Aggravation Books

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS BOOK IS THIS: Most of the numbers I've dialed have AN ACTUAL PERSON answering the phone at the other end!

The author is obviously as annoyed as the rest of us by electronic prompts guiding us tediously through a matrix of services we don't need.

Great stuff. Now write one for Manhattan and make me really happy.

THE BEST THING ABOUT L.A. COMPASS IS THIS: Nearly all the numbers I've called have AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING ANSWERING THE PHONE! The author is obviously as irked as the rest of us with electronic voices guiding us tediously through a matrix of services we don't need.

Topics and numbers, that's what I want, and someone on the line who can help. Great stuff. Now just give me one for Manhattan.

This book has been a great help. It contains easy to follow,common sense, check lists. Any parent who has to deliver their child and childs possessions to college would do well to start here. The reduction in strain on back and legs is easily worth the price.

I've bought and read many guides to Seattle, but this is the only one I want in my office. If you've every wanted a condensed, phone directory-style guide to some of the best things in Seattle, this is the one.

At the heart is a well thought out table of contents, which allows you to quickly locate your desired topic. Quicker than the blue pages, white pages, or the Internet; I love it.

This is not a high-design product, but it is very functional. For example, the binding allows the book to lie flat (no more 1-handed reading).

Highly recommended

I recently purchased a used sail boat. Very quickly after getting it to our home port, my wife reprioritized my "to do list" and "get rid of the head odor" came to the top. Should be simple huh? Not really. Peggy Hall stepped me through understanding the problem and gave a clear description of a properly operating / plumbed system. Brand named product recommendations were also a terrific help! I'm 95% complete now and still hoping to get her "back on the boat"...

This is the definitive guide to understanding, installng and maintaining marine sanitation systems. A "must have" for any boater with a sanitation system.

Wished I would have read the book before things got smelly. This book helped me figure out both problems I was having, smelly hoses and dreadful odor from vent.

Peggie Hall has long shared her expertise in a number of online fora. From time to time she has spoken at boat shows and similar events. In her book, she has gathered together in one place all the tremendous knowledge she has about black, gray, and potable water systems, and generally keeping your boat smelling nice.

Highly recommended book.

Peggie has produced an outstanding guide for tracking down and eliminating funky smells on board.

The book is full of factual information and how to's.

The humor is appropriate and quite funny without falling into the obvious traps.

Highly recommended

The book was great, it's fun to share it with other's who look like they could use a pick me up at the coffee shop.

The errors do however, jump off the page at me, as I edit for a living.

Other than that, I'd recommend it.

For the record. respiratory tract

respiratory tract
n : the passages through which air enters and leaves the body
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc.

respiratory tract
The air passages from the nose to the pulmonary alveoli, including the pharynx, larynx, trachea, and bronchi.
The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary

Respiratory Track with a 'K', is infact in error, correctly put, it is a Tract, with a 'T'.

Using the word "aggravation" in the sense of "annoyance" is not incorrect. While most dictionaries list the first definition of "aggravation" as "to make things worse," they also list as a second or third defnition the use of "aggravation" as a synonym for "annoyance." The American Heritage Dictionary, for example, gives the definition of aggravation as: 1. The act of aggravating or the state of being aggravated. 2. A source of continuing, increasing irritation or trouble. 3. Exasperation. The Cambridge Dictionary lists a definition of "aggravation" as "adj informal annoyance." So this use of "aggravation" is accepted.

As for mispelled words in the text, I would not use that as a guage of how well or poorly a book is researched. After the author writes a book, it goes through the hands of several editors. This book has copius notes at the end that point to a great deal of research including scientific journals and personal interviews. This seems relatively uncommon for this type of light entertainment reference.

Incidentally, "respiratory" is the correct spelling according to Mirriam Webster, The Cambridge Dictionary of American English, Webster's Revised Unabridged, and The American Heritage Dictionary which I have here at my desk.

This book is awesome, not only does it discuss the things that aggravate and irk is, but Laura Lee goes in depth and explains the reason and science behind them, from crinkly candy wrappers to lost luggage to slow drivers in the fast lane! I enjoyed this book and its humor so much, I hope Laura Lee writes another book on the things that aggravate us!

This book is a real hoot. I take it with me when I travel and when people see me reading it they invariably ask me about it.

Most of these are serious aggravations but handled in a typicaly British humourous fashion. Some entries are less serious such as:

Why is the your destination always on the fold of your map?

Using the equation P = A/mn = 2b(2/m + 1/n - 4b/mn), scientists determined there is a better than 50-50 chance your destination on a map will fall into the Murphy Zone - after Murphy's Law - around the edge of the map or in the crease

This and other hilarious gems is a sure fire conversation maker.

I very much recommend this book. It was a quick read on my daily train commute and I actually resented getting off the train and walking home (it is difficult to read in the dark while you're walking). However, I found a few things "aggravating" about it.
First, the term "aggravating" is being misused here since the word is not synonymous with "annoying", which would have been the correct one to use. "Aggravating" means getting or making something worse but it has become one of those slang words currently en vogue (similar to "impact", which has lately become an annoying substitute for "affect"). Second, there are at least half a dozen misspelled words in the book (not typos, mind you, but misspelled words - the difference being that misspelled words are spelled that way on purpose, and for the wrong reason).
One example is "respiratory track (sic)". These misspelled words are distracting and do not inspire confidence in the thoroughness of the research.

Nevertheless, my overall evaluation of this book is overwhelmingly positive and I can't wait for the sequel (quite a few more annoying things I can think of!)

Did not meet my expectations. Great for beginners. The tips and time savers are standard user instructions. Worth keeping.