Staff Picks Blog

The New York Times Practical Guide to Practically Everything: The Essential Companion for Everyday Life, does just what its title states. The book is comprised of 12 sections; the first is Health and Fitness and the last Laws and Mores with House and Garden, Travel, Everyday Science several of the sections in between.  This is a great source to have if you don’t have access to Google or you just want to use a good old fashioned reference book to answer a question, (you know, like you used to in the days before the Internet).

Each of the sections is divided into subcategories and topics. Entries are well written and not too technical.   Each entry is signed and there is often link to a website or address if the reader wants to find out more information. The answers are authoritative -  the book’s editors called upon the staff at the New York Times – editors, reporters and critics who in turn had their own sources of experts.  It also has a handy index.
 
The New York Times Practical Guide to Practically Everything is one of
those works you might want to have at ready at a dinner party when two
people think they both know the correct answer but only one of them is
really right.