The Lazy Person's Handbook: Short Cuts to Get Everything You Want with the Least Possible Effort

What the fastest way to get rich? Marry money. What's the fastest way to lose 10 pounds? Cut your daily caloric intake by 500 calories and exercise five days a week. Such is the kind of stripped-down advice readers will find in Favreau's jaunty collection of 40 how-to lists. Some of the tips Favreau provides hardly seem like short cuts-""the short cut to planning a vacation"" involves researching destinations, checking your passport, setting a budget, then calling a travel agent and a concierge. And some are rather cynical-the fastest way to win an argument, he says, is to ""sock'em with hard data...break out the handkerchiefs... expose inconsistencies...tar your opponent with guilt by association...reject any alternative to your argument and sling mud."" And a few, like ""the short cut to marital bliss,"" which points to studies that find that cohabitation before marriage strongly increases chances of divorce, are trenchant and surprising. Most, however, are practical, forthright and a little obvious.