One of Canada's greatest inventors appraises his peers, with mixed results.

The author of How to Do Everything and Red Green's Beginner's Guide to Women has never been afraid to take on jobs doomed to failure. This latest project is perhaps the nearest he has come to a triumph. In The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide to Canadian Inventions, Red surveys, analyzes, critiques, and in some cases tells you how to re-create at home the best Canadian inventions, from the Wonderbra to the hard-cup jockstrap, by way of insulin, the walkie-talkie, synchronized swimming, and more world-changing innovations than you can wave a Canadarm at.

And speaking of the Canadarm, Red shows how by simply combining common household items such as a cordless drill, a metal tape measure, a broomstick, ice tongs, a bungee cord, a fishing reel, and, of course, the handyman's secret weapon - duct tape - you will in no time at all be lifting oranges out of the fruit bowl like a trained astronaut. Elsewhere, Red explains definitively the difference between the alkaline battery and Al Kaline, who played right field for the Detroit Tigers. And he reveals how Lodge Member Dennis Holmsworth's test run of magnetic shoes along the underside of the Mercury Creek Railway Bridge literally came undone as a result of poor lace-tying skills.

The Woulda Coulda Shoulda Guide is a rallying call to handymen and handywomen everywhere to aim high. It's also a reminder that however badly you might miss, you are not alone.