Dilemma: You're the only human left on the planet, and you have to figure out how to outrun a flock of zombies at dusk. The zombies in your neighborhood are just slightly faster than humans on foot—you need a quick and effective method of increasing speed.

Solution: Put a rubber band around your ankle. Then stretch one end of it toward your toes and hook it over the big toe, twisting it once to make a figure eight. Repeat on your other foot.

Why this works: The rubber bands help your feet expand and contract even further than they normally do in the forefoot. This provides greater power during the push-off phase of the gait cycle, enabling you to run a little faster.

Urawaza [Amazon]

For example, if you buy this book, you'll learn things like how to run faster and how to keep wounds from reopening (wait, is Wolverine reading this?). And you'll get secret tips on even stranger things, such as how to make a tiny piece of soap big again and how to revive a dying ballpoint pen. I think somebody on Heroes actually had that soap power.

Every chapter is arranged into a series of dilemmas, accompanied by the urawaza solution. Want to cure your runny nose? Lisa has the answer:

Simply cut the top fronts off two green onions, stick the remaining thick white root sections into your nostrils, and let your new nose plugs do their thing. Your sinuses will magically clear up — plus, you don't have to deal with drippy boogers.

Urawaza [Amazon]