But for the school board race, he did things by the book.
Which means they're not likely to do things by the book.
Almost certainly the one thing they wouldn't do was play the situation by the book.
My wife, being a teacher, goes by the book, so we had to look at pretty much everything, in order.
It was by far the best book I have ever read.
"Just do everything by the book and you guys will be fine."
Now we might as well try and do it by the book.
I want this done by the book, just in case.
This time I didn't try to go by the book so much.
Playing this by the book is not the way you want to go, believe me.
Idiomy