Were You Raised by Wolves: Clues to the Mysteries of Modern Living - Hardcover

Christie Mellor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061238244 ISBN 13: 9780061238246

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008

Synopsis

A whimsical guide for people stuck in perpetual childhoods shares lighthearted advice about navigating the adult world, from poaching a chicken and making a martini to not annoying others during breakups and resisting the urge to spend money. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

It used to be that young people were let loose upon a grateful world with a modicum of social skill and the basic know-how to run a household. But such fundamental competence at the tasks of life seems to be rarer every day. How did we get to this pass? Should Mum not have done your homework? Should Dad have made Tiffany take that summer job instead of paying for her round the world trip? Perhaps. But what we really want to know is, what can we do about it? Why are so-called adults often unable to make their beds and clean up their own kitchens? They may even have jobs and apartments but why are they still relying on their doting parents to manage major details of their lives for them?In "Raised by Wolves", Christie Mellor lovingly offers a handbook full of advice and gentle verbal spankings that will send them off into the real world. She explains how to RSVP, clean a bathroom, behave in a restaurant, be a good party guest, and much, much more. It presents the things every adult needs to know in order to get through life without alienating every person they meet.

This hilarious compendium includes information in a wealth of categories, including: how to poach a chicken (and what to do with it when you're done); how to make the perfect martini; 25 amazing uses for baking soda; how not to annoy your friends when you break up with your boyfriend; 10 common work situations, what you think they mean, and what they really mean; and, how to go a day without spending any money (and why you should, once in a while). Mellor's trademark arch, witty style makes even the most pointed advice palatable. If only we'd all had a book like this when we were young!

From the Back Cover:

Perhaps, in your parents' eagerness to smooth life's bumpy road, they took such good care of you that you never learned how to be a self-sufficient human being. And now here you are, all grown up. What next?

You may think you don't really need to know how to make a proper cup of coffee. You've never given much thought to your listening skills, or how one goes about saving money, or stocking a bar. But knowing these things will really make you a much more well-rounded and all-around more charming and useful person, one who is more apt to be invited over for dinner. In fact, a lot of us might benefit from having a few gentle hints about housekeeping, habits, and behavior lobbed in our general direction. With advice and information ranging from How to Boil an Egg to How to Go a Whole Day Without Spending Money—in chapters as diverse as the Upside of Being Single and Lonely and the Hangover: Badge of Courage or Waste of a Day?—Were You Raised by Wolves? will help you come away more confident about important issues such as where the hell to put those flowers somebody brought over last night.

So let's all of us embrace our adulthood, shall we? If your mother still chews your food for you and your dad still fills your gas tank, it's time to put on those big boy pants and jump into the deep end of the pool where the grown-ups swim.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0061238244
• ISBN 13: 9780061238246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256