Mark Di Vincenzo knows the best times of the day, the week, the month, the year, and a life to do a variety of things—and he shares his amazing expertise in Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon. A fascinating, entertaining, and eminently useful compendium of everything from the mundane (the best time of day to go grocery shopping, the best day to buy an iPod, the best month to visit Disney World) to the serious (the best time to buy or sell a home, to get married), Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon proves that timing is everything. Here is information you need in tough economic times to save time and money.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Well worth checking out.”
From the Back Cover
Have you ever wanted to know the best day of the week to buy groceries or go out to dinner?
Have you ever wondered about the best time of day to ask someone out on a date—or for a raise?
Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon tells you the best time—of the day, of the week, of the month or of the year—to do almost anything. Do you know:
- The best time of day to be operated on?
- The best month to buy an iPod?
- The best day of the week to avoid lines at the Louvre?
- The best day of the month to make an offer on a house?
Get more for your money, maximize your time, take better care of your health and be savvier about your career—all by doing certain things at the right time.
Remember: Timing is everything!
Product Details
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Mary Aldrich
Format:Paperback
This book is great for more than just lovers of trivia - it is a practical guide to life and full of "who knew" surprises that you can put into practice. The writing makes it entertaining and fun to read, but it's obvious that real research went into it. I like the way it's organized into areas of life. I grew up in California and it's true - Fall is the best time to go to Disneyland!
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Akshay
Format:Paperback
If you enjoy saving money, increasing your efficiency, or outsmarting the world, this is a great book for you.
Buy Ketchup in May is a fun book that lets you in on the secrets of how and when to do many of life's common activities, from when to eat dinner out (Tuesday) to when to apply ice to sunburns (never).
The book is written in a short question-and-answer format that is easy to follow and remember. I appreciated how Di Vincenzo refers to the research methods behind his answers, so the reader knows where the answers are coming from. I recently found myself quoting the book in a conversation with friends about when to buy airline tickets. And the book covers so many different topics that it's hard to imagine a month going by without using at least one of his recommendations. For me, the book paid for itself right after I got it. The book pointed out that pants often go on deep discounts after back to school. So when October came around, I decided to test out this claim. I ended up buying a pair of nice $70 pants for $35!
So if you like useful information that will help you save money and increase your efficiency, definitely get this book!
Buy Ketchup in May is a fun book that lets you in on the secrets of how and when to do many of life's common activities, from when to eat dinner out (Tuesday) to when to apply ice to sunburns (never).
The book is written in a short question-and-answer format that is easy to follow and remember. I appreciated how Di Vincenzo refers to the research methods behind his answers, so the reader knows where the answers are coming from. I recently found myself quoting the book in a conversation with friends about when to buy airline tickets. And the book covers so many different topics that it's hard to imagine a month going by without using at least one of his recommendations. For me, the book paid for itself right after I got it. The book pointed out that pants often go on deep discounts after back to school. So when October came around, I decided to test out this claim. I ended up buying a pair of nice $70 pants for $35!
So if you like useful information that will help you save money and increase your efficiency, definitely get this book!
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Not-so Good Read, Some Not-so Surprising Insights, All in a Perfectly-timed Gift Package
November 15, 2009
Format:Paperback
Could be the perfect gift book as the holidays approach, and its no coincidence that it just showed up on NYT's How-to Bestseller list. To coin a phrase, this is the kind of thing a person on your gift list will really like, if they like this sort of thing.
Really there is not much insight here, and after having heard Di Vincenzo pitch the book on NPR, his methodlogy is not exactly the rigorous stuff or peer reviewed economics research (or even journalism for that matter).
There are just not enough (or enough interesting) stories-behind-the-stories for his tips. The ketchup gambit is titleworthy, but much of the rest is common sense.
Get the first surgical appointment of the day? Fly midday, midweek and you'll save money? Buy stuff when the people selling are inclined to make better deals? No big surprises.
The book might be the perfect gift for that reader who loves quirky insight and the trivial made useful. It may even inspire ten minutes of communal reading and good conversation around the tree when unwrapped. For those reasons, its a three; but, this is really a two-star read with perfect timing.
Really there is not much insight here, and after having heard Di Vincenzo pitch the book on NPR, his methodlogy is not exactly the rigorous stuff or peer reviewed economics research (or even journalism for that matter).
There are just not enough (or enough interesting) stories-behind-the-stories for his tips. The ketchup gambit is titleworthy, but much of the rest is common sense.
Get the first surgical appointment of the day? Fly midday, midweek and you'll save money? Buy stuff when the people selling are inclined to make better deals? No big surprises.
The book might be the perfect gift for that reader who loves quirky insight and the trivial made useful. It may even inspire ten minutes of communal reading and good conversation around the tree when unwrapped. For those reasons, its a three; but, this is really a two-star read with perfect timing.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun book
This is a must have book. Glad I did not get the Kindle edition because I can highlight pages in hard copy.
Published 1 month ago by Shabuki
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not that great
Not really worth it since the snippets are not in depth and easily googlable. Great for an 8 year old maybe.
Published 1 month ago by R. Dhungana
3.0 out of 5 stars
The quality of the pages suck but the information is good
The papers feel like they were printed on newspaper. Very cheap feeling. Putting that aside, the book does what it intends: informs you about purchases and their ideal time of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Khart
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Little 411 Can Go a Long Way....
Personally, I really like this book - found lots o' useful tips. Took it to school for my HS students... Read more
Published 5 months ago by RobinLK
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Info!
The book is full of info on when is the best time to purchase just about anything. It is an easy read, and I enjoyed my origianal bok so I purchased many to use as gifts!
Published 5 months ago by K. Torango
4.0 out of 5 stars
great gift idea
This is a great gift to give anyone. I bought two copies just so I had an extra to give someone. Perfect coffee table book
Published 14 months ago by anon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, and a little Silly
I wouldn't recommend changing the way you live your life - just based on this book. But, it's a great read, funny and informative. Read more
Published 17 months ago by W. Bulck
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ehh-it's OK
I had higher hopes for this book. I find that a lot of the situations didn't apply to me or anyone in my immediate family. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Michael
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great resource!
I love this book. I found it at the library and love the first chapter on when to buy things. I am a blogger who writes about saving money, so it was a big help! Read more
Published 21 months ago by rmk104
2.0 out of 5 stars
like a Reader's Digest article
I think I read a review of this in the NY Times Magazine, which made it sound very interesting and like a fun read... Read more
Published on May 18, 2011 by William T. Wiggins
More About the Author
AUTHOR
As a journalist with nearly a quarter century of experience, I've exposed abuses and been described as a writer who makes the complicated seem simple.
During a two-year stint as a reporter on the two-person state desk of a small daily newspaper along the southern shores of Lake Erie, I was the first reporter in Ohio to write about the state's first AIDS victim and about one of the first Ohioans diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
From there, I moved to Virginia, to work for the Daily Press, a 100,000-plus-circulation newspaper. As a reporter there, I exposed wrongs, such as rampant abuses at public mental hospitals and decades of neglect by the agencies that monitor the environment. Newspapers from coast to coast, from The Washington Post to the Spokane (Washington) Review, published many of my stories, regardless of their length. (The Post jumped one of my stories three times, from page 1 to page 4 to page 5 to page 6 - a rarity even at a newspaper not afraid to publish lengthy stories.)
I've landed interviews with many VIPs, including Billy Graham, Jesse Jackson, Strom Thurmond and others, including Soviet generals and European royalty.
And I've won numerous awards, competing against reporters from The Washington Post, The Washington Times and The Associated Press, among others. In 1999, the Virginia Press Association created an award for the best news writing portfolio in the state - the closest thing Virginia had to a reporter-of-the-year award. I won it that year and then again in 2000. The next year I beat out reporters from The Charlotte Observer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to win the Southern Environmental Law Center's first-place journalism award. In 2001, I became the Daily Press' metro editor, shepherding and editing my reporters' award-winning stories and directing coverage of the newspaper's urban and suburban areas.
Over the years, I supplemented my newspaper work and honed my long-form writing skills by doing magazine cover stories.
During the summer of 2007, I left daily journalism to pursue book projects and long-form journalism and to start Business Writers Group, http://www.businesswritersgroup.com, a corporate writing and public relations company.
Born and reared in Cleveland, I'm a first generation American who graduated with honors from Bowling Green State University. I live in Newport News,a shipyard town in coastal Virginia that produced William Styron, Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey, with my wife, Jayne, and daughters Olivia and Sophia. My oldest daughter, Rosie, attends Oklahoma University.
As a journalist with nearly a quarter century of experience, I've exposed abuses and been described as a writer who makes the complicated seem simple.
During a two-year stint as a reporter on the two-person state desk of a small daily newspaper along the southern shores of Lake Erie, I was the first reporter in Ohio to write about the state's first AIDS victim and about one of the first Ohioans diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
From there, I moved to Virginia, to work for the Daily Press, a 100,000-plus-circulation newspaper. As a reporter there, I exposed wrongs, such as rampant abuses at public mental hospitals and decades of neglect by the agencies that monitor the environment. Newspapers from coast to coast, from The Washington Post to the Spokane (Washington) Review, published many of my stories, regardless of their length. (The Post jumped one of my stories three times, from page 1 to page 4 to page 5 to page 6 - a rarity even at a newspaper not afraid to publish lengthy stories.)
I've landed interviews with many VIPs, including Billy Graham, Jesse Jackson, Strom Thurmond and others, including Soviet generals and European royalty.
And I've won numerous awards, competing against reporters from The Washington Post, The Washington Times and The Associated Press, among others. In 1999, the Virginia Press Association created an award for the best news writing portfolio in the state - the closest thing Virginia had to a reporter-of-the-year award. I won it that year and then again in 2000. The next year I beat out reporters from The Charlotte Observer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to win the Southern Environmental Law Center's first-place journalism award. In 2001, I became the Daily Press' metro editor, shepherding and editing my reporters' award-winning stories and directing coverage of the newspaper's urban and suburban areas.
Over the years, I supplemented my newspaper work and honed my long-form writing skills by doing magazine cover stories.
During the summer of 2007, I left daily journalism to pursue book projects and long-form journalism and to start Business Writers Group, http://www.businesswritersgroup.com, a corporate writing and public relations company.
Born and reared in Cleveland, I'm a first generation American who graduated with honors from Bowling Green State University. I live in Newport News,a shipyard town in coastal Virginia that produced William Styron, Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey, with my wife, Jayne, and daughters Olivia and Sophia. My oldest daughter, Rosie, attends Oklahoma University.
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