MotherReader

What Would MacGyver Do? True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life, by Brendan Vaughan, is the perfect bathroom book. What? It is. Each story is short, light, and vaguely interesting.

It’s funny that the Amazon reviews are so extreme. (“Horribly Misleading!” “Smart and Fun!”) People loved it or hated it. But I think that it is a matter of what the reader was expecting. A few of the stories are cool. Many of the stories would be hard to call true MacGyver thinking, though some definitely fit the bill. The subtitle is far more honest about the content of the book.

I particularly liked “Sic Transit Rodentia,” which was not really a MacGyver tale, but is a well-written, funny story of man versus mouse.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

“We got a mouse.”

His face went white, and he withdrew the book before I could write anything. He clicked on his walkie-talkie and spoke quietly into it.

The super materialized in seconds. I explained the situations, and he responded in a whisper. The building hadn’t had any mice in years, he said. Years. But he’d take care of it. In the meantime — and he practically passed his hand over my face to complete the Jedi mind trick — I didn’t see any mouse.

I also liked the stories of fixing the clutch with a knitting needle, using a sock to brew coffee, and making a bong out of a potato. What? It was interesting.

(Thanks to Emily Reads for pointing the book out.)