It takes time to get good at anything. Think how many years it takes people to become expert heart surgeons, cake bakers, or banjo players.
During your studies, teachers pass on to you what they’ve learned in their years of training, and you make occasional tiny discoveries of your own. Over time, on your way to mastery, you accumulate a lifetime of little tips, shortcuts, and essentials.
Well, guess what? There’s just as much art to daily life as there is to heart surgery or banjo playing. But for daily life, there’s no basic training course, no driver’s ed. Food, health, clothing, traveling, shopping, socializing, setting up your home—each of these is a critical skill that you’re somehow supposed to pick up on your own.
The people who are really good at them have spent years attaining that mastery. But very few are equally good at all of them.
This book’s mission is to collect, in one place, all of those essential life techniques that your forefathers and foremothers have spent lifetimes discovering.
Did you know, for example, that on a highway sign, you can tell in advance which side of the road the exit ramp will be on—by which side of the sign the exit number is on?
And did you know that if your ketchup is stuck in the bottle, you can get it flowing by swinging your arm in a circle?
How about those times when you don’t have your reading glasses? If you peek through a tiny hole you make with your fingers, you’ll be astonished to discover that you can suddenly read small type without the glasses.
That’s the kind of thing we’re talking about: the little tips, tricks, and shortcuts of life. The surprising little payoffs of science in your everyday operations. The common knowledge that’s not as common as you might think.
You may know some of these tips already. No problem; skim them and savor the rosy glow of smug superiority.
But more often, you’ll probably realize that there are things you could be doing just a little bit better—to save time, money, and hassle.
The birth of this book
Throughout my career as a writer of how-to technology books, I’ve spotted people using their gadgets wrong. Taking clumsy, roundabout ways to do things.
Often, I haven’t been able to keep my mouth shut. I’ve stepped forward, invading the privacy of these total strangers, and showed them the better way.
But over time, I’ve become aware that it’s not people’s fault that they’re clueless about tech. After all, there’s no required course called Cell Phone 101. You can’t sign up for Introduction to the Modern Tablet. Nobody goes through Email Boot Camp. How are people supposed to know about the essential techniques that make these things delightful?
In 2013, I put together my favorite ten tech tips and demonstrated them live onstage at the TED conference (a trendy annual gathering dedicated to Technology, Entertainment, and Design). The TED people posted the video of that talk on ted. com.
Four and a half million views later, I was convinced that I was on to something. So I wrote a whole book of these things—Pogue’s Basics: Tech.
And guess what? New York Times best-seller list! TV appearances! A hug from my editor!
But wait a second. Why stop at technology?
The world is filled with activities, processes, and skills that we’ve all had to pick up, randomly and untutored. Traveling, cooking, clothing, shopping, driving, staying healthy. … Why shouldn’t someone round up all the life tips demonstrated by experts at these things?
So here you have it: Pogue’s Basics: Life. A sequel that opens up the scope somewhat but embraces the same philosophy: “Here are the most important tricks to know—the ones that you probably assume everyone knows, but they don’t.”
If you pick up only one new trick from these pages that makes your life easier …
Well, then it wasn’t a very good book.
But you’ll probably pick up a lot more than that.
“Oh,” people say. “You mean you’re writing a book of life hacks?”
The Internet teems with Web sites and forwarded emails filled with what have become known as life hacks. In principle, a life hack is just what this book promises: a little clever tip or trick that makes life easier.
In practice, though, most of the passed-around Internet hacks are disappointing or useless for these reasons:
• They don’t work at all. “If you reheat leftover pizza together with a glass of water in the microwave, the crust comes out crisp.” It actually doesn’t. At all. (Why would it? Mushy crust comes from too much moisture, not not enough.)
• They’re tacky. “You can amplify your smartphone’s speaker by inserting it into an empty cardboard toilet paper tube.” Are you really going to put your phone into a toilet paper roll? No, you are not.
• They’re ridiculously obvious. “To prevent bottles of liquid from spilling when you travel, put them into sealed plastic bags.” Really?!
• They’re dumb. “In a pinch, you can use Doritos as kindling to start a campfire.” I’m not making this up.
Other tips that aren’t in this book: techniques that work only for some people, some of the time (“To get rid of hiccups, put a penny between your toes”). Tips that would be hard to prove (“You get better ideas if you hold meetings during outdoor walks”). Tips that are good, common-sense models for living but aren’t especially surprising (“A friendly smile will get you better service from a waiter or clerk”).
Instead, the morsels in this book describe features hidden right under our noses, features that lots of people don’t know about. As well as “Everyone’s been using it wrong” insights. Plus tips that are clever, unexpected, and useful.
And—and this is a big “and”—all of them work. You can’t believe how much time my team and I have spent in kitchens, cars, and laundry rooms, testing these tips to make sure they do what they’re supposed to.
Along those lines, I should mention that, frankly, I’m a lot better at technology than I am at daily life. So I’ve had help with this book. My brilliant wife, Nicki; my ingenious mom; and trusted friends Jan Carpenter and Cindy Love all contributed their wisdom (and helped me test the submissions of others).
I also asked my Twitter followers to share their own hard-won life tips. You’ll find some of their contributions in these pages, too, with credit. (I’ve also sent each contributor a signed copy of this book.)
But enough preamble. Let the Basics begin!