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BY JEAN STARR
Times Correspondent | Sunday, April 18, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
For those who would like to know how to feel more secure in a hotel room or make sure their money is the real deal, Chicago native Cy Tymony has come up with the ultimate reference.
"Sneaky Uses For Everyday Things" is a quirky collection that turns the average Joe into a 007, the average household item into a key to survival.
Tymony grew up watching Gilligan's Island and Man from U.N.C.L.E. When he was young, his reading list ranged from encyclopedias to comic books. Lex Luther was his favorite character because, "he took on the most powerful man (Superman) with just his mind," said Tymony. "I was always attracted to people who saw things that most people overlooked."
The book is divided into four sections: novelties, gimmicks, security and survival. To achieve a tongue-in-cheek tone, Tymony calls a section on using a magnet to tell if currency is real, "Fear of Small Sums." He tells how to turn one screw in any tape recorder and make it so that only you can play back a recording. Title: "For Your Ears Only or Listen Impossible." A section called "Con Air" explains how to use a cheap radio to hear air frequencies.
The 48-year-old Los Angeles resident actually wrote the book more than six years ago, and it was more technical. Then, when he saw the "Worst Case Scenario" and the "Duct Tape Survival" books, he rewrote it, renamed it and resubmitted it to a new publisher. It sold almost immediately and now is in its third printing.
"I didn't want to keep writing technical books because its readership is limited,'' the author said.
A computer network technician by trade, Tymony reads four or five papers a day and takes college courses in various topics.
"I like to find out how everything works," he said. "That's one reason I put in survival skills. I believe that people should know the basic things. We're so spoiled: 7-year-olds have cell phones, but we don't know how to make fire or extract water from plants."
Who's going to go out and buy a survival book? he wondered. Almost nobody. But Tymony feels people often buy his book for the fun trivia aspect, and when they look at the techniques in the back of the book on survival, they'll remember them.
At his book-signing events, Tymony demonstrates some of the sections in his book, and might quiz his potential readers on how they would devise other uses for a magazine and a flashlight. He tells stories about resourceful people who have made escapes from prison or lived through the events of 9/11.
"I want to make it so every age group can get something out of it," he said.
"It could save a life and encourage young people to pay attention. Look around and explore the resources around you. If you have a positive attitude you can do a lot with what you have."
Tymony will sign his book, "Sneaky Uses For Everyday Things" at 3 p.m. April 24 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Hobart. For more information, call (219) 736-7788 or see www.sneakyuses.com.
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