Book Review - Joey Green's Magic Brands: 1,185 Brand-New Uses for Brand Name Products

The author of the book, Joey Green, has written over thirty books on some really useful , but quite unique "other" ways that you can use your regular name brand products. He has been a guest on The Tonight Show, Good Morning America and has made many other TV appearances. His visual aspects provide much entertaining but also have found to be quite educational.

Joey Green was an advertising copywriter at J. Walter Thomas and a former contributing editor to National Lampoon. He also wrote many television commercials for Disney world and the fast food chain, Burger King. He actually even won a Clio award for an Eastman Kodak print ad.

He was a graduate from Cornell University in 1980. He was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society. While he was a student at Cornell University , he founded the humor publication, The Cornell Lunatic..

"Magic Brands", held my interest,right from the start . In this book he uses over 90 brand name products, giving each product a "spotlight" of sorts.
He starts off with a recognizable picture of the product and the name, then straight to the unique "other" things you can do with this product but not only does he explain very well, in easy language how to use this product for different things, he goes on to , the day the product was "Invented" "the name", or the reason the product was given that particular name, "A short History" tells of how the product came to be, "Ingredients", listing all the ingredients in the product , "Strange Facts" is also a very interesting, well researched, part that I loved about this book, "Distribution" or the commercial activity of the product and Ends with "For more Information" giving the name and address of where you can find even more information about the product.(I doubt you will need any more info though)

A little sneak peak at what you can look for in this book

Nestea- Clean a Varnished floor, woodwork, or furniture. Cold Nestea makes an excellent cleaning agent for wood.

Spam Luncheon Meat- SPAM purportedly makes good furniture polish, according to the New York Times Magazine

Tabasco Pepper Sauce- Controls spider mites, white flies, aphids, and thrips on houseplants. Just Puree two teaspoons Tabasco pepper sauce and three cloves garlic in a blender; add three cups water and two tablespoons biodegradable liquid detergent, then strain into a spray bottle and coat the leaves of the plant

Cream of Tartar- Repel Ants. Sprinkle Cream of Tartar around entrances to ant nests and into cracks and crevices

Steel Wool Soap Pads- Prevents clogged drains when bathing a dog. You just place a ball made from an S.O.S steel wool soap pad in the drain opening to catch stray hairs.

Geritol- Revive an ailing houseplant. Just give the plant two tablespoons geritol twice a week for three months. You will notice new leaves within the first month.

Scotchgard- Protects mattresses from bed wetters. You just spray mattresses with Scotchgard to resist moisture

Jell-O Gelatin- Watch seedlings grow roots. For a great science experiment for children, grow seeds in Jell-O and observe the root structures.

This is just a tiny sample of what you will find in this really fascinating and very well written book. It is very interesting all the way throughout the book. Not your basic cleaning with "vinegar and baking soda". read ! If you want to save some money, or maybe some unique ways to keep insects at bay without all the deadly poisons, Could it be you are looking for something creative to do with your kids, this is the book for you.

I was really fascinated with this book and recommend it highly.

To read more about this amazing author and all of his amazing books, go to www.wackyuses.com/index2.html
or just to read a little more about his biography at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Green