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How to be an Adult
A new book by Nerissa Nields
Illustrated by Katryna Nields
“This is a magical book.
Nerissa Nields manages to combine the essence of “Hints from Heloise”
with a spiritual wisdom reminiscent of Sharon Salzburg or Byron Katie,
leavened with the humor of Anne Lamott. Every twenty-something
(and many 40- or 50-year-olds, as well) should own and read
How to Be
an Adult.”
Judith Hooper (author, Of Moths and Men and
The 3-Pound
Universe) “How To Be An Adult is packed with information required to make it in the real world where a person needs to rent an apartment, vote, set up a 401(K) and buy those eggs. If you know anyone who is graduating soon, buy them a copy of this book. It might be more useful than a car.”
Gay Daly (environmental journalist, author
Preraphaelites
in Love)
Musician Nerissa Nields has written How To Be An Adult
to help college graduates, and
young men and woman at just about any stage in their newly independent
lives, to navigate the aspects of life one doesn’t learn in a typical
liberal arts education. And
just as she knows firsthand the benefits of running her own record
company to distribute and market her music CDs, she has chosen to
co-publish this book under her new imprint, Mercy House Publishing along
with Collective Copies (a co-op) in nearby
The idea for this book dates back to 1991 when Nerissa’s
sister Katryna graduated from college with no clue how to do anything
vaguely grown-up, except drive a car.
But she didn't know how to take care of the car, or how to change
its registration when she moved, or how to get health insurance, or how
put together a balanced meal. Naturally, she turned to her older sister,
Nerissa, who ultimately wasn't much help.
"Can we go to the bookstore and find a book called How to Be
an Adult?" she asked. Katryna decided she and Nerissa should write such a book.
But that meant they would have to do research, and as they were
too busy driving around the country in a 15-passenger van trying to get
famous in their folk-rock band, The Nields, the project was shelved.
Fast-forward 15 years.
Nerissa is pregnant and Katryna is the mother of two kids.
Neither of them knows how to be an adult, but they’ve been
passing pretty effectively for several years now (at least they fooled
Katryna’s kids). But something about being pregnant lit a fire under
Nerissa, and she decided the time had come to finally write this book.
She figured the research would do her good.
And so, two years later, (pregnant again) the book is now out and
available. |
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Some of
the topics covered include How To…
Figure out what you want to be when you grow up
Get a job
Get along with annoying people
Take care of yourself, inside and out
(nutrition, exercise, mental health, etc.)
How to be a good citizen of the world (and
lower your carbon footprint)
Rent an apartment
Choose a pet
Keep your house clean (enough)
Fix a broken toilet
Have a swell dinner party
Cook lots of yummy things
Budget and save
Get insurance-health, auto, life
Take care of your car
Register to vote
Date
Get married Get divorced And some final thoughts on parenthood |