Crap. How to deal with annoying teachers, bosses, backstabbers, and other stuff that stinks by Erin Elizabeth Conley, Karen Macklin, and Jake Miller

Need advice on dealing with life’s ups and downs? Sugar-coated aphorisms and uplifting stories not for you? Crap may be just what you’ve been looking for. Once readers get past the title and the very unappetizing color of this petite book, they will find a treasure trove of very useful advice for dealing with life’s unpleasantness. Crap’s snappy chapter titles include “What is this crap?” and “Breaking the stank cycle” and it is sprinkled liberally with quotes and sidebars about actual biological waste, making it both an easy-to-navigate tool and a very quick read. One might expect a book so irreverently titled and taking such joy in its wordplay to be little more than an amusement, but Crap is packed with insightful psychological observations and concrete suggestions for dealing with the negative in school, work, and play. For example: “We fear failure so much that we often decide to do nothing instead of risk failing. But if you don’t take chances, you’ll never live up to your full potential (and you’ll become the recipient of more and more crap).” This is followed by a step-by-step guide to over coming a fear of failure. All in all, Crap is a fast, funny, and motivating read.--Regan Schwartz


Conley, Erin Elisabeth; Macklin, Karen; Miller,Jake. Crap: How to deal with annoying teachers, bosses, backstabbers, and other stuff that stinks. San Fransisco: Zest Books. 2009