Life Skills

A light-hearted and funny guide that’s not your usual "self-help" book. Rather, this is a collection of lessons both amusingly obvious—like hailing a cab or hanging a painting—and impressively useful—like choosing an engagement ring or asking for a raise. Charming illustrations and diagrams are included throughout!

How do you give a good wedding toast? How do you fix a clogged drain? How do you bowl without hurting anyone? Questions like these—some highly practical, others wildly funny—make up this engaging do-it-yourself guide. Collected from the Chicago Tribune how-to columns called "Life Skills," this book is filled with often humorous instructions on performing a variety of tasks.

Some are truly useful pieces of advice on technical topics with straight-forward explanations, while others are good for a laugh or cover the more ambiguous grey areas of social interactions. Areas covered include:

Basics (sew a button, wrap a gift, shine your shoes)
At the Office (clean keyboard, ask for a raise, DIY facial massage)
Play (pack for road trips, teach bike riding, photograph a dog)
Technical (changing tires, fixing faucets, loading moving trucks)
Social (flirting, tipping, breaking up)