The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide to Canadian Inventions

by Red Green

Overview

One of Canada's greatest inventors takes on his peers, with mixed results.


     Red Green's motto: Quando omni flunkus moritati (When all else fails, play dead)

     The author of How to Do Everything and Red Green's Beginner's Guide to Women has never been reluctant to take on enormously difficult jobs that are doomed to failure. This latest project has turned out to be perhaps his nearest thing to a triumph yet. In Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, Red surveys, analyzes, critiques and in some cases tells you how to replicate at home the best Canadian inventions, from the Wonderbra to the hard-cup jockstrap, by way of insulin, the walkie-talkie, synchronised swimming and more world-changing innovations than you can wave a Canadarm at. 
     And speaking of the Canadarm, Red shows how by simply combining common household items such as a cordless drill, metal tape measure, broomstick, ice tongs, bungee cord, fishing reel and, of course, the handiman's secret weapon—duct tape—you will in no time at all be lifting oranges out of the fruit bowl like a trained astronaut. 
     Elsewhere, Red tells the little-known story of how the BlackBerry inspired a freelance piccolo player from the Possum Lake area to create a WhistleBerry communication device requiring no internet connection, wireless or electricity. He explains definitively the difference between the alkaline battery and Al Kaline, who played right field for the Detroit Tigers. And he reveals how Lodge Member Dennis Holmsworth's test-run of magnetic shoes along the underside of the Mercury Creek Railway Bridge literally came undone as a result of poor lace-tying skills. The illustrations are inimitably—because really, who else would want to?—the work of the author himself, relieved throughout with a large number of photographs in vivid black and white. 
     An important contribution to the sesquicentennial celebrations, and an inspiration to the handiman and handiwoman to aim high, however badly they might miss, The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide to Canadian Inventions is a book no shed should be without.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385687416
Publisher:	Doubleday Canada
Publication date:	05/14/2019
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	884,740
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

RED GREEN (Steve Smith) is the star of The Red Green Show and is believed, especially by himself, to be the world's handiest man.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Introduction 3

Alkaline Battery 4

AM Radio 7

Anti-Gravity Suit 11

Basketball 14

The BlackBerry 19

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #1 25

Bloody Caesar 26

Canada Dry Ginger Ale 28

Canadarm 33

Carbide Acetylene 40

Cardiac Pacemaker 42

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #2 46

Caulking Gun 48

Crispy Crunch 53

The Cure 56

Easy-Off Oven Cleaner 57

Egg Carton 60

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #3 64

Electric Oven 66

An Experimental Medication 71

The First Documentary 72

Five-Pin Bowling 76

Foghorn 81

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #4 86

Fox 40 88

Frozen Food 90

Goalie Mask 93

Gownless Strap 99

Green Garbage Bag 100

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #5 102

Hard Cup Jockstrap 104

Hawaiian Pizza 108

Ice Hockey 110

IMAX 115

Instant Food 119

Instant Replay 122

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian invention in the World: Candidate #6 126

Insulin 128

Jolly Jumper 132

Kerosene 137

Lacrosse 139

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian invention in the World: Candidate #7 145

Magnetic Shoes 146

Muskol 147

Pablum 151

Paint Roller 154

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #8 158

Pie-O-Neer 160

Routine 165

Pulped Wood Paper 168

Robertson Screw 172

Sewage Cannon 174

Snowblower 177

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #9 184

Snowmobile 186

Solar Panel 191

Sonar 194

Standard Time 198

Superman 201

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: Candidate #10 206

Synchronized Swimming 208

The Theory of Nothing 212

Trivial Pursuit and Balderdash 215

TV Censorship 219

UFO Landing Pad 223

The Greatest Not Necessarily Canadian Invention in the World: The Winner 228

Upholstery Couture 230

Variable-Pitch Propeller 232

Walkie-Talkie 235

The Wonderbra 240

Could You Be an Inventor? 248

Image Credits 250

Index 252

Acknowledgements 259

Editorial Reviews

National Bestseller

"A dab of practical thinking and a heapful of charming illogicality seen through the handyman's eyes." —The Canadian Press

"You get the feeling that life isn't so grey when you consider Green's takes on these inventions." —The Waterloo Region Record

From the Publisher