Before World War II, people were more likely to believe that the “old way” was the right way to do things. Great-Grandma’s old teacake recipe was best. Grandpa’s planting method had to be followed to produce the best peas. Antique furniture was valued above new pieces.
After World War II, perhaps because of the innovations that helped the Allies win the war, Americans began to think that antiquity and tradition were no longer the best guides for accomplishment. They put their trust in scientific knowledge and “new ideas” as the keys to perfecting life. Books touting “new methods” and “amazing new concepts” became popular, and the How-To book market took off.
Today, the how-to book represents a huge division of sales of non-fiction. Its popularity may have dimmed a bit with all the information available online, but if you’re a paper lover like me, you still want that book of instructions handy to refer to when you need help with anything from depression to gun cleaning.
A quick look over my library shelves this week revealed at least a dozen how-to books.
Several years ago my husband gave me the book How Clean Is Your House? by Aggie McKenzie and Kim Woodburn. Was he hinting about the quality of my housework? I tried not to be offended, and I did read some of the book for tips on how to clean a shower or how to get mildew off an antique cabinet.
But these girls seemed to think I had nothing to do but housework. They suggested that I clean the bathroom EVERY DAY and give it a deep cleaning once a week. Ditto with every other room in the house. When did they think I would have time to play Solitaire or eat graham crackers with my dogs?
But I’ll keep the book handy in case I do ever clean the house again.
Lots of us bought the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, a how-to book for living a productive life. Covey makes some great points, like “Put first things first,” which teaches us to do the really necessary thing and not get sidetracked by life’s little emergencies that tend to suck up all our time. He also advises that in any endeavor, we “begin with the end in mind” reminding us that we can get so distracted handling the details of a job that we forget what we were trying to produce.
I also found my copy of Die Broke: A Radical Four Part Financial Plan by Stephen M. Pollen and Mark Levine. It explains how to live so that you get to enjoy all your money before you die. The authors counsel you against denying yourself the use of your own money in order to leave it to your children. They say, “The last check you write should be to the undertaker, and it should bounce.”
Unfortunately, they didn’t say I could go out and buy everything I want and not wind up broke before I die. Their readers are shown a financial process to follow that supposedly makes all this self- gratification possible. But I have about as much financial savvy as a doorknob, and I couldn’t see myself setting up all these trusts and jumping through the legal loopholes they suggest. What I could see was somebody else left holding the bag for my funeral, since my check to the undertaker would bounce. But it’s an interesting concept.
I also have the book How to Do Absolutely Everything. Apparently I already know how to do everything. I’ve never used the book.
My favorite how-to book ever was one I picked up from a cart of sale books in a store. It is called Handwriting Analysis: The Science of Determining Personality by Graphoanalysis. I love writing by hand, fountain pens and bottles of ink, so this old book (1958) instantly charmed me. It is based on the fact that our personality traits are revealed in our handwriting, the slant and shape of letters, where we dot an i, how we cross a t.
I studied it diligently, analyzed my own handwriting and that of other unsuspecting friends, and determined that the handwriting did indeed reveal the traits I had seen in those people, including myself. One night I analyzed someone’s handwriting at a party, and I was instantly in demand as a party guest who could tell you all about yourself. I analyzed the writing of my students to know who I was really dealing with—that was frightening! But after looking at this how-to book again, I may dust off my party trick and go back into business!
If you understand that every how-to book is just someone’s “new” idea of how to do something, not the end-all and be-all of the subject, you can learn much from these books under your reading lamp and have fun in the process.
