How to Negotiate the Non-technical parts of Life

In years past, Shop and Home Economics were part of normal school life.  Now that those classes have become rarer, people are finding themselves in the real world without some of the basic life skills that those classes used to teach.

Here to fill in some of those gaps is The Useful Book by Sharon and David Bowers.  It is divided into two sections, color coded red for Home Ec and blue for Shop.

The first section covers the Home Ec part - Cooking, Sewing, Laundry & Clothing, Domestic Arts, and Life Skills.

• Cooking : Everything from the basic kitchen tools to identifying and handling lettuce as well as how to cook rice is covered.  
• Sewing : Begins with the basic skill of threading a needle and goes onto instruct readers on how to hem, repair holes in clothing, and even make a pillow.
• Laundry and Clothing : Instructs readers how to read and understand laundry labels, how to iron a shirt, and ends with learning how to fold a t-shirt the way you see them on retail shelves.
• Domestic Arts : Skills such as hand-washing dishes, mopping, removing gum from a rug, and Spring Cleaning.
• Life Skills : This chapter covers a variety of topics.  For example : making a household budget, setting a table for a formal dinner and stocking a first aid kit.

The second section is Shop - Domestic Repair, Woodworking & Metalworking, Plumbing, Electrical, and Mechanical.

• Domestic Repair : Contains topics such as hanging pictures, patching holes in a wall, and caulking a bathtub.
• Woodworking & Metalworking : This chapter suggests tools for around the home, how to determine board feet, building a bookcase, and even how to make earrings. 
• Plumbing : Suggests tools and shows how to deal with clogs, leaks, and basic troubleshooting of plumbing problems.
• Electrical : Shows a basic electrical repair tool kit and also details how to winterize your home, steps to take to cut your electric bill, and how to install a light fixture or ceiling fan.
• Mechanical : Suggests basic garage tools as well as what you should carry in your trunk.  Topics covered includes a variety of basic maintenance steps for both cars and motorcycles such as washing a vehicle, detailing, oil changes, repairing a minor dent, and changing out windshield wiper blades.

The Useful Book is well named and contains topics useful to anyone.