Scan barcode
A review by bluejayreads
Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 535 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown
5.0
Once upon a time (and by "once upon a time" I mean "up until a few days ago when I started reading this book") I had this online business idea of a website that would be an all-in-one stop for everything to do with adulting. Then I gave up on that idea because it turns out it's already been done, except in book form.
Adulting is fantastically comprehensive and full of great advice. Some of the sections didn't apply to me (I am already a fairly good cook), and some of them were full of information I really needed (I suck at friendships so much). Kelly acknowledges this in the introduction, though, encouraging you to skip any sections that don't apply to you. But unless you're already great at being an adult (in which case, why are you reading this book?), most of this will apply.
In case you're a little suspicious about one 27-year-old journalist being such a great adult that she could write the book on it - she has a lot of sources. She's a journalist. She went around and interviewed people that were great at different aspects of adulting (such as her cleaning lady for the "domesticity" chapter) and filled those sections with their advice. A fair bit of it is from her experience, but she also brings in other people for those areas she isn't an expert in.
This book is actually a lot of fun to read, too. Far from being a dry list of things you need to accomplish to be an adult, it's full of nuance, stories, and humor. Adulting is packed with humorous footnotes (such as a note on a statistic she quotes: "I made that up but it seems right") and hilarious, quotable sentences like "Plants are the ultimate passive thing: They never tell you what they want, they just sort of wilt and die if they don't get it, like tiny green Gwyneth Paltrows." If you like lighthearted, wry, and often self-deprecating humor, you'll enjoy this book.
I love that Kelly includes checklists for things like "what to keep in your desk drawer at work" and "emergency supplies that should definitely be in your car." I love checklists, and I photographed several pages for future reference. Although really, this is one of those books that I'm probably going to go out and buy (eventually) because I know I'm not going to remember all 535 steps and I want to have it around for future reference.
Adulting is fantastically comprehensive and full of great advice. Some of the sections didn't apply to me (I am already a fairly good cook), and some of them were full of information I really needed (I suck at friendships so much). Kelly acknowledges this in the introduction, though, encouraging you to skip any sections that don't apply to you. But unless you're already great at being an adult (in which case, why are you reading this book?), most of this will apply.
In case you're a little suspicious about one 27-year-old journalist being such a great adult that she could write the book on it - she has a lot of sources. She's a journalist. She went around and interviewed people that were great at different aspects of adulting (such as her cleaning lady for the "domesticity" chapter) and filled those sections with their advice. A fair bit of it is from her experience, but she also brings in other people for those areas she isn't an expert in.
This book is actually a lot of fun to read, too. Far from being a dry list of things you need to accomplish to be an adult, it's full of nuance, stories, and humor. Adulting is packed with humorous footnotes (such as a note on a statistic she quotes: "I made that up but it seems right") and hilarious, quotable sentences like "Plants are the ultimate passive thing: They never tell you what they want, they just sort of wilt and die if they don't get it, like tiny green Gwyneth Paltrows." If you like lighthearted, wry, and often self-deprecating humor, you'll enjoy this book.
I love that Kelly includes checklists for things like "what to keep in your desk drawer at work" and "emergency supplies that should definitely be in your car." I love checklists, and I photographed several pages for future reference. Although really, this is one of those books that I'm probably going to go out and buy (eventually) because I know I'm not going to remember all 535 steps and I want to have it around for future reference.