The Best of The Old Farmer's Almanac

Random House, 1991

FOR 200 YEARS THE Old FarmersAlmanac has given its readers "a certain sense of perspective," says Jud Hale, who has hundreds of highlights in this delightful volume. Along with predictable minutiae and oddities you'll find a potpourri of important stuff, like how to hypnotize a lobster, make dandelion wine, cook an ostrich. There's a lot about weather forecasting (80 percent accuracy is claimed) and, well, timing: when to plant your peas, when to castrate your bull. For the latter Jud advises, "When he's asleep." Editor Hale is a true New Englander. In listing the many regional names for the hero sandwich, e.g., hoagie, submarine, and grinder, he omits the most common term, hero. Has he never been to New York?

A LONG WITH PREDICTABLE minutiae and oddities you'llfind important stuff, like how to hypnotize a lobster.