The Hipster Handbook

February 3, 2003
Just as The Official Preppy Handbook exposed wearers of Lacoste polos and drinkers of Bloody Marys, Lanham's new book delves into the lives of those who deem themselves too cool for school. Hipsters, he says, are the ones you see around town smoking European cigarettes, wearing platform shoes and reading biographies of Che Guevara. Lanham, editor of the site FreeWilliamsburg.com (Williamsburg being a favorite New York City hipster enclave), does his best to dissect the personality types, the hangouts, the colleges and even the facial hair of the modern-day Hipster. There's no main narrative per se, rather a prolonged pastiche of sarcastic observances and witty asides. And in a clever marketing gimmick, Lanham compiles a raft of lists detailing crucial Hipster music (including the Beastie Boys record Paul's Boutique) and literature (Nick Hornby's High Fidelity), which are sure to spark debate. Topping it off is a questionnaire, to suss out whether or not you could qualify for Hipsterdom (e.g., if you subscribe to Wallpaper, you're in; if Maxim's more your speed, you're out). The truly hip wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole, of course, but they aren't really Lanham's target.

January 15, 2003
Welcome to the esoteric world of the well-read and well-educated, where all things are either deck ("punk rock," cool) or fin (over). The hipster's answer to the Official Preppy Handbook, this volume, when spot-on, is almost embarrassingly funny: imagine that the avowed anti-conformists still conform to roughly ten different types? The authors brilliantly capture the nuances of the hipster culture: nobody hip still likes the Strokes or Radiohead or, if they do, won't admit it. Even when it doesn't ring quite true, this book is still very funny, and its tongue-in-cheek humor is certainly deck. Of course, my qualifications for judging are dubious at best: according to a test at the back of the book, my hipster quotient is poseur owing partly to my ownership of the decidedly fin Gateway computer (Macs are deck) and my penchant for brushing my teeth with gel instead of regular paste. Who knew? A fun but optional choice for larger public libraries.-Tania Barnes, formerly with "Library Journal"

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.