The Official Rules at Home: The Laws That Determine What Can, and Probably Will, Go Awry in Your Daily Life [Hardcover]

Paul Dickson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1996

Van Roy's Law ("An unbreakable toy is good for breaking other toys") and other pearls of insight into domestic life are gathered into a handy, hilarious primer on the pitfalls--from car repair to diaper management of life at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ever since 1976, when he founded the Murphy Center for the Codification of Human and Organizational Law, headquartered in Maryland, Paul Dickson has been gathering uncommon aphorisms and snippets of unconventional wisdom conceived by curmudgeons such as himself: everyday folk as well as such notables, dead and alive, as Andy Rooney, George Burns and Roger Rosenblatt. The results of so many years' intense labor launch a series of collections, published by Walker, the first two of which are ($12.95 each): The Official Rules at Home (ISBN 0-8027-1316-5) and The Official Rules at Work (ISBN -1317-3). A few examples: "You don't know someone until you live with him, but you don't know him well until you divorce him"; "Read too much self-help literature and you'll need help"; "You can't climb a mountain from inside your tent." Diaghilev used a bicycle as a prominent prop in a 1920s production by his Ballet Russe; Robert Rauschenberg's 1993 sculpture BicycloidIII (in a series of 12) is fitted with colored neon lights tracing the bike's contours: such is the artistry found in the 280 color illustrations in Pryor Dodge's The Bicycle, which serves as the catalogue for an exhibit of his antique bicycles, posters, prints and memorabilia at the Paine Webber Art Gallery in Manhattan, May 2-October 4. The author/collector is a classical musician, an aspiring Argentine tango dancer and the editor of writings by his father, music critic Roger Pryor Dodge. (Flammarion, $50 224p ISBN 2-08013-551-1)
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (July 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802713165
• ISBN-13: 978-0802713162
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,122,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Dickson is the author of more than 45 nonfiction books and hundreds of magazine articles. Although he has written on a variety of subjects from ice cream to kite flying to electronic warfare, he now concentrates on writing about the American language, baseball and 20th century history. His most recent titles include Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century and Slang: A Topical Dictionary of Americanisms.