Little victories

"The Wall Street Journal's popular columnist Jason Gay delivers a hilarious and heartfelt guide to modern living. Four times a week, millions of men and women turn to Jason Gay's column in The Wall Street Journal. Why is Gay so celebrated? It starts with his amusing, fan's-eye-view of the sports world, which he loves but doesn't take too seriously. But his most celebrated features are his "Rules" columns, which provide untraditional, highly amusing but useful advice for navigating the minefields of everyday life. In this, his first book, Gay provides witty and wise advice on the Big Questions. Such as how to behave at work: "If you are excited about the company holiday party, this is likely an early-warning signal from the lighthouse to cancel, because you may fit the profile of the person who winds up kissing four co-workers, then stands on the coach at 2:00 a.m. railing against the company healthcare plan before passing out, then waking up twenty minutes later and demanding everyone take a taxi to Atlantic City for breakfast." Gay makes the case that it is not the grand accomplishments like climbing Mt. Everest (which, as he points out, is expensive and stressful) that make life sweet but conquering the small everyday challenges, like putting pants on before 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday. Little Victories is a life guide for people who hate life guides. Whether the subject is rules for raising the perfect child without infuriating all of your friends, rules for how to be cool (related: Why do you want to be cool?) or rules of thumb to tell the difference between real depression and just eating five cupcakes in a row, Gay's essays--whimsical, practical, and occasionally poignant--will make you laugh and then think, "You know, he's kind of right.""--