Unusual Uses for Ordinary Things: 250 Alternative Ways to Use Everyday Items

It was informative and useful but didn’t have the punch that I have come to expect from instructables. I mean no big fire or explosives. Nothing devious. Just a little “poof”.

Lots of good tips and tricks, some have been around as urban legends and this book proves many of them out. It would make a great gift to some people who are just setting up a household.

This is a great coffee table or restroom book. It makes a great gift and leads to countless debates over its contents!

some of the ideas are rather dumb

Very useful!

keep it up love them

By Bill Marsano. Wade Wilgus is THE editor of this book and AN editor of Instructables, a website devoted to odd but helpful new uses for ordinary items—aluminum foil, ground coffee, vodka, pantyhose, a hair dryer, and foodstuffs such as lemons, butter and mustard. (There’s also some wack-job stuff involving mustaches.) I could wish that Editor Wilgus had been a little more on the ball. Editing is not just stacking stuff up for publication, as he appears to think. It involves organization, discernment and sweat. If the subject itself interests you, then you will know at least a couple of these tips already, and so can congratulate yourself on being pretty smart. On the other hand there ares a couple of tips top avoide. Don't sharpen scissors by cutting aluminum foil (or sandpaper). Well, maybe in a real emergency, but in the end you’ll ruin the scissors. Likewise, applying heat to a new bruise is NOT a good idea. There are lots of good tips, however, but there’s no way you’ll easily remember them, which can be a problem. If you want to remove eye makeup, you can quickly turn to “Incredible Eye Makeup Remover Hacks” and find out about the efficacy of avocados, among other things. But if you want to disinfect a cutting board or polish chrome, there are no such helpful headings (the tips are stashed under “4 Vinegar Mysteries Solved!”). Another example is eggs. “6 Unusual Uses for Eggs” suggests using them as glue, cleaning products and plant food, among other things, but you’re unlikely to find out unless you’re the type who sits around thinking “Now what can I do with my eggs beside eat them?” Some hints are truly desperate. For example, “Eggsactly Like a First-Aid Kit” says if you cut yourself, just hard-boil and egg, peel it, and use the thin membrane under the shell as a Band-Aid. Really? Let me suggest you stick that you finger under the cold-water tap for a bit and then grab a paper towel. As to the formulation “Eggsactly”—such verbal atrocities ought to have been removed by Editor Wilgus. Some whole sections are truly desperate, for example, “5 Ways Tea Could Help You Survive a Zombie Outbreak.” Such stuff falls below sophomoric humor the level of puerile.—Bill Marsano has been a professional editor writer (probably) since before Wade Wilgus was born.

Good book.

Not quite the all-encompassing guide I was looking for - a bit limited.Thought it would be wider ranges but all in all useful