Keep It Together: 200+ tips, tricks, lists, and solutions for everyday life-paperback

Science fiction aficionados, and many others, have likely seen Robert A. Heinlein's admonition, that a human being should be able "to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." It has always made me feel a bit inadequate, since I could probably even take a shot at no more than 50% of those tasks. But this new book by Kirsten Lagatree offers hope! It is sort of an owner's manual for the aspiring renaissance woman or man. It contains dozens of short, pithy, practical, and wonderfully written essays on everything from how to organize your home office, to how to work a room, to how to perfectly pack your suitcase for a quick business trip, to how to talk to a doctor who's got one hand on the doorknob, to, indeed, how to comfort the dying. Buy one for yourself and buy a couple more for a few folks you love. Read bits and pieces of it during TV commercials, or while waiting for your clothes to dry, or before you go to bed. Keep it on your bookshelf and refer to it when you need it. And you will find yourself becoming a more competent, capable, complete human being. Specialization is for insects.

I own a copy of Ms. Lagatree's previous Checklists for Life and found it helpful with the practical matters of life, well organized, and well written. So I ordered this new copy. It is better than the first with even more helpful advice listed. There was an additional bonus, however. I have two twenty-something adult children who spied it on the kitchen table. They picked it up to check it out and didn't put it down. They said, "This is cool but why hasn't anyone ever told us this stuff. They should teach things like this in school." It's good to be cool with my kids even if I have to buy another copy to keep in my house. I wish I'd known this before because it would have made a good stocking stuffer and I could have kept my copy.

Want to know over 200 plus ways to put order in your life in a way even the most unorganized of us can understand? Kirsten Lagatree's new book Keep It Together is for you. I found being told how to hail a taxi in New York invaluable info, how to fix a leaking pipe, how to comfort a friend who is ill. . . . Being enthusiastic about life and keeping a youthful attitude are what the book tells us so do read it to settle your life. We need to be reminded often that life is all about keeping it together.

You can scan bookshelves of advice books and still not get what this single volume offers. In this day and age we are all looking for a comprehensive, easy to use (and fun to digest!) source for...well, the stuff we might feel a bit silly about asking. After all, we're adults. But, for example, how DO you find a therapist? Word of mouth isn't the whole story. Grab this book to help make the best decision. This book is one you'll also go to simply because there are gee-whiz items (like a good almanac...)---stuff you'll share at neighborhood parties because you'll be smarter. Ok, be able to SOUND smarter. I'm planning on this as a Christmas gift for some 20-somethings, but also to some boomers who still need help 'keeping it together,' but don't know how to find the answers. ;-)

This is the best compendium of advice I've read. Although I've seen a lot of the information before in different contexts, it's presented here in a brisk, concise manner, without so much detail that is gets boring. Most of the solutions offered are for common, everyday problems we all seem to have to face these days, and some of it is just common sense. Of course the book is beautifully organized (as well it should be). I recommend it.