.
