Outwitting Neighbors: A Practical and Entertaining Guide to Achieving Peaceful Coexistence with the People Next Door

by Bill Adler Jr.

Finally, ideas for successful ways to go to bat, or battle, against those inconsiderate or downright obnoxious neighbors. Whether the situation calls for a friendly negotiation or an all-out war, OUTWITTING NEIGHBORS is the source to call on. Bill Adler Jr. helps navigate condo, co-op, and homeowner associations; property boundary disputes; weird and uncivilized neighbors (and advice for when you’re the weird neighbor); neighbors who use their front yard as a junkyard, have bad teenage children, don’t keep their large dogs leashed, have litigious tendencies, and worse. OUTWITTING NEIGHBORS is full of humor and sound advice. It is indispensable for homeowners, apartment dwellers, and urban, suburban, and rural folks alike.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Bill Adler Jr. is an American writer living in Tokyo.

He's the author of Outwitting Squirrels (The Wall Street Journal: "A masterpiece"; Boing Boing: "One of the funniest books I've ever read"), Boys and Their Toys: Understanding Men by Understanding Their Relations With Gadgets, Tell Me a Fairy Tale: A Parent's Guide to Telling Mythical and Magical Stories, and No Time to Say Goodbye, a time travel novella, and other books.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are not alone. Your problems are real. Start small; and, if you must, Go Big.

Bill Adler is a comfort, a compassionate soul, and a friend to anyone who has ever had a problem with the fucking neighbors. He doesn't have solutions and he doesn't have answers to the really big problems. If your neighbors are murdering your pets, you should set this book aside and call the police; but you will thank yourself if you read this book before you break into the guy with the leaf blower's garage. Everything is balance. Should you make cookies, shovel the sidewalk, play the drums, leave dog shit on the front step? Should you? Those are all solutions, or suggestions, or ideas floating in the wind, but be sensible before you act on any of them. The important thing is that you are not alone. Your other neighbors are there, ready to sign that petition or sign on to that lawsuit (unless you're actually the crazy one), and Bill Adler is there, writing soothing prose about Jim in Indiana and what he did about the guy who kept parking in front of his driveway.

Outwitting the Neighbors is worth it. Do read it. It will make you feel better. It might help.

[nx74defiant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice guide for advise. It gives some stories of how things go wrong. Than gives practical advice on what to do.