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The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide to Canadian Inventions
One of Canada's greatest inventors takes on his peers, with mixed results.
Red Green's Quando omni flunkus moritati (When all else fails, play dead)
The author of How to Do Everything and Red Green's Beginner's Guide to Women has never been reluctant to take on enormously difficult jobs that are doomed to failure. This latest project has turned out to be perhaps his nearest thing to a triumph yet. In Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda , Red surveys, analyzes, critiques and in some cases tells you how to replicate at home the best Canadian inventions, from the Wonderbra to the hard-cup jockstrap, by way of insulin, the walkie-talkie, synchronised swimming and more world-changing innovations than you can wave a Canadarm at.
And speaking of the Canadarm, Red shows how by simply combining common household items such as a cordless drill, metal tape measure, broomstick, ice tongs, bungee cord, fishing reel and, of course, the handiman's secret weapon--duct tape--you will in no time at all be lifting oranges out of the fruit bowl like a trained astronaut.
Elsewhere, Red tells the little-known story of how the BlackBerry inspired a freelance piccolo player from the Possum Lake area to create a WhistleBerry communication device requiring no internet connection, wireless or electricity. He explains definitively the difference between the alkaline battery and Al Kaline, who played right field for the Detroit Tigers. And he reveals how Lodge Member Dennis Holmsworth's test-run of magnetic shoes along the underside of the Mercury Creek Railway Bridge literally came undone as a result of poor lace-tying skills. The illustrations are inimitably--because really, who else would want to?--the work of the author himself, relieved throughout with a large number of photographs in vivid black and white.
An important contribution to the sesquicentennial celebrations, and an inspiration to the handiman and handiwoman to aim high, however badly they might miss, The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide to Canadian Inventions is a book no shed should be without.
Red Green's Quando omni flunkus moritati (When all else fails, play dead)
The author of How to Do Everything and Red Green's Beginner's Guide to Women has never been reluctant to take on enormously difficult jobs that are doomed to failure. This latest project has turned out to be perhaps his nearest thing to a triumph yet. In Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda , Red surveys, analyzes, critiques and in some cases tells you how to replicate at home the best Canadian inventions, from the Wonderbra to the hard-cup jockstrap, by way of insulin, the walkie-talkie, synchronised swimming and more world-changing innovations than you can wave a Canadarm at.
And speaking of the Canadarm, Red shows how by simply combining common household items such as a cordless drill, metal tape measure, broomstick, ice tongs, bungee cord, fishing reel and, of course, the handiman's secret weapon--duct tape--you will in no time at all be lifting oranges out of the fruit bowl like a trained astronaut.
Elsewhere, Red tells the little-known story of how the BlackBerry inspired a freelance piccolo player from the Possum Lake area to create a WhistleBerry communication device requiring no internet connection, wireless or electricity. He explains definitively the difference between the alkaline battery and Al Kaline, who played right field for the Detroit Tigers. And he reveals how Lodge Member Dennis Holmsworth's test-run of magnetic shoes along the underside of the Mercury Creek Railway Bridge literally came undone as a result of poor lace-tying skills. The illustrations are inimitably--because really, who else would want to?--the work of the author himself, relieved throughout with a large number of photographs in vivid black and white.
An important contribution to the sesquicentennial celebrations, and an inspiration to the handiman and handiwoman to aim high, however badly they might miss, The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide to Canadian Inventions is a book no shed should be without.
272 pages, Paperback
Published May 14, 2019
6 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 16, 2021
Oh, this guy!!!!
I've read a few of his books and watched many of his TV shows in my youth. He usually had me laughing so hard my lungs ached.
The way he repurposed an engine part to make a soup server that poured soup into several bowls at once - I couldn't catch my breath and anguished tears were pouring from my eyes because I simply could not stop laughing at the sight of soup pouring out of those portals!
Check out this other invention: the toilet carburator on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLd61...
If you can still find his books in print, I highly recommend them!
I've read a few of his books and watched many of his TV shows in my youth. He usually had me laughing so hard my lungs ached.
The way he repurposed an engine part to make a soup server that poured soup into several bowls at once - I couldn't catch my breath and anguished tears were pouring from my eyes because I simply could not stop laughing at the sight of soup pouring out of those portals!
Check out this other invention: the toilet carburator on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLd61...
If you can still find his books in print, I highly recommend them!
November 1, 2019
A couple of decent laughs but a little repetitive and bland. This book would likely make an excellent companion to your bathroom as reading material. I do not recommend reading it all in the span of 48 hours because you need to return it to your boyfriend’s sister-in-law before you leave from vacation as I did. This book is not meant for one sitting and works better as a series of small samples.
August 18, 2023
"Quando omni flunkus, mortati"
If you were a fan of the Red Green Show, or the fantastic invention they came up with you'll enjoy this book.
It goes over some of the greatest Canadian and not necessary Canadian inventions in history. Along with some interesting anictodes about possum lake, or some fictional lodge member. This book is full of fascinating facts about invensions that have been good (and maybe some not so good) additions to the world.
Canadians are the only one's who consider their inventions important. So if we don't toot our own horn, no one else is going to.
If you are Canadian, an inventor, a creative mind or all 3 you should read or listen to this book. It will motivate you to try your best, and invent something to make life easier. After all isn't finding a way to make life easier what Canadian are known for? The hockey mask, the wonder bra, the Canadians Arm!
Life's hard enough, who wants it to be harder?
Keep your stick on the ice!
If you were a fan of the Red Green Show, or the fantastic invention they came up with you'll enjoy this book.
It goes over some of the greatest Canadian and not necessary Canadian inventions in history. Along with some interesting anictodes about possum lake, or some fictional lodge member. This book is full of fascinating facts about invensions that have been good (and maybe some not so good) additions to the world.
Canadians are the only one's who consider their inventions important. So if we don't toot our own horn, no one else is going to.
If you are Canadian, an inventor, a creative mind or all 3 you should read or listen to this book. It will motivate you to try your best, and invent something to make life easier. After all isn't finding a way to make life easier what Canadian are known for? The hockey mask, the wonder bra, the Canadians Arm!
Life's hard enough, who wants it to be harder?
Keep your stick on the ice!
August 29, 2020
I now know I don't want to read a pure comedy book. I was more interested in the serious stories on Canadian inventions, however the real story was quite sparse. Instead Green concentrated on funny but not really true stories related to the real invention. Not a fan of this
April 27, 2019
Interesting read. While amusing, I wouldn't call it laugh out loud funny.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews