Shane Frazer is a man of many talents - and he wants to share them with the world.

For instance, he knows how to slice a doughnut into 13 pieces using just three cuts.

He can make a football out of 100 plastic cups and he knows the way to walk through a postcard.

He can turn a drink upside down without spilling a drop - usually.

And he also has an idea of how to build a nuclear reactor although he has not yet put that one to the test.

Impressed yet?

Perhaps you need to see them for yourself - or better yet, learn how to perform them yourself.

This is where Hunkins Experiments comes in, the first book Shane has released since abandoning his high-flying City career to set up his own publishing firm.

And that is the trick of which he is most proud, after suddenly turning his back on 17 years of dealing with merchant bankers and corporate brokers for a self-employed seaside existence.

Hunkins Experiments was devised and illustrated by Tim Hunkins, who was a cartoonist for The Observer for 14 years and presented the Channel 4 series The Secret Life Of Machines.

He was introduced to Shane by a mutual friend, Sarah Angliss, and it was Shane who convinced him to publish his bizarre experiments.

Shane, 45, had enjoyed Tim's previous book, The Rudiments Of Wisdom, a compilation of his Observer cartoons. Each of them contained a small illustration of an irrelevant experiment.

Shane, of Pelham Square, Brighton, said: "I thought they were all great but had to persuade Tim they would make a book.

"I particularly like how to make a nuclear reactor, though it's the only one in the book that doesn't actually work. The rest are perfectly possible.

"Looking on the web site we can see we've actually had visits from the American military though they haven't yet contacted us about the nuclear reactor. Perhaps they're listening to this conversation, I don't know."

Apparently the way to make a nuclear reactor is to stick four graphite pencils into an apple core, balance it on a pile of six luminous watches and enclose it all in clay or plasticine.

Gently lifting two graphite "control rods" out of the core should produce "a small pop and a miniature mushroom cloud".

Shane seems more confident with the other suggestions.

He said: "Thanks to these experiments, if I ever got stuck in the desert I'd now know exactly how to find water and if there's a power cut, this book has taught me how to make a battery out of potatoes."

The book relies heavily on its illustrations, such as a diagram explaining how to divide a doughnut 13 times with just three swipes.

Such japes are a long way from Shane's previous life, working as an information technology manager for Cazenove - stockbroker to the Queen and the Beckhams - and then Credit Suisse until what he calls his "sudden break for freedom".

He said: "There was a real lack of creativity in the City. I wanted to do something different, more imaginative.

"I was living on Upper Street in Islington, which was very noisy but also very convenient. But I wanted to move to Brighton where there's so much life but things are not so aggressive."

He quit his City job two years ago but really began knuckling down to publishing his first book last January.

He said: "That's when I really decided to go for it. Before then I'd been taking it easy, living off my ill-gotten gains from my previous career and doing a bit of IT consultancy.

He has already tested the book on his nephews and nieces, who loved it.

The book is being advertised as containing "hundreds of absurd experiments for all ages from eight to 80".

Shane said: "Kids are naturally inclined to experiment but there's also a lot of people out there on the engineering side who love building things and carrying out experiments.

"If you're stuck inside with kids - or adults - with nothing to do, this is definitely the book to have."

Tim trained as an engineer before becoming a cartoonist and has worked for museums including London's Science Museum, building interactive exhibits.

His current obsession is putting together an amusement arcade of his own simulator rides and other coin-operated inventions on Southwold Pier in Suffolk.

Hunkins Experiments is published by Pelham Projects, priced £7.99 in selected booksellers or £6.99 plus delivery by ordering via the web site, www.hunkinsexperiments.com