This was a very interesting read. Not a subject I would typically be drawn to but Hiott managed to draw me in regardless. I was engaged throughout the entire book. I would look forward to reading other books like Hiott writes on any subject. ( )

What an excellent book on the history of the Volkswagen Beetle! Andrea Hiott did an exceptional job in the telling of the story, taking what could have been a very dry subject and making it an accessible and enjoyable read.

There were so many opportunities for this little car to fall by the wayside, but thanks to a few determined people, the Beetle not only succeeded, but Volkswagen built over 22 million of these original Beetles, keeping the same Porsche designed body over it's entire 65-year run. This is the car that launched Volskwagen and helped propel it to become the 2nd largest automobile company in the world.

I liked very much the way Hiott structured the book. One could say that she went off on several tangents in telling the story of the Beetle, but everything eventually tied into the story of the car and I was able to learn a great deal beyond the history of the car itself. I was able to increase my knowledge of the great depression, WWII, the "Mad Men" of advertising, and about several other significant auto companies and designers of the time. Hiott tells the truly incredible story of the people and events that contributed to the success of this little car and also how this little car gave back to the people and the events that surrounded it.

This is a review of an ARC, First-Reads selection.

( )

Thinking Small is a book not only about the history of the Volkswagen Beetle, but also a biography of designer Ferdinand Porsche and the other individuals who played a hand in the development of the Beetle through WWII and the post-war years. While I am not particularly well versed in automobiles or their history, I found this to be easy enough to follow along and actually was written quite broadly. This was an interesting read for me and I would recommend it those interested in the subject matter

This book written primarily on the history, development, and marketing of the good old VW Beetle. Beetle being the name affixed to it by us Americans. I was fortunate to own a 1971 model back in the day. For those who missed the experience of the "original" you missed something. The latest version in its cartoonish design doesn't come close in my opinion but they recently have attempted to make a it a bit sleeker.

Andrea Hiott did a great job of telling an incredibly interesting and engaging story about this icon of automotive history. The interrelated story of how the iconic in itself DDB agency falls a bit short but is still substantial enough to add to the overall intrigue of the entire story behind VW. Not as much was done on the technical developments of the car and the more recent history is covered briefly in the last chapter or so.

It was amazing to me that Adolf Hitler the personification of evil and destruction in history could have played such a important role in pursuing the birth and development of the car which has had such a positive impact. But without the genius of Ferdinand Porsche and to some extent his son Ferry the VW Beetle would never have become what it did. The story of Volkswagen teetering on destruction itself during and following the war to the number two manufacturer worldwide is an amazing story, well done here, and a pleasure to read. ( )

I tried and tried (and tried again) to get into this book but could never do so. I should've enjoyed it as the development of the Volkswagen Beetle ought to have been a fascinating subject. However, I have to call this one a "did not finish." It's extremely rare for me not to finish books I've started so that should tell you something. Disappointing.

Hiott's book bears potential for a fascinating exploration of a product and personalities emerging during unique periods of world history. Unfortunately, I came away wanting to know something of actual substance about the founding Porsche family; something giving insight into the seemingly peripheral and politically tainted localized company which became an international powerhouse; something compelling and less superficial about the myriad personalities contributing to one of the most astonishing marketing and manufacturing stories of the industrial age. Perhaps it is because I recently read with appreciation Robert Lacey's well integrated and perceptive 1986 book on the Ford family and auto. With “Thinking Small”, in contrast, when I close my eyes after reading a section, all I can see is a dedicated and intense young writer with a stack of chronologically organized index cards in front of her, transcribing and expanding the indexed notes into the sentences and paragraphs of the book text. Occasionally, there may be side tracks, but they usually peter out into nothing substantially incorporated in the story to be told. Especially distracting are Hiott's sudden attempts at injecting rhapsodic reflections on the political and philosophical importance of the environment in which the VW is developing. Never do these breathless interjections contribute, however, to a better understanding of that environment, the car, or the people essential to its life.

“Thinking Small” is a creditable effort to convey a compelling story. Unfortunately, the reader comes away having read a compelling outline. You can now recite relevant dates and names, but having never been immersed or invested in an epic tale, you're left discontent, wondering if you can now find a better book – one which includes not only the often disjointed whos, whats, and wheres, but also perceptive attempts at the whys. ( )

The author of this book clearly loves her subject matter. This is a really well-researched and careful tale of a car -- which means it is the story of the modern era, too, because this car's journey is the journey of our progress in the 20th century. I thought it would just be the tale of a car, something for us "car guys", but I was surprised at how many things are tied together here, and how much I learned. ( )

This is a book I wanted to love. My husband and I had two different bugs when we were first married. The beginning of the book gives some great background on Ferdinand Porsche, the designer of the first bug. Once through that, the book bogs down trying to cover too much of the history of Germany, the Depression, Henry Ford's influence, you name it. I think Hitler's part in developing the People's car is the most interesting and ironic part of the book. The advertising as such a major part less so. I know of one ad campaign not mentioned having to do with squeezing all the residents of a very small town in Nevada into a VW camper bus. That included the dog. This book needed to be squeezed into a smaller space. ( )

About the development of the Volkswagen Beetle. But I found the effort somewhat high schoolish in tone, like a book report. I didn’t get much sense of any passion for the subject here; it was almost as if the book was an assignment to be completed. The style is flat and commonplace. I stopped at page 80, bored. ( )

I've been trying for months to work my way through this, and I finally had to DNF it around page 200. My copy is an ARC, so I can't comment on the final proof, but it feels like this is still in the researching stage and needs to be edited better. I can't keep the people straight and Hiott doesn't do a good job of reminding the reader where we have seen each person before. There are some odd personal interjections that felt out of place. While the topic was interesting, Hiott seemed to stray from the Beetle and fit all of WW2 history into her book. Overall, I just couldn't get through it. ( )

Fascinating book.
The book tells the story of the Volkswagen Beetle, and with it the story of the main characters involved in its conception and development, immersed in the historical period. It starts with the main people behind the Volkswagen: Porsche, Hitler, Nordhoff, Bernbach. Their childhood, their passions, their family life, their work, and all the steps they did to build, finance, produce, and advertise this car. Steps that seemed small at the time, but turned out to be revolutionary.
The insights into this people's life are really interesting, and the historical descriptions is fascinating. Europe between the wars, the second world war seen through the eyes of Germans, the effect of the wars in Germany, the decisions of the Allies in the zoned Germany.
I loved the historical description, rich in details and light to read at the same time.
A pleasure to read. ( )

Very informative book about the VW Beetle. Packed with information, and very readable. The length (over 400 pages) and the sheer amount of details makes it probably best suited for automobile history buffs. Maybe a narrative arc other than a chronological one would have made it a little easier to navigate; I wonder if books like this will be ideal for the day when the author can publish a shorter ebook version that has links to extra supplemental information. This would allow for the same amount of information but reduce some of the smaller details for those who din't need it. ( )

The Volkswagen Beetle is an interesting car that makes for a slightly interesting book. The car has a certain place in our culture, for good or bad. Interesting stuff, but it was hard to care so much about an ugly car. ( )

If you really love the Beetle, or you really love biographies, you'll like this one. I could take it or leave it. The book is evenly divided between the biographies of the marketing guy who brought the Beetle to the masses in the US, the creator Ferdinand Porsche and Hitler. It is well written, but I just couldn't manage to care and I gave up about 1/3 of the way in. ( )

If you love history and cars, then this is the book for you. Thinking Small is the in depth story of the Volkswagen Beetle and it really does go deep. It is the history of Germany and Hitler's connection to the Beetle, a biography of Ferdinand Porsche and other German automotive men. It is a fascinating story, but the book itself can appear intimidating since it has over 420 pages. There are illustrations and it is very interesting to see the old black and white photos. However, they are quite small and can be difficult to see.

I asked for this book since my husband's family bought a VW beetle in the late 1950's and it is still in the family. I thought they would be interested in this as well. I only gave three stars because I had a difficult time getting through it since I am not a history buff. ( )

As someone with a long time fascination with both Nazi Germany and the 1960s I was very intrigued by this book on a subject that encompasses both. The name "Volkswagen" simply means "People's Car" in German. Before World War II there was no affordable European car for the masses--motoring was a luxury reserved for the well off. Auto pioneer Ferdinand Porsche dreamed of a car for the common man for decades, eventually finding a patron in the car-mad Fuhrer himself, Adolf Hitler. This was a huge boost for the car in the '30s. but became a distinct liability after Germany lost the war and left Europe a smoldering wreck.

Luckily, a new generation of businessmen revived the car in the aftermath of the war and made it a symbol of the NEW Germany which arose in the '50s. The author does a good job of narrating this saga, giving us enough biographical and historical context that the reader appreciates the many twists and turns in this unlikely business success story. ( )

Let me say first, you should be interested in this topic to read this book. That's not a criticism, but the people that enjoy the book the most will be those that have an interest in Volkswagen, Porsche, post-war Germany, advertising, etc. I am certainly one of those people, as both my husband and I currently drive Volkswagens, I learned to drive in a Volkswagen, and my grandfather had a VW dealership in the early seventies.

I share that because, with that interest, I knew little to nothing about the VW history, and Hiott has written an exceptionally READABLE volume about a topic that could have been handled in a manner too dry to be enjoyed.

The best thing that Hiott does in the book is the way that Volkswagen's intimate connection to Hitler's Germany and post-war Germany is handled. I learned so much that I didn't know about either, but those topics weren't allowed to become or overshadow the main focus - the car itself. It is amazing, all things considered (and this book does consider a lot of variables), that the cars were made at all.

A fascinating read!

A fascinating read with a light ( )

Thinking Small is a complex story written straightforwardly in an easy to follow fashion. Hiott does a wonderful job of interweaving the stories of several key players throughout the book, seamlessly transitioning from one chapter of the Beetle's to the next. I would have liked more details about what was happening between Porshe and Hitler towards the end Hitlers life, when things seemed to be spiraling out of control, but overall Hoitt details their relationship and the early period of conception of the car wonderfully.
As we move out of Porshe's life and into government control, Hiott does a great job keeping the reader interested by introducing not only new players in the car's life, but also by drawing us into the story behind the people who would eventually have an impact on the car. (i.e. the beginnings of DDB.) Here the book could have gotten skewed into a DDB book, because their story is just so fascinating, but she does a good job of pulling back the reigns, after telling us their story, and focusing on their stake in the story.
While I thought the book was great, there were a few flaws that nagged me. First, throughout the book Hiott postulates things that we have no way of knowing whether or not are true. For example, there are several times when sentences are structured like so: "seeing all this, he must have felt proud" or "one can imagine him thinking about his life". (These are NOT direct quotes, but they highlight the style of writing that rubbed me the wrong way. Second, there is a shift toward the end where she begins writing in first person, after 300 and some pages of third. I felt that these two flaws weekend the book by making it less of a historical reference piece and making it a bit too personal for my taste.
That being said, I am glad to have read this book and would recommend it. It took me a while to read because there is so much information, but it is well worth digging into. ( )

We have a fascination with the “Bug” in America. It became the icon of a cultural movement that defied the norm while at the same time starring in mainstream Disney movies (Herbie the Love Bug, or for those too young to have seen this there is the pre-decline Lindsey Lohan travesty). Ms. Hiott’s book, Thinking Small: The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle, takes the car enthusiast and the average reader deep into the twisted history of “The People’s Car”.

Beginning with the childhoods of the minds and hands who created the Volkswagen, Ms. Hiott takes the reader through the start of the 20th century, World Wars I and II, and up to the rerelease of the Beetle in the US. Her “biography” truly makes this car a “People’s Car.” One follows the car through its inception by Hitler and Porsche, its trying childhood in Germany during and immediately after World War II, and finally to its introduction to society around the world.

I commend Ms. Hiott’s attention to detail; the little tidbits of trivia can be fascinating, but too many bogs down the reader. I have one issue with her book and that is in regards to its organization. I understand that the events of the lives of Porsche, his associates, and the future Volkswagen advertisers of America overlapped in time, but the story would flow better if there were no jumps across the pond.

All in all, an interesting book.

Overall great read. This book is complicated: it reads very easily, like a novel, and yet it takes a lot of thinking and there's a lot of depth. At parts (few and far between), too many VW facts for me, but the story of VW Bug and especially of the ad world (I never thought of how connected it all is before, and this book makes those connections, the threads eventually come together and you see how the bigger picture looks). ( )

I was expecting a popular-reading version of the history of the VW (maybe something in the same vein as Salt, Gold: History of an Obsession, or 13th Element) but I got a densely packed infodump instead. The author jumps from section to section, only to backtrack. It reads like an early draft in need of a good copy editor. She is enthusiastic about her subject, but the "oh, I forgot, and another thing" style got old quickly. I'll give it another shot when I'm in the mood, but I'm not recommending it generally.

While I own a 1968 Beetle, and I have loved them from the moment I first laid eyes on them (granted, long after 1968), I have to admit, I knew very little of its history. This book provides it, in abundance.

The depth of the book is overwhelming, and to this reader, it was a bit chaotic, jumping from manufacturer, to political history, to advertising agencies and back again within mere pages. Hiott is obviously completely in love with the subject matter, but at times, she was almost too close to the car for a scholarly work, which this is trying to be, given the massive amounts of information.

The jumps between given name and family name to reference figured in the Beetle's past was frustrating, when the reader has no clue who this person is outside of Hiott's book. The randomness of "I" statements is completely out of place, as Hiott gives the reader her own take on critical moments and people in the Bug's history.

All in all, a well valued book for how much insight it gave me into the building and the success of the VW Beetle, but often difficult to parse, and not a light read. ( )

This book was definitely not what I expected. It delves a lot deeper into the history of Germany and VW. I expected a lighter of a read and was inundated with so much information. A part of me wishes that the book didn't provide so much information in the beginning, but I don't think it would've tied up as nicely in the end without all the history provided in the rest of the book. While I can't decide whether I love or hate the book -- one thing's for sure, I won't be able to look at VW Beetles quite the same way again. ( )

A very interesting look at how the VW Beetle came to be. I think some may be suprised (put off?)by the amount of space given to discussing Hitler and Porsche but for me this was essential to the telling of the story and just made the book all the more fascinating. The fact of Hitler's insanity, the destruction of Germany at the end of WWII and numerous other hurdles didn't stop this car from ever being produced (leave alone still being produced in 2012) is practically a miracle. Hiott does a great job of keeping the story educational but still interesting and always moving along. It is never bogged down by details of the actual design, etc but yet includes those facts when pertinent and in the right light. Definitely a well told and well researched history. ( )

Andrea Hiott’s history of “the People’s car” - the Volkswagen Beetle - is a book about both the car and the people who made it possible. From its original designer, Ferdinand Porsche, to Hitler’s plan that desired to mirror Henry Ford’s success with the Model T, to the marketing genius of America’s Mad Man Bill Bernbach which eventually made the Beetle one of the most successful cars in history (over 21 million produced), Ms. Hiott attempts to place the almost 100 year history of the car in context. While the story at many levels is interesting, this expansive view is probably a little over the top. She is best at telling the story of the Beetle and some of the key men who nurtured it to market. However, the story is filled with historical side lines that add volume to the book, but little else. But if your interested in how the Beetle went from a Nazi symbol to America’s counter-culture icon in the 1960s there is a lot of good material here. Just plan on skimming a lot. The book is timed to coincide with the introduction of the “new” Beetle which interestingly enough may have a design closer to Porsche’s original view than the car many of us loved, drove and owned. The Beetle did unleash a revolution of “thinking small” that ultimately turned America’s Big Three car manufacturer’s on their heads. ( )