What book can I read to learn how to drive a stick-shift?”
Step 1: Learn the Gears Learn the location of and feel of passing through the gears. First learn to shift the gears without the car running (pushing the clutch in each time). Then, from the passenger seat, try it with someone else driving the car and operating the clutch. Be sure to place the stick all the way into gear–until it won’t go any more–but don’t force it. If you stop halfway, you will hear an incredibly unpleasant grinding sound which means your car is not in gear. Eventually, you will know when to shift by feel, but early on you’ll have to act deliberately. Even if you’ve never been in a car before, you can tell when a car is in the appropriate gear: the car’s not making a coughing and chugging sound (gear too high) but it’s not making a high-revving sound either (gear too low). If you have a tachometer, shift around “3” (3000 rpm) on each gear or every 15 miles per hour (1st gear 1-15, 2nd 15-30, 3rd 30-45, etc.). This is only a general rule, of course, and higher powere
