How Not to Act Old: 185 Ways to Pass for Phat, Sick, Hot, Dope, Awesome, or at Least Not Totally Lame
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Consumer Rating: 
By: Pamela Redmond Satran
Format: Paperback
From: Harper Paperbacks
Pub. Date: 4th August 2009
From: Harper Paperbacks
Pub. Date: 4th August 2009
Product Details:
Catalog: Book
Release Date: 2009-08-04
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 192
Ean: 9780061771309
Isbn: 0061771309
Catalog: Book
Release Date: 2009-08-04
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 192
Ean: 9780061771309
Isbn: 0061771309
ABOUT THE BOOK
EDITORIAL REVIEW
How to be cool when you're afraid you've forgotten how . . .
Sure, you can try to stay younger by exercising, coloring your hair, and wearing stylish clothes—but how do you respond when someone asks, "Do you Twitter?" How Not to Act Old gives you simple ways to come back from over the hill and to act as young as you look.
Covering everything from old-people entertainment (cancel that dinner party!) to old-people communication (it's called a "voice mail," not a "message," and no one leaves or listens to them anyway), Pamela Redmond Satran decodes the behaviors, viewpoints, and cultural touchstones that separate you from the hip young person you wish you still were. This irreverent guide is essential for anyone who doesn't want to embarrass their kids—or themselves.
USER REVIEWS
"For those who enjoy crude and vulgar humor, this is the book for you. I expected an accurate, intelligent approach to the subject and was sorely disappointed. Out of respect for the perspective buyer who buys on Amazon, the back cover should give a more true representation of the contents of the book. Filled with profanity and rudeness...not a good read. I give it a big thumbs down."
~ Written on 2010-03-03
~ Written on 2010-03-03
"Ok -- so this book is supposed to be HUMOUR, and is NOT supposed
to be a serious sociological treatise. However, even the idea of
such a book, which has as a basis what it considers to be younger-
type BEHAVIOUR, (and not younger-type thinking), bothers me a lot.
First of all, in ten years or so, (or perhaps even less time), this
book will be completely outdated. Not only will there be new
forms of computers, (and communicating with computers), new forms
of dressing, of eating, and etc., -- but who is to say that the
now-considered "old" (and I mean REALLY, REALLY OLD), ideas, may
yet come back into fashion? (It's happened before, after all --
the free-and-easy "Roaring Twenties" gave way not just to the grim
Depression-Era 'Thirties, but also to the perhaps even grimmer
war-time 'Forties.....and then the "Man In The Grey-Flannel Suit",
"corporate-think" fifties..... Which turned around again, in the free-and-easy '60s. Etc.
So, we must give up e-mail, because it's "old fashioned"? What about people like me -- fortunate enough to have a wonderful aunt
in her 80s, who is intelligent, compassionate, knowledgable, (she's a former school-teacher), and curious -- but who remains a "computer-phobe", and just will NOT go near the computer, (which is used by her daughter, who lives with her), no matter how many books on "Computers for Seniors" books I send her?
I notice that there's a chapter called, "Mooch off your parents". Does this mean that the onus of living with one's parents is now gone? (It's confusing to me that, even in this, "Everyone's free to do their own thing" era, that one of the LAST stereotypes around is that anyone who is over the age of 16 and lives with their parents is completely, totally, and hopelessly immature. (Tell that to my cousin, who has a car, a full-time job, and friends -- whom she often visits -- on every continent? Or to celebrities like Alex Trebeck or Athina Onassis -- both of whom lived with parents until they got married, (because they liked their parents company, and their parents as people!), although they easily could have afforded to live on their own?
So this book is, (or will soon become), more or less of a "period piece", as time goes on. The important thing, I think, is not to "ACT young", but to "FEEL young". And that means having an open, curious, exploring mind. And THAT means, not disguarding anything, or any behaviour -- no matter what others say -- as long as it hurts no one else. As the Reverand Robert Schuller has said, "Some people are born young and stay young. Some people are born old...and stay old all their lives. What is getting old? It is a hardening of the ATTITUDES!" Or, as Professor James Shenton said, (in his landmark PBS American History series), "Freedom means that my right to swing my arm ends where your nose begins." There -- and nowhere else. The young -- and the young at heart -- have always cherished freedom. If I send e-mail, and prefer it to texting, it does not necessarily mean that I am automatically "acitng old". Acting old is expecting everyone to follow me, and berate those who text instead of e-mail. Etc. The young, and young-at-heart, do not follow fads in lock-step manner. They think for THEMSELVES! Thinking for ones' self, and being respectful of others' rights to do the same -- is, to me, the ONLY criteria for thinking, (and acting), young!
"
~ Written on 2010-02-28
to be a serious sociological treatise. However, even the idea of
such a book, which has as a basis what it considers to be younger-
type BEHAVIOUR, (and not younger-type thinking), bothers me a lot.
First of all, in ten years or so, (or perhaps even less time), this
book will be completely outdated. Not only will there be new
forms of computers, (and communicating with computers), new forms
of dressing, of eating, and etc., -- but who is to say that the
now-considered "old" (and I mean REALLY, REALLY OLD), ideas, may
yet come back into fashion? (It's happened before, after all --
the free-and-easy "Roaring Twenties" gave way not just to the grim
Depression-Era 'Thirties, but also to the perhaps even grimmer
war-time 'Forties.....and then the "Man In The Grey-Flannel Suit",
"corporate-think" fifties..... Which turned around again, in the free-and-easy '60s. Etc.
So, we must give up e-mail, because it's "old fashioned"? What about people like me -- fortunate enough to have a wonderful aunt
in her 80s, who is intelligent, compassionate, knowledgable, (she's a former school-teacher), and curious -- but who remains a "computer-phobe", and just will NOT go near the computer, (which is used by her daughter, who lives with her), no matter how many books on "Computers for Seniors" books I send her?
I notice that there's a chapter called, "Mooch off your parents". Does this mean that the onus of living with one's parents is now gone? (It's confusing to me that, even in this, "Everyone's free to do their own thing" era, that one of the LAST stereotypes around is that anyone who is over the age of 16 and lives with their parents is completely, totally, and hopelessly immature. (Tell that to my cousin, who has a car, a full-time job, and friends -- whom she often visits -- on every continent? Or to celebrities like Alex Trebeck or Athina Onassis -- both of whom lived with parents until they got married, (because they liked their parents company, and their parents as people!), although they easily could have afforded to live on their own?
So this book is, (or will soon become), more or less of a "period piece", as time goes on. The important thing, I think, is not to "ACT young", but to "FEEL young". And that means having an open, curious, exploring mind. And THAT means, not disguarding anything, or any behaviour -- no matter what others say -- as long as it hurts no one else. As the Reverand Robert Schuller has said, "Some people are born young and stay young. Some people are born old...and stay old all their lives. What is getting old? It is a hardening of the ATTITUDES!" Or, as Professor James Shenton said, (in his landmark PBS American History series), "Freedom means that my right to swing my arm ends where your nose begins." There -- and nowhere else. The young -- and the young at heart -- have always cherished freedom. If I send e-mail, and prefer it to texting, it does not necessarily mean that I am automatically "acitng old". Acting old is expecting everyone to follow me, and berate those who text instead of e-mail. Etc. The young, and young-at-heart, do not follow fads in lock-step manner. They think for THEMSELVES! Thinking for ones' self, and being respectful of others' rights to do the same -- is, to me, the ONLY criteria for thinking, (and acting), young!
"
~ Written on 2010-02-28
"This book is pretty funny overall, but I'm giving it a lower rating based on page 34... "Muffle the Guffaw... Middle aged ladies out for a good time often laugh way too loudly..." Really? I haven't heard that kind of advice since women were taught to play dumb, pretend to be interested in sports, and laugh at his jokes even if they are offensive or stupid... come one! Laugh as loudly as you damn well please! And do it often!
The book is pretty funny... and some of it I agree with, like "Enough of the Man Bashing" but this laughter bit kind of ruined it for me. There is a certain permission that comes with not being a kid anymore... and laughing out loud is surely one of them! "
~ Written on 2010-02-24
The book is pretty funny... and some of it I agree with, like "Enough of the Man Bashing" but this laughter bit kind of ruined it for me. There is a certain permission that comes with not being a kid anymore... and laughing out loud is surely one of them! "
~ Written on 2010-02-24
"Very disappointed - most of what was written was silly - like the author was trying to be cute or entertaining - wish I hadn't ordered."
~ Written on 2010-01-31
~ Written on 2010-01-31
"So sue me that I email and text in normal prose in order for it to be readable. Ha! I'm acting my age, which is definitely old. Now I know when I'm acting old and when I'm acting cool, no groovy, no -- I forget what word I'm allowed to use. Is this an open-book quiz? haha. GET THE BOOK. IT'S ADORABLE!!!"
~ Written on 2009-11-26
~ Written on 2009-11-26