Show Me How 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, Show Me How is a work of art that just happens to also be an indispensable real-life resource.
Delightful diversion January 9, 2009 This is one of those delightful oddities that odd, but talented people, decide to create.
In these 300+ pages, the very clever authors and their "Show Me" team, teach you 500 things that they think you should know, including 8 that they warn no sensible person would ever do, like "breathe fire".
Each action is illustrated with simple, but well done line drawings. The range of topics is broken into 11 sections with headings like "Make", "Love", "Eat", "Nest", "Survive" and "Wow".
The range of actions is broad and hilarious. How to get out of a car in a mini-skirt. How to slip your arm around a date in a movie theater. How to feed crickets to a tarantula - and later, how to roast that well-fed tarantula. Get out of quicksand; dance like a robot; jump start your car's battery; rig a soda-bottle fish-trap; prepare a tea-leaf reading - and hundreds more.
Is the information useful? Sure, but you'll probably never use most of it. But that doesn't matter, because "500 Things" is just a book to curl up and leaf through and enjoy the ingenuity and cleverness of its creators.
"500 Things" is just plain fun.
Jerry
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.
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.
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.
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