Booking Through Thursday - Manual Labor Redux

Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….
Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?
Do you ever read manuals?
How-to books?
Self-help guides?
Anything at all?

I will usually read the quick start guide to a new toy, but I rarely finish it. New toys need to be discovered! If I have a specific question or get stuck, then I will pick up the manual. Eventually, I return to the manual to learn about the things that I couldn't discover on my own. Shoot, I didn't read the manual for my Nikon until I had it for over six months. Okay, so it was lost in the mystery that has engulfed my craft room. I did find it and I have now read it. Mr. Engineer will do a short play time and then read all manuals front to back. We do have the occasional friendly competition to see who can find the more obscure feature of our gadget. We both love how-to books and have been known to curl up with a good home improvement tome on an evening, and I do love my knitting books.

The only genre from the suggestions that we don't spend time on are self-help guides. We could claim that we are already the improved models, but that is probably a bit of a stretch.