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Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know Instructions for Life From the Everyday to the Exotic | 
| Authors: Lauren Smith, Derek Fagerstrom
Publisher: Collins Design
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.61
You Save: $10.34 (41%)
New (24) Used (8) from $14.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 18501
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 8.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061662577
Dewey Decimal Number: 028
EAN: 9780061662577
ASIN: 0061662577
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
p iShow Me How/i is a revolutionary reimagining of the reference genre, one part how-to guide, one part graphic art showpiece, and one part pure inspiration. In a series of 500 nearly wordless, highly informative step-by-step procedurals, readers learn how to do hundreds of useful (and fascinating and important and sometimes downright bizarre) tasks, including: Perform CPR, dance the tango, pack a suitcase, win a bar bet, play the blues, make authentic sushi rolls, fight a shark . . . and 493 more essentials of modern life. Packed with useful hands-on reference material, iShow Me How/i is a work of art that just happens to also be an indispensable real-life resource. /p p Visit showmenow /p
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| Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...
 Fun idea, not as effective as it could be January 9, 2009
I wanted to like this book. I loved the idea of it--how to do hundreds of things ranging from milking a goat to ripping a phone book in half, all instructed through simple graphical representations. This should have been a wonderful easy to use how-to manual, but unfortunately the idea was more spectacular than the manifestation.br /br /The problem? There's only so much simplification many of these instructions can take before there's something lost in the translation. For example, there are pictures of nifty ways to lace your shoelaces--but no specific instructions on how to actually make them happen. I also don't feel comfortable with the idea of reducing the Heimlich Maneuver to five pictures with vague instructions. Some of these are potentially dangerous; there's a single illustration on how to dig a snow cave, with no instructions on how to avoid having it collapse and suffocate you.br /br /So this is really sort of a mixed bag. Some of the instructions are fine; some of them really can't be effectively reduced to simple pictures.
 From Feng Shui to Fire Eating -- This book has something for everyone. January 9, 2009
I ordered this book on a whim because it looked like fun. I had very little idea of what the 500 things included might be and was delighted to find that the book not only includes basic instructions for everyday solutions like repairing a leaky showerhead or pairing wines, but demonstrates how to ritually prepare absinthe, prepare a hookah, and create a Day of the Dead altar. Granted, the instructions for each are somewhat limited, and I do not at all mean to suggest that this book should be the ultimate how-to source for any subject. But it's a great coffee table book and a fun gift.
Fun! January 9, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a compendium of colorful instructional diagrams on how to do everything from make clay dolls to sneaking your arm around your date to opening a beer with another beer. Using mostly graphical symbols with very little supportive text make the instructions occasionally confusing, but always fun. The practical as well as the improbable (mounting an elephant) are covered, keeping the book entertaining to the end. I would recommend this to children and adults alike.
Simple lessons for everyone January 9, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a clever way to teach people many things in life they need to know. The drawings are simple and simplistic and at 1st glance, you might think you're reading a children's book. But some of it applies to teenagers and grownups. Here's hoping there's a Volume 2.
Really fun and well-designed page-turner! January 8, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was planning to say it's best for a party gift to flip through with friends. But then I read it more thoroughly and began to realize that there are lots of neat little step-by-steps and diagrams for everyone. br /br /I also noticed I was enjoying studying an innovative method of explaining a concept in the simplest and clearest way possible. These days, from the internet to TV to books and magazines, we are so bombarded with information that often we only have time and energy for soundbites or 'visual bites.' A brochure has only a second or two to capture your interest with a picture and a few words. This book takes that idea to the next level by explaining and instructing in a way our minds can quickly grasp. This book is a work of art.br /br /The dance steps are a prime example of this minimalist instruction: With one picture, a legend, and numbered foot prints, it gets across the basic steps and weight distribution (from the picture) of four classic dances. With a little rhythm, one could actually learn to jive, tango, salsa or waltz! br /br /Another reason to keep reading is to discover things you might not have heard of or thought about, such as how to "tell time with a potato clock" or "fit out a foxhole radio"!br / br /The parts I thought were not useful at first, I now think are fun and interesting in an "I've always wondered about that" kind of way. Things I might never use, and am happy knowing how to do it just for the sake of knowing, include how to mount an elephant or a camel, escape from a straightjacket, mold a false fingerprint, or breathe fire!br /br /There is some practical information like how to brush a dog's teeth, give medicine, and put on a collar; repair a leaky showerhead, tie a necktie, do a manicure, not to mention some wonderful first aid as well as survival instructions.br /br /And there are surprisingly helpful items such as "shape clay beads" and "mold clay animals" (wanted to do this for Christmas ornaments and didn't know how to get started).br /br /It would be a great gift for the college grad moving into a new apartment; it serves as a reference for entertaining (pairing wine with food, serving beer in proper glassware, making espresso, preparing sushi and other dishes) and there is even helpful info like "how long food keeps."br /br /A creative and entertaining book for the curious and the love-to-learn types.
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