Book cover for How to Get Things Really Flat: Enlightenment for Every Man on Ironing, Vacuuming and Other Household Arts by Andrew Martin

How to Get Things Really Flat

Enlightenment for Every Man on Ironing, Vacuuming and Other Household Arts

2009 Released
240 Pages
3-4 Hours
Audiobook Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
The ExperimentISBN 9781615191086

Includes actual instructions! "You might not think that a book about cleaning could be funny but this made me laugh out loud" (The Financial Times).   For many reasons, men often neglect housekeeping chores—even when they share the house with other humans who wish they could get some help in that department. How to Get Things Really Flat combines witty observations, true tales of family life, useful information that takes the mystery out of such phenomena as dishwashers and vacuums, and answers to timeless questions including:   - When dusting, where does the dust go? - What is the worst thing that can happen while ironing? - Is housework therapeutic? - How can I impress people with bicarbonate of soda? - Aren't men supposed to be dirty? - And more!   "A delightfully amusing tale about the joys and tribulations of doing housework that also serves as a very good primer on how to actually do housework . . . His main target audience is men. But women, I think, will also find Martin's observations funny and many of his tips helpful . . . And if, after laughing your way through Martin's text, you're still not into doing housework, he has a tip for that, too: Hire a cleaner." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune   "Martin's lighthearted but quite handy guide looks at the reasons why men don't help out around the house as much as they ought to and proposes what can be done about that . . . After reading this offbeat and thoroughly delightful guide to housework, it's hard to imagine anyone not wanting to give this stuff a try. Martin does what your mother never could: he makes doing chores seem fun, exciting, and rewarding." —Booklist

Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin grew up in Yorkshire. After qualifying as a barrister, he won The Spectator Young Writer of the Year Award, 1988. Since, he has written for The Guardian, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, the Independent and Granta, among many other publications. His columns have appeared in the Independent on Sunday and the New Statesman. His Jim Stringer novels – railway thrillers – have been published by Faber and Faber since 2002.

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