The Experts' Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do

By Samantha Ettus

Book Overview

The simplest things are the hardest to master. From brewing your morning cup of coffee and reading the newspaper to apologizing or remembering names, it's the small stuff that makes up day-to-day... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400052564
• ISBN13: 9781400052561
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Potter Style
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 1.4" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

It's not supposed to be serious!

Presumably, everyone already knows how to breathe and make a bed. Clearly, there's another point to this book other than to teach you how-to. Reading this little gem is something like watching an episode of Monk: you share in the madness of people who pay attention to aspects of the mundane and turn the quotidian into a form of art. Sure, some tips are funnier than others. You will laugh if you enjoy the absurd. You will be puzzled and disappointed if you take things literally. But really, don't you know how to wash your hair?!

You Won't Want This Book to End

This book is like some sort of delicious, chocolatey, rich dessert - I want to consume it as slowly as possible because it is so good! Every time I pick it up I have plans to read just a couple of chapters, but so far, find myself intrigued to keep reading just ONE more, and then just ONE more.............finally I force myself to stop at six or seven chapters - I don't want it to end too soon. While I have learned many, many new things, my favorite so far is the chapter on how to wash hair - all these years, more than 10,000 hair washings, and I never knew you should alternate shampoos several times each week. Something so simple, but makes a big difference. Mmmmmmmmmm..........wonder what I'll learn tomorrow!

A great gift!

What a great idea! This book provides advice from 100 of the world's leading experts in their field. Larry King writes "How to Listen". Donald Trump writes "How to Negotiate". Peggy Post writes "How to set a formal dining table". The Head Groundskeeper of Fenway Park writes "How to mow a lawn". The first American to summit Mount Everest writes "How to keep warm". The chapters are addictive and topics range from a couture wedding dress designer teaching us how to sew a button to the head of the Center for Disease Control telling us the right way to wash our hands. This is not a serious, overly detailed "how to book" --- each of the 100 chapters provides a fun 3-4 page overview. Even in the areas that I thought I knew it all I learned a whole bunch of new tidbits.

Who couldn't use an expert in their back pocket??

Don't we all share Samantha's sentiment that "the list of things I don't know only seems to be growing as I discover how much more there is to learn"?? The Experts' Guide is an excellent way to relieve some of the stress from all the things we keep putting off to learn when we have "more free time". In just a few fun minutes you can become your own tailor, learn how to properly pick up your rice with chop sticks, and absolve your guilt from jumping straight to the Sunday Styles when reading the newspaper. This book definitely has something for everyone & is certainly the perfect gift when you just don't know what to get!!

The Perfect Gift

A few months ago, my wife and I bought our first car together and I insisted on getting a stick shift, figuring I could teach her how to drive it in a few short hours. Well, I was wrong, and now my wife never wants to drive the thing. So when I thumbed through this book at the bookstore last week and saw the chapter on how to drive a stick shift, I had to get it for her. And let me tell you, it's been a big help -- we went driving this weekend so my wife could practice what she learned, and she was more comfortable than she'd ever been! I guess sometimes it's easier for people to learn stuff at their own pace, and The Experts Guide was just the ticket. We were both happy to find many other useful nuggets of information, all presented in quick, entertaining bites. Am I satisfied with this book? You betcha...now my wife can drive herself to the grocery store!