How-To Books

October 6, 2005 11:26 PM

I'm interested in hearing recommendations for how-to books that you find actually come close to lucidly explaining a subject that you already know well from first hand experience.
posted by fairmettle to education (14 comments total)

Mastering Mountain Bike Skills by Brian Lopes, Lee McCormack.
This book made me rethink some of the skills that I thought I had, and gave me a new way of riding after years of time on my bike.
posted by tumble at 11:31 PM on October 6, 2005

Zinn And The Art Of Mountain Bike Maintenance by Lennard Zinn
posted by veedubya at 2:17 AM on October 7, 2005

Code Complete by Steve McConnell.
posted by Katravax at 2:34 AM on October 7, 2005

How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot.
The How-To book that taught me what to look for in a How-To book.
posted by Floydd at 6:30 AM on October 7, 2005

Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects by Trish and Chris Meyer.

Great compendium of what I already knew, presented in a lively, approachable manner. Their other related books are great, also.
posted by jpburns at 6:57 AM on October 7, 2005

I saw a dog reading one called "Peeing Outdoors for Dummies"...well, it was a cool cartoon.
posted by rabbus at 7:01 AM on October 7, 2005

The Lost Art of the Great Speech by Richard Dowis.
posted by cribcage at 7:38 AM on October 7, 2005

The Holy Bible.


kidding.

I like Stitch-n-Bitch.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 9:02 AM on October 7, 2005

Floydd is right. How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive is the best written and most helpful how-to book I have ever read.

I am also fond of How to Shit in the Woods, and though it's a bit outdated, I like How to Stay Alive in the Woods a lot.

(Favorite advice: If you're lost, light three fires, not one. It'll make you far more visible and is an immediately recognizable SOS code to air searchers.)
posted by melissa may at 9:09 AM on October 7, 2005

Ashtanga Yoga by David Swenson. Best yoga book/practice manual I've ever seen.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 9:57 AM on October 7, 2005

Neurological Differential Diagnosis, by John Patten.

Bates' Guide to Physical Exam and History Taking.

How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!, by Dan Erlewine.

Supertuning your Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am, by Joe Oldham.

Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Maintenance and Repair for Road and Mountain Bikes, by Jim Langley.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:54 PM on October 7, 2005

The Rough Guide to Violin and Viola
posted by easternblot at 8:19 PM on October 7, 2005

Grammar of the Edit (and its companion, Grammar of the Shot), by Roy Thompson.

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch.
posted by Vidiot at 5:48 AM on October 9, 2005

Mindfulness In Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana.
posted by flabdablet at 8:12 AM on October 9, 2005