Even though it is now 2005, this is the latest published edition on the Illinois Vehicle Code, known to old-timers in the business as 95 ½, now just called the IVC. Updates to the law are published as needed, but the full volume is only printed up of even numbered years.

This book is literally the bible of all regulations and statues “regarding operating vehicles on Illinois roads and traffic laws.” It will answer questions such as what is an antique vehicle, is driving without shoes permitted, is hunting permitted on railroad tracks, or what is the correct bumper height. It is 493 pages (not counting the indexes) chocked full of the finest legalese ever written. This is the volume that police turn to when citations are awarded deserving motorists. Attorneys and judges argue its language for hours. Insomniacs fall asleep reading it in less than five minutes.

Included are sections pertaining to snowmobiles, bicycles, court proceedings, boating, and more. If it’s not in this book, it’s not anywhere. All motorists in Illinois are required to comply with the regulations in this book, but few know it exists, let alone read it. It makes for a lousy novel, no plot or characters, but (with my apologies to Burt Levy) it’s a great potside companion.