Written by Dan Marshall, published in 2016. Summary and review.

Dad Hacks is a short, fun read with some interesting “hacks” to help you in your every day life. Contrary to the title, this does not exclusively focus on hacks for Dad’s (though does feature a chapter or section on hacks for kids). Also, I would hardly call this a “book”. It was 140 pages soaking wet and each page is basically a short paragraph or two with an associated illustration. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But it’s more of a collection of hacks, organized by, I’ll say, genre?

• Household Hacks
• Food and Drink Hacks
• DIY Hacks
• Gadget Hacks
• Health and Well-being Hacks
• Hacks on the Go
• Car and Bike Hacks
• Hacks for the Kids
• Garden and Outdoor Hacks
• Clothing and Grooming Hacks

Many of the hacks provided, to me, don’t seem like anything I’d use in actual practice. So overall, I’m not sure the book provides a ton of value. That said, there are some snippets throughout that I did like… a few of my favorites are:

• Cover the end of your vacuum with some tights and use it to safely suck valuables from hard to reach places (i.e. earring, ring, etc.)
• Place two pieces of bread together and put them in the same toaster slot, upon toasting you’ll have perfect half toast/half soft bread for sammies
• Use a can opener for those ridiculously hard to open blister packs (hard plastic often used with toys and certain tools)
• Make pouches using sticky notes and place below any area you plan to drill holes (i.e. drywall)
• Line a paint tray with aluminum foil before pouring paint into it, once you’re done, cleanup is a breeze and your paint tray will last forever
• Use a coat hanger (with the pants clamps) to attach hotel drapes together to achieve full darkness
• Use a karabiner to help carry infinite grocery bags (use as a handle)
• Use a toothpick to carve a secret message into a banana, after some time it will show (like Harry Potter’s enchanted quill for “I must not tell lies”)
• To properly throw a frisbee, whip is like a towel (I haven’t tried this yet, but want to immediately)
• For fun with kiddos, put glow sticks into water bottles and find a ball (maybe soccer ball, basketball) to play glow in the dark bowling at home
• Place your hand to the horizon (thumb hidden) and for each finger there is between the horizon and the sun… there is 15 minutes (approx.) of daylight left

TLDR: Certainly well written, I enjoyed Dan’s style. The hacks though, mostly fall into the “I’ll never use these in real life” category. Not particularly useful, and not necessarily targeted for Dad’s (most of it isn’t, IMO). Easy to read. Medium Recommend. 3/5 Stars.