What Would MacGyver Do?

True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life

By: Brendan Vaughan

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor, Shelly Frasier

You're driving on a deserted road when your car dies. Your cell phone isn't getting service. All you have on hand are a gum wrapper and a wire hanger.

Or maybe you're living in a building without central air conditioning in July. You can't afford an AC; all you have access to are a fan and a bucket of water.

In such times of desperation, many have called upon the symbol of all that is inventive, the hero who awed thousands with his cool, quick wit: "What would MacGyver do?" they ask.

For anyone who's ever wished they could channel the 1980s action-adventure icon comes this clever collection of 45 true stories, commemorating the use of improvised genius to solve everyday problems. Inspired by television's Angus MacGyver (played by Richard Dean Anderson), a secret agent who relied on his brains and scientific prowess, not to mention duct tape and a Swiss Army knife, to save the day, the "MacGyverisms" recounted range from the concrete to the intangible (saving a relationship with the perfect turn of phrase). Edgy, entertaining, and smirk-to-yourself funny (using Chex Mix to provide traction in an icy parking lot?), these masterfully told stories reveal that, with a little luck and a lot of ingenuity, you can "MacGyver" yourself out of virtually any predicament.

©2006 Brendan Vaughan (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Enjoyable, but not MacGyveresque

The description and audio clip instilled anticipation in all four human members of my family.

Now, after having listened to 3 hours, I've come to the conclusion that every member of my family is either a Certified MacGyger Prodigy or the author just didn't receive many inputs that are truly MacGyveresque.

So far, only the Home Built Air Conditioner qualifies as something good ol' mullet headed Angus would have done in his college days. The rest are simply wonderfully written stories about small everyday innovations of necessity of no particular noteworthiness. A few actually left us scratching our pointy heads, wondering, "Huh? What exactly was the MacGyver moment?"

Patrick Lawlor did an excellent job reading the male-written stories, but while Shelly Frasier's voice is certainly nice to listen to, her reading was much less engaging.

Although most of the stories are well written and enjoyable (and some a bit too risque for young'uns), I would not recommend this book for people with the MacGyver gene. Watching reruns of that campy show will be much more satisfying.

A sham in every way

The book is a bunch of "real world" stories. Some show moderately innovative thinking. In others the solutions are so mundane it's hard to believe anyone thought they were worth writing about. In any case, none of them involve the quick thinking, innovative, found- objects approach that characterized the TV character. Macgyver wouldn't do any of these things. Don't waste your time on this one.

Horrible!

This is first time I have written an Audible review. But this book was so bad that I have to warn others. I am a huge MacGyver fan - I even named my dog MacGyver 15 years ago. So any book on this topic was a no-brainer; I had to get it, regardless of what anyone else said. I should have taken the advice of the other reviewers. Most of the stories in here barely qualify. There's even a story where all of the MacGyverisms fail!

Each chapter has an introduction, and each story has a title. More often than not, the text of the intro and/or the story title give away the AHA! that is supposed to be the payoff of the story! So what little suspense that does exist is eliminated before the story even begins.

I'm giving this book one star because I don't think the system allows me to give less than that. Do not waste your money on this book.

Nothing innovative

Drain a pool by using a siphon? Getting ice for drinks from a restaurant without paying? Getting a big guy to hold your panicky boyfriend? Using a hanger to open a locked car? I have never seen MacGyver, but its got to be more interesting than these stories.