Manskills: How to Avoid Embarrassing Yourself and Impress Everyone Else

Certain skills define a man, make him the pride of his pride, the envy of others. We call those particular skills Manskills, and they are captured handily and succinctly in this book.

Man + Skill = Manskills! The formula is simple enough: take any man, fill him full of carefully chosen, very useful information and then let him loose onto the streets or into the wild. Armed with the proper set of skills, there is no beast he cannot tame, no problem he cannot solve, no wine he cannot appraise, no meat he cannot grill, and no woman he cannot amaze. All that lies between you (or your man) and becoming uber-evolved is mastering the wisdom contained in this humble book called Manskills.

But you must learn these lessons well. When that angry she-bear lunges, you won’t have time to Google ＂surviving animal attacks.＂ When your boss’s wife offers you a morsel of cave-aged Gorgonzola she’s not expecting you to wolf down that hunk of blue mold and say ＂Cheesy!＂

With instructive illustrations, the skills are organized by categories such as:

• Shelter Savvy--remove a stripped screw, handle a jackhammer, stop a toilet from running...
• Wild Ways--Build an igloo, stitch your own wound, catch a fish without a rod and reel...
• Social Graces--sew on a button, order wine like you know what you’re doing, ease a hangover...
• Emergency!--save someone from drowning, use a fire extinguisher, bust down a door...
• Romantic Prowess--plan the perfect romantic dinner, meet her parents, pick a diamond...
• to name just a few

Life is, after all, a series of tests. Consider Manskills to be your prep guide. Study it, learn it, then do it. You may never find yourself on the wrong end of an avalanche or in a speeding car that’s suddenly brakeless. But the manly skills you’ll develop will show you how to avoid life’s pitfalls and become a complex, sophisticated person of confidence, competence, and vigor. Good for you!

Chris Peterson is a veteran home improvement and design author. Among the many books he has written are 5-Gallon Bucket Book, Building with Secondhand Stuff, Manskills, four books in the Ideas You Can Use series, and many books in Cool Springs Press’s BLACK+DECKER Complete Guide series. He has also co-authored numerous home design books with noted media celebrities. He lives in Ashland, Oregon.