What Would MacGyver Do?: True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life

by Brendan Vaughan

In the spirit of the bestselling Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook comes a clever collection of true stories celebrating real-life "MacGyverisms"

You're driving on a deserted road when your car dies. Your cell phone isn't getting service. All you have on hand are a gum wrapper and a wire hanger.

Or maybe you're living in a building without central air conditioning in July. You can't afford an AC; all you have access to are a fan and a bucket of water.

In such times of desperation, many have called upon the symbol of all that is inventive, the hero who awed thousands with his cool, quick wit: What would MacGyver do? they ask..

For anyone who's ever wished they could channel the 1980s action-adventure icon comes this clever collection of forty-five true stories, commemorating the use of improvised genius to solve everyday problems. Inspired by television's Angus MacGyver (played by Richard Dean Anderson), a secret agent who relied on his brains and scientific prowess - not to mention duct tape and a Swiss Army knife'to save the day, the "MacGyverisms" recounted range from the concrete (using Chex Mix to provide traction in an icy parking lot) to the intangible (saving a relationship with the perfect turn of phrase). Edgy, entertaining, and smirk-to-yourself funny, these masterfully told stories reveal that, with a little luck and a lot of ingenuity, you can "MacGyver" yourself out of virtually any predicament.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Essays, Audiobook, How To, Short Stories, Science

208 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lafcadio · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was unimpressed by this book. I watched a lot of MacGyver in my day, and he used his extensive knowledge of chemistry and physics, as well as common, everyday objects to solve uncommon problems.

The people in this book used objects for their exact intended purposes, such as:

Getting into a locked car with: Keys!
Stopping a car with: The Emergency Brake!
Killing a mouse with: Mouse Poison!
Cutting metal with: An Acetylene Torch!
Reattaching a small plastic broken thing with: Super Glue!
Raising something heavy a few feet off the ground with: A Jack!
Holding objects with: A Bucket!

These are not exaggerations. There were a few ingenious uses of things, but the vast majority were objects used for their intended purpose. Boring. And so un-MacGyver-like!

[ஐ Katya (Book Queen)ஐ · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're a big MacGyver fan, you might like this book. I certainly wouldn't pay the recommended price of $11 for it. I got it on sale for $2.97 and that was about right. It's full of lil 2 to 4 page stories of average joe's "pulling a macgyver" to get themselves out of tight situations. Some are funny and ingenious, and some are just boring. (I really don't care how to make an illegial bong out of a potato so I can smoke dope.) The book was okay, it passed the time when I was stuck in waiting rooms, but it isn't worth the full price of the book. If you can't find it dirt cheap - don't bother.

[Rebecca]

I wasn’t originally going to write anything about this book but as I was reading through it I kept thinking more things about the book and so I wanted to talk about this book and what I thought of it.
For starters, the title and cover are so misleading it isn’t funny. Yeah sure, these are stories where some people act on a whim but so many of them were things that weren’t really what I would consider to be genius. Most of the stories were things that people would do given those situations. For example, one woman’s boyfriend was panicking and considered opening the emergency door on an aeroplane as they were in the air, so she got up and asked a ‘good looking buff’ guy to help her subdue said boyfriend.
While the idea is an interesting one I feel that the execution wasn’t that great. In all honesty I don’t think that MacGyver would be all that impressed by the majority of stories in this book. I know that personally, while I found them entertaining I didn’t think they were suited to the book.
At the end of the day, I feel like this is an entertaining, short read that is probably worth reading if you’re passing time somewhere such as waiting on a bus or elsewhere you need to fill in time. Do not expect this to be MacGyver like situations though or you will be very disappointed.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is awful. It should be called: "What would you do if you had any common sense at all? True stories of people doing boring things and barely thinking for themselves."

One of the stories was pretty clever. The others? Incredibly ordinary. To make it worse, each story is way too long and the author sets up each group of stories with a completely worthless introduction.

Here are some examples of these "genius stories."
1. Truck is rolling downhill. Guy jumps in truck and hits brakes.
2. Tailpipe is loose on car. Guy blathers for two pages about how to fix it. Eventually someone shows up with a blowtorch and cuts it off.
3. Car is stuck in ice. Woman uses Chex mix to get car to grip road.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humorous and cliched, this is a collection of real-to-life stories from real people who were stuck in situations that could only be solved with the help of chewing gum, a paperclip, and a feathered mullet. It's worth reading simply for the shear joy of silly situations, and it's worth owning because it is a conversation starter and a fun thing to have for folks who may need a textual laxative when they visit your bathroom.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at how people have ingeniously used everyday items to get themselves out of a jam in the best style of the classic 80s television series.

Vaughan has curated his articles well to capture a sense of humour and joie de vivre. This is a nice book to while away a couple of hours.

[Posicat · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover screams "You will love this" and the concept I did love, the introduction was encouraging, and then ... well everything fell completely flat. From the person stranded on the side of the road after their muffler fell off, what saved the day? A coat hanger, you might have though so, as they were going to attempt that. Instead angry road construction folks saved the day with their cutting torch. Not really something Mac would be proud of. How about the person who used flattery to get her boyfriend to buy new pants? Or perhaps the amazing story of the person who did nothing, just imagined MacGyver after popping several Ambien. Blah, I was hoping for people rescuing folks from accidents and other disaster. No. There were a few inspiring stories, though none as epic as what Mac would have done. I won't spoil those here, because they're worth reading if the book is laying around. Don't be afraid to skip stories that seem boring, they probably are. The writing however was very good, it flowed, and was a pleasure to read, otherwise I certainly would have put the book down, and quit hoping that something cool might come along. This author is good, just far outside of a topic he should be writing on.

[Megan Baxter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this is palatable in small, website-sized doses. But as a collection of stories, it's an utter failure. Most are not even that interesting, and one-half to two-thirds don't seem to remotely approach the lofty ambitions of the title - they're people figuring out fairly obvious solutions to problems that seem way overblown in the first place.

Scattered in amongst these are a few gems, stories genuinely worth reading. But they are few and far between.

Not every popular website needs to get turned into a book. This book is a good example of why not. If the title interests you, check out the website. (If it's still around - I honestly can't be bothered to check.) But don't bother sitting down and reading this whole thing. The slog to the good bits is far too difficult, most of the stories far too earnest, most of the solutions far too mundane. Some don't even seem to involve solutions.

The only thing in its defense I can say is that it was a fast read. That is not enough.

[Alex Shaikh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am so despondent over this book. So little was anywhere close to the type of solutions that MacGyver would do; worst was that he wouldn't have even participated in these stories. Too many stories dealt with morally questionable situations (how do you fake ID's to get haram stuff, what can I do to get inebriated, how to fake out a girlfriend, etc.). Anyone that's ever watched the show AND appreciated it knows that the whole catch to the character was that he would always fix a situation in a way that did NOT compromise his character, morals or ideals; even if it meant exposing himself to more jeopardy or making things harder to do. Best of all, he was a SCIENTIST, a lover of KNOWLEDGE, an environmentalist, and a trustworthy friend. The stories in this book have so little science and require so little imagination that you almost wonder why the authors didn't succumb to Darwin's theory earlier. After about a third of the book, I was so repulsed by the stories that I actually dreaded reading anymore. I did finish, but only because I did indeed pay for the book and hoped that somewhere in the proper spirit of Angus MacGyver, the author would find a solution for the dreck that he calls a book.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit the title grabbed my attention and I did watch the tv show in reruns.
Because of course, MacGyver amazingly fixed everything! We all wish we could be so inventive.
As the book says, MacGyver has become a regular term for being clever.

This was the title of a website where people submitted stories of how they "MacGyvered" something.
MacGyvering something is when a person comes up w/a creative invention out of ordinary objects nearby to solve their problem.
The book is a recap of some of those stories.
Some of them were interesting.
Overall, it was something different to listen to.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of real-life stories of improvisation are a far way from MacGyver. In at least three of them, for example, the macgyverism boils down to calling a friend to help. Most of the rest consist of rather obvious uses for things, sometimes their intended uses. Even in the cases of genuine MacGyver-like fixes, we run into the problem that most people's real-life stories about cleaning gutters or keeping their pants cuffs out of sidewalk slush are not particularly interesting. The writing is generally good, but the stories are ho-hum at best.

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

The majority of the stories are not even remotely MacGyver-ish. Going to the store for super glue? When did MacGyver ever have that opportunity? Some of the stories are good, but a few made me want to pull my eyes out. MacGyvering martinis, really?

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good, stories showing MacGyver-like ingenuity, but some where I finished thinking ... huh?

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened w my 11 year old. Neither of us have seen McGyver and it's not exactly kid friendly (mentions a condom in the intro) but he's entertained and I like the rescue-yourself theme.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a wide range of writing abilities from vignette to vignette, but mostly entertaining ...I may have even learned a trick or two.

[Corbin Hillam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining

[Adam Duclos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was extremely disappointed in this book. For an author who purports to be a MacGuyver fan of the highest caliber, I find he misses the point in just about every story. Judging from the books taglines, I might expect nifty stories about how people had to fix things in interesting ways. By and large, that was not the case. Also, he had a really annoying writing style, where he would introduce all of the upcoming stories by giving away the plot and ending of each one. Way to ruin the only thing your book had going for it, moron! I get that if you didn't do that, none of the book would actually be written by you, but then I guess you shouldn't have gleaned a bunch of stupid stories from wannabe writers instead of actual MacGuyverism's, then asked them to write them themselves!

Spoilers.

There were two stories that I liked. A dude fixed his car in the middle of nowhere using a knitting needle. As I said earlier, I'm not really giving anything away here, since the author spells this out for you before you hear the story. Another guy fixes a dude's tire in a novel way. Okay then!

The rest were awful. A guy's family needs to lift a deck up a few feet so they can reattach it to the house. So they use four car jacks. Imagine that, what genius to use jacks to lift something heavy. Damn it all, they even had one for each corner! How is that a MacGuyverism? That was the exact thing thing they needed, in the exact number they needed!

A guy's apartment is hot, so he tries to make an air conditioner from scratch. All he has is a fan and a bucket. How does he MacGuyver this? He goes to Home Depot and buys all the rest of the stuff he needs. Fail! At that point, he might as well buy himself an actual air conditioner!

Some girl is friends with another girl who is severely asthmatic. She witnesses a severe asthma attack, and takes the girl to to the hospital. Good so far, I guess. Then they go on vacation and the girl has a lesser but still quite bad attack. For some stupid reason she brought her inhaler, but forgot some kind of spacer for it, rendering it useless. (As an aside, why the hell would this thing be in two pieces!) So what do they do? They go out and try to buy the spacer from three different places and fail, and all the while the girl refuses to go to the hospital. They go back to the vacation house, cut the end off of a water bottle and make their own spacer, which works. Here's the thing... They spent hours driving around fruitlessly looking for this damned spacer... Dumbass, you are in a car, driving your ailing friend around! Just go to the hospital anyway! Its better than dying, and they probably have a spacer for you! MacGuyver would totally just go to the hospital if he needed to, was near one, and had a car. WTF?

Then the author runs out of stories in any way relating to fixing things, then goes into his 'alcohol' section, his 'love' section, etcetera.

A guy has a band, and they run out of stuff to make martinis. They really need their martinis man! So they steal a bunch of stuff out of a hotel and make some. WTF! The story actually has two more parts, each lamer than the last, and it didn't remind me of MacGuyver at all... just the 'Girl Drink Drunk' segment from 'Kids in the Hall'. That was really a good show!

A sexually adventurous 16 year old girl has sex in a closet with some guy she just met. He rips off her thong, tearing it. So she ties it together again. WTF?

Another girl dates some guy, then stops dating him. Later, he gets married, so she decides she loves him. She then decides she needs to get over him, so she solicits help from her creative writing group. They fail to help her, and she pines after the guy for five years, until she finally snapped out of it. Except she didn't even then, because she wrote this story and submitted it to this lame book.

There was a lot more, but I'm tired of writing about this abysmal book. Don't be fooled! If you must read this, I advise you not to encourage this kind of book in a monetary way! Borrow it from your local library...

PS: I just remembered the one about the guy who drank his own pee for no good reason. The way the guy wrote the story, it sounded like he was just looking for an excuse to do so. He knew it wouldn't help his thirst, he wasn't that far from water and he did it anyway. Whatever! This book is terrible.

[Oceana2602 · Rating 1 out of 5]

My inner geek made me buy this book, and I don't mean the technical-improvising gadget geek, which I have yet to discover within myself, but my inner Richard Dean Anderson/Stargate SG-1 and (as collateral damage) MacGyver fan-geek. Cause that's the kind of geek that I am.

That's also not the kind of geek I would recommend this book to, because it has nothing to do with Richard Dean Anderson or MacGyver, except that it contains stories of people improvising in unlikely situations (I'd give you examples if I could remember any), none of them as sexy as MacGyver saving the world with chocolate and a pair of shoelaces. (and imagine what else he could do with chocolate and a pair of shoelaces! I can think of a few things...)

There aren't even any pretty pics of RDA and his exceptional thumbs.

So, if you are my kind of geek, don't buy this book. If you are that other, mysterious kind of geek, you might enjoy it. I wouldn't know, since I don't understand what motivates people who are interested in gadgets and improvising, when one can simply lean back and watch MacGyver do it for you.

[Wayne Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a young kid in the 80s, and one who also carried a swiss army knife and other random junk at all times. (Hell you never know when you have to disarm a missile full of explosives with nothing but a paperclip and some old gum!) I used to love watching MacGyver after all he was "almost" as creative and smart as my younger self believed me to be ;-)

Over the years especially as an adult, I have often MacGyverd something or other. OK never to save the planet or prevent a natural disaster, but it still counts! right?? right???

Anyway when I spotted this compilation of stories of real life MacGyverisums I had to read it. As in any compilation there are some stories you read and think "humm that really does not go here" but others that make you think "damn that was a good idea!"

So if you were an 80s child and fancy being throw back into the days of Bad hair, and cheesy TV. This is a book for you. If you are not an 80s child.. then GET OFF MY LAWN! Quit playing your noise so loud! and read this book, IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE the next time you find yourself trapped in a nuclear reactor with just a bucket, an old bicycle tyre and a stapler!!

[Ibis3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, but not as good as the premise promised. I was kind of expecting tales of quick thinking and resourcefulness in using everyday things at hand to solve problems. There was some of this, but often, the stories told more of common sense than original thinking. Like using cologne to mask body odour. Not a big leap, even if the circumstances were unusual. Asking some nearby construction workers to push someone's car--well I've done something similar. No biggie. Asking neighbours to help you out of a jam when you're foodless prior to a party. That isn't so far removed from asking to borrow a cup of sugar, merely the scale is bigger. Making a run to an airport to deliver a passport someone has forgotten. That happened to my parents (but the situation was even worse than that described in the book seeing as their passports were in a different city than they were). My mum comes up with MacGyveresque solutions to things all the time, so maybe I'm just not so easily impressed. 5/10

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting much, much more from this book. Based on the title, I assumed that it would be tales of people reaching into the depths of their ingenuity to solve problems with objects snatched from the area around them. Not so much. Angus MacGyver would not be impressed. Many of the stories were based on common sense--a truck is rolling down a hill and the "improvised genius" was to jump in and put on the brake. Really? Who would have thought of that? The one story that I thought could be useful for my life was the woman who used Chex cereal to get traction for her car in an icy situation. So I went out and bought two boxes of Chex and put them into the car to have in an emergency situation. Problem is, we have had no ice yet this winter and I have already snacked through the two boxes of Chex. At this point I'm afraid to put suggested kitty litter in the car. No telling what I would do with that.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book title is catchy, but misleading. I wouldn't have minded if they had put a disclaimer in the beginning of the book stating that the original premise of the book actually morphed into something different in its creation. It became a series of short stories about situations that may or may not (usually not) have been considered Macgyver type situations and solutions, but were hopefully entertaining nonetheless. I would have appreciated this and would have been able to proceed to enjoy the book, more or less. Instead, it was hard to truly enjoy most of the stories because I kept thinking, "What does this have to do with Macgyver?". Because of this, the book ended up being a real disappointment. I also truly DISliked the section where people did illegal or immoral activities and their stories were of how they got away with it. I didn't find these stories entertaining at all.

[John Mangan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very interested in reading this book because I personally have always been some what of a "MacGyver" long before the TV show was around.

While many of the stories were indeed creative solutions to common or unique problems, none really grabbed me as being earth shattering.

I found myself skipping ahead on many stories where I could predict the outcome. This may be an interesting book for people like the author, who claims he is far from the MacGyver type himself.

For technically minded people who are truly real-life MacGyver types, you will probably consider this book a little too dull to keep your attention.

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

My brother and I have been MacGyver fans for years. When the show originally on TV, we watched every Monday night. Since then, we've become fans of all "throw-back" MacGyver references. This book is a great example of the ongoing appeal of MacGyver, and probably will prompt anyone who reads it to recall a time in his/her own life when a MacGyverism was generated. Some of the tales are utter genius, some are a bit long and anticlimactic, while others I have used in my own life (e.g. paper-clipping the cuffs of my pants in the winter).

[Charles]

Useless. No, worse - shameful. This book has NOTHING to do with MacGyver - it's a collection of lame stories of "innovation" by the author's Generation X friends. Okay, maybe MacGyver got a little carried away saving the Western World from the Soviet threat (hey, it was the Cold War era), but he'd blush at the shameless story of the "clever" girl who figured out how to keep her ripped panties up after a steamy tryst in the closet at her best friend's boring party. Don't waste your money or your time, a Scout manual has more MacGyver in it than this book.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a good bathroom-read book. Stories are short enough that no one is banging on the door waiting fro the loo and you don't even need to read things in order (though I did because I'm just wired that way).

Some stories are fun, some miss the mark a bit, several area real stretch to fit the MacGyver-ism rubric. I'm not sure I'd by it, but it was a nice stocking-stuffer (yes, it took 6-months to find enough bathroom breaks to get it read...my life is different than yours).

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book as MacGyver reminds me of my childhood. My friends frequently called my dad MacGyver as he was great at fix everything many times with duct tape or as we called "MacGyver" tape. It has made we want to watch MacGyver re-runs on Netflix. On side note I find it sightly ironic that I now use decorative "MacGyver" tape to make purses, hairbows and flower with the girls.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories were fun. I always enjoy hearing about MacGyverisms and unique ways that people save the day. I guess I just found the stories a bit ordinary. Maybe I was looking for more excitement and explosions or for MacGyver himself to pop out of the book (oh boy, wouldn't that have fulfilled many of my adolescent dreams?!). It's a fun book, but just didn't hit the spot for me.

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title alone warrants at LEAST 2 stars. Unfortunately, most of the tales of MacGyverisms fall short in their ingenuity, or even, at times, their MacGyveresque-ness. Those that do achieve both, however, make you want to go out and figure out how to build a well for starving children out of a bird's nest, duct tape, and a hanger.

[Adna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved watching 'MacGyver' as a kid and when I got this book I wanted to see what creative ideas people could come up with. The book starts out good, but some of the later stories should not have been included because they are just nonsense... I think some people have never even watched the show to actually come up with a bright idea that could "save the day".