Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own

This book encompasses decades of the tightwad wizardry for which New Englanders are famous. Over 1,000 easy maintenance & repair tips are revealed via warm & witty anecdotes by repair master Earl Proulx.

Ingenuity In Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own, Earl Proux and the editors of Yankee magazine show how to maintain and repair everything in the house and outside as well with clear advice. Try storing unused batteries in the freezer; use a pumice stone (gently) to remove pills from sweaters; make a paste of instant coffee to cover scratches on dark wood furniture; spray the underside of the lawnmower with nonstick cooking spray to discourage clippings from sticking. Readers will find 18 handy uses for old pantyhose! (Rodale, $27.95 416p ISBN 0-87596-296-3; Jan.)
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author of this work is a longtime contributor to Yankee Magazine known for his command of the obscure as well as his inventive and simple methods for preserving and enhancing the longevity of older items. Though much useful and highly usable information is present, its arrangement is confusing and a bit of a hodgepodge. The result is more a browsing book than a reference; rarely will a reader find the sought information in a fashion that would be useful. While the index was not seen by this reviewer, it will need to be good to render the volume useful-and good indexes are harder and harder to come by. Fun but marginal.
Alexander Hartmann, INFOPHILE, Williamsport, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.