That No One Bothers to Tell You for Simplifying Your Day Pogue's Basics: Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) for Simplifying the Technology in Your Life

221 Pages·2015·6.32 MB·English

by  Pogue

POGUE’S
BASICS:
LIFE
Essential Tips and Shortcuts
(That No One Bothers to Tell You)
for Simplifying Your Day
DAVID POGUE
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Table of Contents
About the Author
Copyright Page

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For the people who’ve taught me
all of life’s basics:
Nicki, Kell, Tia, Jeff,
Jan, Cindy, Mom,
and Twitter
Introduction
It takes time to get good at anything. Think how many years it takes
people to become expert heart surgeons, cake bakers, or banjo players.
During your studies, teachers pass on to you what they’ve learned in
their years of training, and you make occasional tiny discoveries of your
own. Over time, on your way to mastery, you accumulate a lifetime of
little tips, shortcuts, and essentials.
Well, guess what? There’s just as much art to daily life as there is to
heart surgery or banjo playing. But for daily life, there’s no basic training
course, no driver’s ed. Food, health, clothing, traveling, shopping,
socializing, setting up your home—each of these is a critical skill that
you’re somehow supposed to pick up on your own.
The people who are really good at them have spent years attaining
that mastery. But very few are equally good at all of them.
This book’s mission is to collect, in one place, all of those essential life
techniques that your forefathers and foremothers have spent lifetimes
discovering.
Did you know, for example, that on a highway sign, you can tell in
advance which side of the road the exit ramp will be on—by which side
of the sign the exit number is on?
And did you know that if your ketchup is stuck in the bottle, you can
get it flowing by swinging your arm in a circle?
How about those times when you don’t have your reading glasses? If
you peek through a tiny hole you make with your fingers, you’ll be
astonished to discover that you can suddenly read small type without the
glasses.
That’s the kind of thing we’re talking about: the little tips, tricks, and
shortcuts of life. The surprising little payoffs of science in your everyday
operations. The common knowledge that’s not as common as you might
think.
You may know some of these tips already. No problem; skim them and
savor the rosy glow of smug superiority.
But more often, you’ll probably realize that there are things you could
be doing just a little bit better—to save time, money, and hassle.
The birth of this book
Throughout my career as a writer of how-to technology books, I’ve
spotted people using their gadgets wrong. Taking clumsy, roundabout
ways to do things.
Often, I haven’t been able to keep my mouth shut. I’ve stepped
forward, invading the privacy of these total strangers, and showed them
the better way.
But over time, I’ve become aware that it’s not people’s fault that
they’re clueless about tech. After all, there’s no required course called
Cell Phone 101. You can’t sign up for Introduction to the Modern Tablet.
Nobody goes through Email Boot Camp. How are people supposed to
know about the essential techniques that make these things delightful?
In 2013, I put together my favorite ten tech tips and demonstrated
them live onstage at the TED conference (a trendy annual gathering
dedicated to Technology, Entertainment, and Design). The TED people
posted the video of that talk on ted. com.
Four and a half million views later, I was convinced that I was on to
something. So I wrote a whole book of these things—Pogue’s Basics: Tech.
And guess what? New York Times best-seller list! TV appearances! A
hug from my editor!
But wait a second. Why stop at technology?
The world is filled with activities, processes, and skills that we’ve all
had to pick up, randomly and untutored. Traveling, cooking, clothing,
shopping, driving, staying healthy. … Why shouldn’t someone round up
all the life tips demonstrated by experts at these things?
So here you have it: Pogue’s Basics: Life. A sequel that opens up the
scope somewhat but embraces the same philosophy: “Here are the most
important tricks to know—the ones that you probably assume everyone
knows, but they don’t.”
If you pick up only one new trick from these pages that makes your life
easier …
Well, then it wasn’t a very good book.
But you’ll probably pick up a lot more than that.
What this book doesn’t cover
“Oh,” people say. “You mean you’re writing a book of life hacks?”
The Internet teems with Web sites and forwarded emails filled with
what have become known as life hacks. In principle, a life hack is just
what this book promises: a little clever tip or trick that makes life easier.
In practice, though, most of the passed-around Internet hacks are
disappointing or useless for these reasons:
• They don’t work at all. “If you reheat leftover pizza together with a
glass of water in the microwave, the crust comes out crisp.” It actually
doesn’t. At all. (Why would it? Mushy crust comes from too much