With two trim books - Crap Cars and My Dad Had One Of Those - under its seat belt, TopGear Magazine marks the male menopause with TopGear’s Midlife Crisis Cars. As a road tester and motoring correspondent, Matt Master has the credentials to have a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the world’s most desirable and not-so-desirable vehicles of the last 50 years. He jokes that his postcard-sized book is a decidedly scientific examination of the diverse and intricate marriage of misguided men denying middle-age spread and the fastest, most coveted and impractical machines over the generations.

Many classic automated pieces of art from the Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet to the Porsche 914, the wacky Conte Amphibious Car and the Lamborghini tractor can be found in the pages of this stylish, retro coffee table book. Even though Master writes with a wicked sense of fun, he still includes all the essential automotive data. When this is blended with observations about self-doubting family men with G-force fetishes, the result is a compelling gift for anyone who ever dreamed of owning a fast and furious style vehicle. This fun read is a marvellously illustrated compendium of sports, prestige and supercars. Intended for anyone determined to blow the kids’ inheritance, TopGear's Midlife Crisis Cars proves that men of a certain age will happily polish a turd. BBC Books $29.95.