Life's Big Instruction Book: The Almanac of Indispensable Information by Carol Orsag Madigan, Ann Ellwood, Ann Ellwood (Editor)

From the Publisher

Carol Orsag Madigan and Ann Elwood are an integral part of the team, behind the national bestsellersThe People's Almanac and The Book of Lists--Madigan as executive editor and Elwood as contributing writer. Now these information experts bring you the ultimate book "no home should be with out"-an almanac of general information on hundreds of topics that puts the solution to thousands of everyday problems at your fingertips.

How do you plant a tree? Is it possible to train a cat? Is there dangerous lead paint on your house? The answers to these questions, and thousands of others, are in this readable, authoritative, and positively indispensable source of facts, figures, and how-to's for living in our world today.

Library Journal

No one knows better than a librarian that attempting to be all things to all people is a daunting task, one fraught with risks of supplying incomplete or superficial service. One-volume handbooks that attempt to do the same thing often end up providing just enough information on myriad subjects to convince the reader to look elsewhere. Life's Big Instruction Book does a better job than most at extending itself to the limit. The authors are part of the team that produced both The People's Almanac and The Book of Lists, so they are experienced at packing an incredible amount of diverse information into a relatively cohesive whole. Wisely, most time-sensitive subjects have been avoided in favor of general, instructive consumer advice and techniques for coping with daily life, making this a book that is indispensable. For public libraries.-James Moffet, Baldwin P.L., Birmingham, Mich.

BookList

Life, as R. B. Fuller said of Spaceship Earth, does not come with an instruction manual. At least it didn't until the publication of this book, the purpose of which is to provide some of the practical information needed for everyday survival. Helpful hints on topics as diverse as etiquette, first aid, volunteering, parenting, and cooking fill its pages. Like a good reference librarian, it answers specific questions or suggests sources for further information but never offers legal, medical, or financial advice. The material is presented under 17 broad subject banners, for example, "Health", "Crime", "Pets"," Travel", and further divided into more manageable sections. "Money Matters", for example, is broken down into "Sizing Up Your Finances," "Credit and Debt," "Saving and Investing," and so on. All the sections and subsections are listed in the main table of contents, and each of the 17 chapters begins with a repeat of the section's page breakdown. An index helps locate specific points of information. This book is not related in any way to "Life's Little Instruction Book" (Rutledge Hill, 1992) Although the compliers say they did not want "to include the kind of information easily found in lots of other reference books," they have. Such items as a perpetual calendar, U.S. flag etiquette, a map of U.S. time zones, metric-U.S. conversions, a list of Roman numerals, all standard features of many an almanac, are included here. But what almanac also includes a guide to basic pasta shapes, opera for beginners, and six tips to make one a better dancer? In order to have the same coverage of the topics represented here, one would have to have at least a small shelf of reference works. This would make a useful addition to a home library as well as to the ready-reference desk in public libraries.

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