The full title is:
The FatMan’s Guide to Cooking, Cleaning, and all Things Domestic.
There are exactly two books that I know that you can pick up, open to any random page, start reading and immediately crack up . One is Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” and the other is The FatMan’s Guide.
If you are a graduating college student, about to jump into the world, set up your own little household and join the world of the gainfully employed, probably still single and wholly ignorant about a lot of things, The FatMan’s Guide will make a real difference. While it’s amusing to read, it actually does have a ton of good value hints and advice, from where to hide your Playboy Magazines, to how to shop for a pillow, to what to eat and what not to eat, to getting that date you are lusting after.
I didn’t read this book cover to cover. I don’t think anybody would. It just hung around the house, and I would pick it up occasionally and thumb around and enjoy myself. As such books often do, it ended up in the basket next to the guest toilet, where – I must admit – a book gets picked up more regularly and more frequently than any other errant book in our household – other than those resident on my Kindle, of course. I would read a chapter or two at a time, in random order. Sometimes, when I’d arrive at an exciting spot, I would take the book back out to the living room with me where I’d continue to read it, magazine style, basically from the back toward the front.
I know the author personally, and like many an artist (if I may include a writer in that category), he is more descriptive and revealing in his writing than when you sit next to him. But then, of course, who wants to sit next to a wise guy in a social situation – since a wise guy he is, you will discover, when you read the book. A wise guy in the good way.
The main chapters, aside from the introduction and conclusion, are:
- Essentials for Basic Survival
- Boring, But NECESSARY
- Stuff You’ll Want to Have Around
- Home Shopping
- Meals You Need to Know How to Make
- Cleaning Tricks
- College Dorm Experience
- Urban Camping
- Guide to Dating
- Appealing to the Opposite Sex
What did I say? It’s got all the stuff you need when you go out on your own. Go and get yours!
Rating: ****